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* Nasdaq futures surge on Big Tech play
* Banks track declines in Treasury yields
* Investors want decisive result and path to stimulus
* Futures up: Dow 0.38%, S&P 1.23%, Nasdaq 2.80%
(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Medha Singh
Nov 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose in volatile
trading on Wednesday as the race for the White House went down
to the wire, although investors remained worried about the
prospect of a contested result.
Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic contender
Joe Biden both claimed they were on course for victory after
results for a majority of states were called. Trump went
further, claiming falsely that the election was being "stolen"
from him with millions of votes still uncounted. The knife-edge election and the prospect of an acrimonious
legal battle to determine the winner sent S&P e-mini futures
EScv1 tumbling 1.15% earlier, but they recovered to trade up
1.23% by 7:28 a.m. ET (1228 GMT).
A delayed result is "the worst outcome we can see in a legal
context and when we don't have any clarity on the government
that delays the stimulus package and increases the uncertainty
about the economic standing," said Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset
strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management's chief investment
office in London.
Trump won the battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and Texas,
dashing Biden's hopes for a decisive early victory, but the
former vice president said he was confident and was on track to
winning the White House by taking three key Rust Belt states.
Biden was also back as favorite to win the election in
online betting markets, according to data from three
aggregators, after he overtook Trump in the state of Wisconsin.
Investors have said they favor a definitive, fast resolution
to the election as that would clear the way for a deal on a
stimulus package to help the damaged domestic economy. Analysts
have also said the market will be comfortable with a clear Trump
victory. Shares of technology mega-caps including Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O surged more
than 2% in premarket trading with some investors pointing to a
lower threat of antitrust scrutiny for Big Tech under Trump than
under a Biden presidency.
Some infrastructure, renewable energy TAN and marijuana
MJ stocks, seen as likely winners from a Biden presidency,
sank as much as 5%. "Generally, the Biden blue-wave train is favorable to
mid-caps, cyclicals and stocks exposed to trade with emerging
markets so people are having to move quickly back into the
secular growth names and some of the traditional energy stocks,"
Ganesh said.
Still, the prospect of political uncertainty also sent
investors to U.S. Treasuries, sparking the biggest one-day drop
in 10- and 30-year bond yields since June. Shares of U.S. banks,
which typically track Treasury yields, slipped between 1.1% and
2.5%. US/
By 7:28 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 105 points,
or 0.38%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 316 points, or
2.8%.
Meanwhile, Republicans held off Democratic challengers in
five of the 14 most competitive races in the U.S. Senate,
bolstering their chances of retaining a majority in the 100-seat
chamber, although the final outcome may not be clear for some
time. On election night in 2016, U.S. futures plunged as Trump
pulled off an upset victory against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
However, the next day marked the start of the so-called "Trump
rally" that saw the S&P 500 jump 5% in a month, fueled by
promises of massive tax cuts and financial deregulation.
The S&P 500 has climbed about 57% since Trump's election in
2016, with the information technology index .SPLRCT surging
149% and energy .SPNY tumbling 56%, according to Datastream.
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S&P 500 in first terms: Trump vs Obama https://tmsnrt.rs/34Vuvjy
Markets under different presidents during history https://tmsnrt.rs/3p35jj4
"Biden" shares vs "Trump" shares https://tmsnrt.rs/38aZb1V
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