Stock Market Today: Dow futures soar 1,100 points, bitcoin rockets, yields jump as Trump declares victory
The greenback has soared on news of former President Donald Trump’s electoral victory, leaving it on track for its best day in more than two years, by one measure.
Big gains for the buck helped push the ICE U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the dollar’s value against a basket of its biggest rivals (although it’s most heavily weighted toward the euro), 1.6% higher at 105.04 in recent trade, according to FactSet data. If it holds, this would be its biggest gain since Sept. 23, 2022.
The ICE index was also trading at its strongest level since early July, meaning the buck has reversed nearly all of its precipitous third-quarter decline.
The dollar rose against all of its major G-10 and emerging-market rivals, although it saw the biggest gains against the euro, which was down 1.9% at $1.07 in recent trade, and the Mexican peso, which was off by more than 3% at 20.74 pesos to the buck. The Japanese yen, which has been a major focus for international markets since the unwind of the yen carry trade was blamed for a punishing but short-lived selloff in global stocks, was also taking a beating, as was the Chinese yuan.
However, the dollar’s powerful overnight rally was already showing signs of fatigue. That’s understandable, considering that many of the details of Trump’s policy proposals, as well as their eventual international impact, have yet to be worked out.
“In view of the election outcome, the USD surged across the board this morning. That said, while the market is familiar with the broad outline of a Trump presidency, a huge amount of uncertainty remains on the size and extent of his policies,” Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank, said in a client note shared with MarketWatch.
“An even greater amount of uncertainty pertains to the international impact of Trump’s agenda and then on the possible policy responses of governments and major central banks around the world.”