An interesting real time experiment in how markets work in this report from Bloomberg.
Traders reversed bets that George W. Bush would win the U.S. presidential election after Web sites posted what they said were exit polls showing John Kerry leading in battleground states including Florida and Ohio.
Contracts betting Bush would win plunged to 28.5 from 57 and Kerry futures jumped to 71 from 43, according to Intrade, an electronic exchange based in Dublin known by its Web site TradeSports.com. Winning contracts climb to 100, paying out $10 on Intrade. Losing contracts fall to zero and expire worthless.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost most of its advance, Treasuries erased losses and the dollar pared its gain against the euro after the reports appeared.
This report was posted at 5:30 PM, Eastern Standard Time. Now we wait.