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US tech stocks surge in volatile rally after Trump says he won the election, while the dollar's gains start to fade

Nov 4, 2020, 19:29 IST
Business Insider
Joe Biden and Donald Trump speak during the first presidential debate at the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29, 2020.JIM WATSON,SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Image
  • US tech stocks led a volatile rally after President Donald Trump claimed victory and demanded the Supreme Court to stop counting votes.
  • Futures on the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 rallied 3.7%, while Bitcoin and crude oil were up by well over 2%, while Treasuries saw a swell of demand that pushed yields down by the most in weeks.
  • Trade-sensitive currencies, like the Mexican peso and the Chinese yuan fell, along with safe-havens such as gold and the Japanese yen.
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US stock futures and Treasuries rallied on Wednesday, as the close presidential race that investors had expected played out, giving a boost to technology shares, crude oil, and cryptocurrencies.

After President Trump falsely declared himself the winner and called for the Supreme Court to stop counting votes, traders bet on technology stocks rising higher. Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose by 3.7%, while those on the S&P 500 rose 1.8%, and the Dow Jones rose 0.6%.

By around 0740 am ET, there were eight states still to confirm their final results. Trump or Democratic presidential Joe Biden could still win at this point, as there are still a substantial number of votes left to count in key battleground states and this could take days to complete.

Risk-sensitive assets such as oil and Bitcoin bounced, while more safe-haven assets like gold and the Japanese yen initially came under fire, but managed to pare some of those losses as the day wore on.

The Cboe Volatility Index, a measure of investor nervousness, fell by nearly 13%, indicating a pickup in risk appetite, but still remained in range of last week's four-month-high..

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"As the night grinds on Donald Trump appears to have staged a remarkable comeback, as polling across the US suggests he has had a good night. The market reaction has so far avoided the volatility of 2016, at least on the downside, with yet more gains for stock futures," Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online broker IG.

"This impressive recovery by the party viewed as pro-business has been taken in a positive vein by markets, although there is still a lot of counting to be done."

The dollar index was last down 0.3%, having risen earlier by as much as 0.6%, as the first results trickled in. The yen edged into positive territory, rising 0.1% against the dollar, while the euro reversed course and rallied 0.3%, having earlier fallen steeply.

"Pre-election a "Blue Wave" was seen to be the most risk-friendly outcome with a Biden Presidency/ Republican Senate potentially being the worst short-term outcome," Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said. "However, the latter is probably marginally the most likely outcome now and, importantly, with a high chance of the Presidency being contested in this scenario."

Gold also cut earlier losses and climbed towards session highs to last trade roughly unchanged on the day, in line with the retreat in the dollar. Gold was last roughly flat at $1,910.20 an ounce.

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Bitcoin rose 2% to around $13,786, having hit an earlier high above $14,000, while WTI crude futures rose 2.5% to around $38.58 a barrel.

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