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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: S&P up 0.51%, Nasdaq adds 2.42%, Dow down 0.11%
(Updates prices, adds comments)
By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Susan Mathew
Nov 4 (Reuters) - Futures tracking the S&P 500 and the
Nasdaq indexes rose in volatile trading on Wednesday as
investors faced the prospect of a drawn-out and potentially
contested U.S. election result after President Donald Trump took
the lead in some key states.
Both Trump and Biden 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
0.5% by 5:54 a.m. ET (1054 GMT).
"The indecisiveness in futures is not surprising because we
don't yet have a clear result," said Nicolas Janvier, head of
U.S. equities at Columbia Threadneedle in London.
Trump won the battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and Texas,
dashing Biden's hopes for a decisive early victory, but Biden
said he was confident and was on track to winning the White
House by taking three key Rust Belt states.
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 U.S. 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 7%.
"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,"
said Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset strategist at UBS Global Wealth
Management's chief investment office in London.
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/
At 5:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 31 points,
or 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 272.25 points,
or 2.42%.
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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