Stocks, bond yields and Bitcoin are rising as Trump inches closer to his US election victory

HONG KONG – Stock prices, bond yields and Bitcoin rose sharply on Wednesday as the Republican Party gained control of the Senate and former President Donald Trump reached the 270 electoral votes needed to return him to the White House.

The full results of Tuesday's election may not be announced for several days as officials count all the votes, but investors have already repositioned themselves in anticipation of significant gains by Republicans, who will take control of the election for the first time in four years Senate took over. The results of the parliamentary elections have not yet been determined.

Trump won the battleground state of Georgia, a Republican stronghold that voted for Democrats in 2020. A win in North Carolina helped Trump narrow the path to victory for Vice President Kamala Harris. The victory in Pennsylvania brought him to three electoral votes out of the 270 needed to become the next president.

A Trump victory is expected to lead to faster economic growth and more market-friendly policies.

Before US markets opened on Wednesday, S&P 500 futures rose 1.23% and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 1.02%. Nasdaq composite futures were 1.43% higher.

Bitcoin price rose nearly 8% to a record $75,345.00 as investors bet on a victory for Trump, who has pledged his support for cryptocurrencies. It later fell back to $74,520.00.

Bond yields also rose sharply, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.4% from 4.28% on Tuesday.

“Markets are trying to figure out what happens next, but for now the market is pricing in a higher growth and inflation outlook,” Peter Esho of Esho Capital said in a commentary.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX rose 1.3% to 19,503.40, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 1.9% to 7,550.36. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.4% to 8,285.06.

Markets around the world are fixated on what the election will mean for U.S. economic, monetary, trade and geopolitics. A split in Congress between political parties would complicate policymaking, and a Trump-led White House could have far-reaching consequences given his support for steep increases in tariffs, particularly on imports from China.

The dollar rose against both the Mexican peso and the Chinese yuan, two key trading partners expected to be significantly affected by tariff increases. It also rose against the yen and the euro.

The broad U.S. stock market has historically tended to rise regardless of which party wins the White House, although individual party policies can help and hurt the profits of different industries.

Since 1945, the S&P 500 has risen in 73% of the years when a Democrat was president and in 70% of the years when a Republican was the country's leader, according to Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The S&P 500 has risen nearly 70% since President Joe Biden took office in the 2020 election. The value rose to record levels as the U.S. economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and managed to avoid a recession despite a surge in inflation.

The economy was a key issue for inflation-weary U.S. voters who went for Trump this time, even though mainstream economists said Trump's policy proposals would worsen inflation.

Trump has also vowed to sharply increase tariffs on imports from China and other countries, dimming the outlook for Chinese exporters at a time when Beijing is betting heavily on increasing production to revive its slowing economy.

“Positive results for Harris are likely to boost Asian assets, while Trump gains could put downward pressure,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.

Chinese markets were among the most active in the region this week as leaders held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's legislature.

The meeting is expected to bring further steps to boost economic growth and address rising local government debt. On Tuesday, upbeat comments from Prime Minister Li Qiang on the potential of both fiscal and monetary policies helped lift equity benchmarks in Hong Kong and Shanghai by more than 2%. Li also expressed confidence that China will achieve its growth target of about 5% this year.

In Asian stock trading on Wednesday, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 2.6% to 39,480.67, while Seoul's Kospi lost 0.9% to 2,553.90.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 8,199.50.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.2% to 20,538.38, ending a three-day rally as investors sought safe-haven assets amid uncertainties surrounding the U.S. election. The Hang Seng Tech Index slipped 2.5%, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.1% to 3,383.81.

In other trading early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 90 cents to $71.09 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.00 to $74.53 a barrel.

By ZIMO ZHONG and ELAINE KURTENBACH with The Associated Press

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