European futures are getting crushed

Stock futures in Europe are crashing on Wednesday as it looks increasing likely that Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.

Futures on both of Europe's biggest stock bourses, Britain's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX 30, are down around 4% just after 6.10 a.m. GMT (1.10 a.m. ET) around two hours before trading formally begins in Europe.

Jameel Ahmad, the vice president of market research at forex provider FXTM, wrote in an email circulated a little earlier:

Recent history has once again repeated itself, and by this I mean that investors were caught completely off guard by not pricing in the reasonable possibility that Donald Trump could become the President of the United States. This is the exact same thing that happened during the EU referendum vote, when investors sided substantially towards pricing in a remain outcome and they were left in complete shock earlier in trading as a result of Donald Trump gaining momentum.

Here are the charts of how FTSE and DAX futures look right now:

Markets around the world are getting slammed, with both Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures hitting a limit-down, or the maximum amount by which they're permitted to fall before trading restraints kick in. They will be halted until the market opens on Wednesday morning in the USA.

Asian stocks crumbled during their trading day, with Japan's Nikkei lower by more than 5.4% at the close, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng off almost 2.9%.

A victory by Hillary Clinton would have been considered more positive for financial markets, at least initially, given investors' familiarity with her political career, and the sense of continuity she would likely provide.

Trump, however, is considered more unpredictable and uncertain. Several strategists forecast an initial stock-market decline of as much as 10% in the USA, although some say this would be short-lived.

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