New York– US financial markets witnessed wild swings after Republican Donald Trump won the country’s presidential election, but then stabilised and regained momentum as the Wall Street further digested information about the results.
“It is not quite a mandate, not with a popular vote loss, but it is a far different outcome than was expected 12 hours ago,” said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial on Wednesday.
Financial markets around the world had been pricing in a victory for the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Trump, Xinhua news agency reported.
Dow futures had plunged more than 800 points on Tuesday night as the US presidential election remained much tighter than expected, with Trump showing strength in crucial battleground states.
However, US stocks opened slightly lower Wednesday mornings as Wall Street shook off fears about the surprised election results. At the close, all three major indices reversed early losses to post solid gains, notching a three-day winning streak.
Wall Street is benefiting from Trump’s anti-regulation stance versus Clinton. Clinton had several election measures viewed as adverse to Wall Street such as raising capital gains tax, further regulation and a high frequency trading transaction tax, Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer of US fund company Kraneshares, told Xinhua.
The market is expecting adjustments to Dodd Frank, the Volker Rule and other regulations put in place over the last eight years, he added.
Other markets also saw volatile trading. Oil price settled higher Wednesday after tumbling as much as about 4 per cent on Tuesday night amid Donald Trump’s winning of US presidential election.
The US dollar also recovered from an overnight sell-off, as Trump’s victory speech eased market nerves. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.71 per cent to 98.553 in late trading Wednesday.
Meanwhile, gold had surged by nearly 5 per cent to a six-week high of $1,337.40 an ounce as investors sought refuge in perceived safe-haven assets like gold, but then shaved gains to end mildly lower as the US election jitters faded.
Analysts thought that Trump’s victory may have wide implications on multiple fronts, including trade, taxes and foreign policy, among others. His win also puts into question the likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate hike.
“Over the next several weeks markets will digest how President Trump’s policies will differ from Trump’s rhetoric. Often there can be disparity between the two as there is often a movement toward a centrist view,” Ahern said.
