Afternoon summary
Time to recap again….
Wall Street and bitcoin rallied to fresh record highs and the dollar soared after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, while renewable energy stocks fell.
Trump was declared the winner on Wednesday morning after securing the 270 electoral votes needed to take the presidency.
The Republicans also grabbed a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, giving Trump sweeping powers to cut taxes and impose tariffs on imported goods, which was also judged as a positive for the US currency.
When New York opened for trading on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P 500 rose 2.1%, the Dow Jones industrial average increased 3.1%, and tech-focused Nasdaq composite climbed 2.1% – all hitting all-time records.
That’s the Trump trade,” Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower Investments, told CNBC.
“There’s a lot of emotion, there’s a lot of euphoria, based on perspective in markets today. And I think that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the way markets are going to trade in perpetuity.”
Shares in the former president and president-elect’s own Trump Media & Technology Group, hours after revealing another heavy quarterly loss, increased by as much as 30% before losing ground in another volatile rally.
The dollar’s climb began after very early indications of a Republican win in Georgia and gathered pace throughout the day.
The dollar index – which measures the currency against six major peers including the euro and yen – advanced 1.25%, having earlier hit a four-month peak.
More here:
The pound is trading below $1.29 tonight, down a cent and a half.
Bitcoin has surged upwards today, currently up 7.8% at $74580, having hit a record high over $75k early this morning.
But shares in German carmakers took a hit today, on fears of a new TransAtlantic trade war.
Trump’s victory was declared just hours after a UK think tank warned that Britain’s growth would be halved if the now-president-elect imposed tough new tariffs on imports.
Here’s our economics editor Larry Elliott on how Trump’s policies will push up consumer prices:
FTSE 100 ends slightly lower
After a historic day, the UK’s blue-chip stock index has ended the session broadly where it began.
The FTSE 100 has closed down 5.7 points at 8166 points, a dip of 0.07% – which feels like a tiny response to such seismic events in America.
But… there are some big moves on the stock exchange today. Electrical equipment rental firm Ashtead’s shares jumped by 5.6%, indicating optimism of faster US growth, while Barclays gained 5.4% on expectations of higher interest rates for longer.
Weapons maker BAE Systems was another riser, up 4.9%, while cardboard box maker DS Smith are up 3.4%.
British Airways’ parent company, IAG, is up 3%, benefitting from the drop in the oil price today.
The weak pound (down 1.5 cents tonight) will have lifted the value of multinationals who earn revenue in dollars.
The losers colum included mining companies Fresnillo (-3.9%) and Antofagasta (-3.7%), tracking the fall in the gold and copper prices today.
