What began as a sharp selloff in financial markets around the world overnight, when it became apparent that Donald Trump would become the next US president, reversed course on Nov. 9, giving way to a market rally.
While economists, foreign powers and traders have fretted about the Republican candidate’s lack of experience, anti-globalization stance, and aggressive rhetoric toward foreign powers, investors on Nov. 9 sifted through the president-elect’s controversial comments about gun control and trade, and rewarded sectors that could benefit from Trump win. Those sectors included coal and oil companies and drug-makers.
In Asian trading hours, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 700 points in pre-market trading, while futures for the S&P 500 index fell as much as 5%, the maximum limit allowed outside of US trading hours.
But the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now up 1.2% pushing the composite to near an all-time high.
The Mexican peso has become a proxy for traders during this election, and it plunged to a record low when the vote results started rolling in, given Trump’s anti-immigration and anti-NAFTA stance, but it has recovered some ground.
There are still so many questions about what a Trump presidency will involve that traders aren’t making any big bets. However, anxious investors are still flocking to safe haven assets—gold prices, the Swiss franc, and the Japanese yen have all been rising.
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