Last Updated: 4:01 PM EST
Stock indices closed today’s trading session in the green as investors cheered Donald Trump’s win during last night’s U.S. presidential election. In fact, the Nasdaq 100 (NDX), the S&P 500 (SPX), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 2.74%, 2.53%, and 3.57%, respectively.
Interestingly, Treasury yields have been increasing steadily during the past couple of months despite interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Markets appear to believe that Trump’s policies could stoke some inflation and are pricing bonds accordingly.
As a result, the mortgage rate increased to 6.81% compared to last week’s reading of 6.73%. This has also caused the number of mortgage applications to plunge by 10.8% week-over-week.
In addition, WTI crude oil closed higher even after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a soft Crude Oil Inventories report, which measures the weekly change in the number of barrels of commercial crude oil held by U.S. firms.
Compared to last week, inventories increased by 2.149 million barrels. For reference, economists were expecting a rise of 300,000 barrels week-over-week. This means that demand was weaker than anticipated.
First Published: 3:47 AM EST
U.S. stock futures rallied significantly on Wednesday morning as investors eagerly awaited the results of the U.S. presidential election. The market’s positive reaction is driven by expectations that a Donald Trump-led administration could boost economic growth. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 (NDX), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), and the S&P 500 (SPX) were up 1.63%, 2.24%, and 1.92%, respectively, at 3:26 a.m. EST, November 6.
On Tuesday, major U.S. indices closed higher as investors were keenly focused on the presidential election and the upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate decision. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2% and 1.4%, respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1% higher.
It is worth highlighting that the potential policy implications of the election outcome have been a major driver of market sentiment. It is worth noting that the expectations of potential policy changes following the election outcome have been a major driver of market sentiment. Investors are hopeful that the Trump administration will implement policies that can accelerate economic growth and enhance corporate profits through tax cuts and deregulation.
Moving to key corporate earnings reports, Qualcomm (QCOM), Energy Transfer (ET), CVS Health (CVS), Arm Holdings (ARM), Lyft (LYFT), AMX Entertainment (AMC), and Virgin Galactic (SPCE) are set to report their results today.
Meanwhile, the U.S. treasury market experienced a significant shift on Wednesday as the 10-year Treasury note yield soared to around 4.4%, marking a four-month high. At the same time, WTI crude oil futures trended lower, hovering near $71.12 per barrel as of the last check.
Elsewhere, European markets opened higher today as investors awaited the results of the U.S. presidential election.
Asia-Pacific Markets Traded Mixed on Wednesday
Asia-Pacific indices traded mixed ahead of the U.S. election results. Also, investors await information on additional stimulus from the Chinese central bank.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 2.29%. Further, China’s Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component indices declined 0.09% and 0.35%, respectively. However, Japan’s Nikkei and Topix indices finished higher by 2.61% and 1.94%, respectively.
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