Dow stock futures surge 1,190 points as Trump declares election victory

Investing.com -- U.S. stock index futures soared Wednesday after Donald Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential election, with the Republicans also set to sweep the Senate and the House.

At 05:10 ET (10:10 GMT), Dow Jones Futures rose 1,190 points, or 2.8%, S&P 500 Futures rose 130 points, or 2.3%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 355 points, or 1.8%. Trump declares victory

Republican candidate Donald Trump declared himself the victor in the US presidential election earlier Wednesday, despite the race yet to be officially called, saying the win gives him a "powerful mandate" to enact his various economic policies.

Trump has already won several of the key battleground states, including North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania, and one network, Fox News, has already called him the winner over Democrat Kamala Harris. Republicans set to sweep the Senate, House

The Republican party won a majority in the Senate, and was seen on course to also win the House of Representatives.

A Republican sweep in Congress presents a much easier path for Trump to enact major policy changes. Trump is widely expected to enact more inflationary policies, given his largely protectionist stances on immigration and trade.

The dollar and Treasury yields shot up on this notion, with the greenback hitting a near four-month high.

A swift conclusion to the 2024 elections also presents the clearing of a major point of uncertainty for stock markets, given the turmoil that surrounded the conclusion of the 2020 presidential election. Fed meeting in spotlight 

Wall Street indexes rose sharply on Tuesday, recovering from recent losses on gains in technology stocks, with risk appetite boosted by the expectation of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this week.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, the NASDAQ Composite climbed 1.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1%. 

All three indexes were nursing a tumble from record highs in late October following a mixed batch of mega-cap tech earnings, while uncertainty over future interest rate cuts by the Fed also weighed.

The central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the conclusion of a two-day meeting on Thursday. 

Any signaling on the Fed’s plan for future rate cuts will be closely watched, given recent signs of stickiness in U.S. inflation. The central bank has signaled a largely data-driven approach to future easing.  Crude prices slip lower after API release 

Oil prices fell Wednesday after industry data pointed to a rise in US crude stockpiles, while the dollar surged on Trump’s election progress. 

By 05:10 ET, the Brent contract slipped 1.2% to $74.68 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 1.2% lower at $71.22 per barrel.

Data from the American Petroleum Institute  data, released on Tuesday, showed that U.S. crude inventories rose by 3.13 million barrels last week, higher than the expected 1.1 million barrels.

The official  inventory numbers are due later on Wednesday, but if the API release is confirmed it would spur some concerns that U.S. fuel demand was cooling, especially as the winter season approaches. 

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

Source: Investing.com