U. S. stock futures are dropping as traders consider a future with Trump in the White House.
The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all down by roughly 2% to 3% ahead of the open. Losses were more dramatic earlier in the night with Dow futures plunging more than 900 points.
Dow futures are now off by only about 300 points.
Investors are concerned about Trump’s unpredictable nature and anti-trade stance, which could result in global turmoil during his presidency. But there are hopes that President Trump will be different than candidate Trump.
“The first speech by President-elect Trump has had a calming effect on the markets,” said Kathleen Brooks, a research director at City Index in London. “Trump definitely sounded more presidential than he has done at any stage during the election campaign.”
It’s worth noting that regardless of which candidate wins, stocks typically sell off the day following an election. Case in point: The S&P 500 dropped just over 5% the day after President Obama was elected in 2008.
Looking abroad, European markets posted minor declines in early trading, with many indices down by 1% to 2%.
Asian markets closed out the day in the red. Tokyo’s Nikkei led the declines with a 5.4% loss.
The main Middle Eastern markets also declined by about 1%.
2. Peso plunge: The Mexican peso is getting clobbered in reaction to the U. S. election results.
At one point overnight, the peso was down as much as 11% versus the U. S. dollar, hitting an all-time low. It’s since recovered a bit but is still down by about 8% in early morning trading.
Mexico’s largest trade partner is the U. S. But Trump has attacked Mexico from Day 1 of his campaign and threatened to build a wall between the two countries. The peso is falling hard as traders fret about deteriorating relations between the countries.
3. Seeking a safe haven: Investors typically rush to invest in gold during times of market uncertainty. Today is no exception.
Gold prices rose by 3% as investors bought into the so-called safe haven asset.
The Swiss franc and Japanese yen also got a boost because they are viewed as steady rocks during times of turmoil.
Mining and pharmaceutical stocks were also performing well in Europe.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
