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* S&P futures last down in volatile trade
* Nasdaq futures earlier surge on tech play
* Investors want decisive result and path to stimulus
By Noel Randewich and Alun John
Nov 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures turned down on
Wednesday in volatile trade after President Donald Trump claimed
that he had won the U.S. election even though millions of votes
were still uncounted, raising the specter of a lengthy legal
battle to resolve the outcome.
Democratic challenge Joe Biden had earlier said that he was
confident of winning.
The knife-edge election and the prospect of an acrimonious
legal battle to determine the winner pummeled the S&P emini
futures EScv1 down 1.15%. That marked a sharp reversal from a
1% gain a few hours earlier, after it became apparent Trump
would win the key battleground state of Florida.
Nasdaq 100 emini futures NQcv1 also pared some earlier
gains to last be up 0.77%. Some investors had pointed to a lower
threat of antitrust scrutiny for major technology companies
under Trump than under a Biden presidency.
"Markets can take almost everything, as long it's certain,"
said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy at TS Lombard in London.
"If this were to go to the Supreme Court, then the results
would take even longer and that's probably the worst-case
scenario out of all the possible ones."
"Frankly, we did win," Trump told supporters at the White
House, adding the election was a 'fraud on the American public',
without providing any evidence to support the claim.
Biden's optimism stemmed from his hopes for wins in the
so-called "blue wall" states of Michigan, Wisconsin and
Pennsylvania that sent Trump to the White House in 2016,
although vote counting could stretch for hours or days there.
His expectations for a decisive early victory had faded as
television networks projected the president won in Florida, a
must-win state for Trump, and took the lead in Ohio and Texas.
The surprisingly stronger initial results for Trump boosted
U.S. stock futures earlier in the session, pushed down
longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields from five-month highs and
sharply dented Mexico's peso and China's yuan. Bob Shea, Chief Executive Officer at TrimTabs Asset
Management in New York, said while Trump was doing better people
had defaulted to "'Trump is good for the market', so why not
just buy now and cut to the chase."
Investors for months have said they favor a definitive, fast
resolution to the election. Quickly settling the election would
clear the way for a deal on a stimulus package to help the
damaged U.S. economy. Early results also suggested the Democrats were less likely
than previously expected to take the Senate from Republicans in
a so-called blue wave, which could mean a more modest stimulus
deal.
On election night 2016, U.S. stock index 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.
In Tuesday's trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial
Average .DJI rose 2.06%, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.78%
and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 1.85%.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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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(Editing by Sam Holmes & Shri Navaratnam)