It has been a night that will go into the history books. Traders spent the night in front of their computer screens, hoping that they would get the final results of the U.S. presidential elections. Although there is no final victory declared, and it may take some days before we get a clear answer in relation to the U.S. presidential election, there are some signs. Throughout the night, one theme had been clear – Trump is still very popular among his supporters.
More importantly, polls have been misleading once again because the race is extremely close, and it may not be wrong to say that odds favour President Trump staying for another term.
The reason is very simple, which is that Trump has delivered on many promises during his term, and Americans are happy with his policies. As for traders, they know that it is more likely that they will see another massive stimulus package and further de-regulatory environment with his as president.
Volatility
In terms of volatility, it was a wild night; we experienced volatility all over the place as traders were reacting to every single headline. The fact is that this trend is not going to end in the coming days, until we will finally know who will become the president.
One of the biggest moves that we experienced last night was in the precious metal, gold. It moved over 35 dollars in no time, and for the rest of the night, the trading session was confined by the price levels of 1883 and 1916.
Traders have also been immensely active in the stock futures market, and the Nasdaq futures hit their limit up a few times. As for the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 futures, the moves had been ultra-wild. The prices for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones have been swinging between gains and losses since then.
Lockdown In England
The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, hopes that applying new tough measures can now help the worsening situation. Bars, gyms, and non-essential shops will close for a month in England starting midnight tonight. The hope is that the public will be able to enjoy Christmas if the numbers are under control by then. The British pound is under selling pressure against the dollar, and it is likely to remain below 1.30.
Coronavirus Update
There are nearly 6.8 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in Europe, and nearly 179K souls are lost. France experienced the biggest daily death rate since mid-April, and as for Italy, the daily death rate is the highest since early May. Netherland has extended its partial lockdown until mid-December. As for the U.S., the infection rate has hit an all-time high, and the hospitalization rate is surging in nearly 44 states.
Alibaba and Ant Group
In terms of stocks, it is all about Alibaba, whose shares plunged over in Asia as Beijing could be initiating a potential crackdown on Ant Group. However, Ant Group still thinks that it can go ahead with its IPO, and the current situation will only delay its IPO by six months or so.