US voters go to the polls in critical midterm elections on Tuesday
Global stock markets mostly moved higher on Tuesday as Americans headed to the polls in critical midterm elections.
The dollar dipped the euro, while Chinese demand concerns helped push oil prices down around one percent.
Europe’s main markets ended in the green after starting mixed, with Frankfurt adding 1.3 percent while London and Paris scored more modest gains.
On Wall Street, the Dow had added around 1.5 percent two hours into trading, while the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq were also up by a similar margin.
“Those US midterm elections today might keep investors on the sidelines a bit before they make any major decisions,” noted Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.
“Investors are hoping for a political gridlock.
That would make it difficult to pass radical policy changes,” said Fawad Razaqzada market analyst with City Index and FOREX.com.
Polls opened Tuesday in crucial US elections that could decide the political future of both President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump — who has all but announced he will seek the White House again in 2024.
Biden’s Democrats are facing a gargantuan struggle to hang on to Congress, after a race the president has cast as a “defining” moment for US democracy — while Trump’s Republicans have campaigned hard on kitchen-table issues like inflation and crime.
Polls show Republicans are likely to win at least one house of Congress — and some see the prospect of further Washington gridlock as a scenario that lessens the risk of policy uncertainty.
“Consensus is that investors prefer political deadlock as it prevents any significant shifts in policy,” added Scope Markets analyst James Hughes.
“With that looking like a real possibility, the real market turbulence may appear later in the week.”
Politics aside, investors are also waiting on US inflation data due on Thursday for a pointer on the interest path ahead.
In Asia, the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets sank as speculation about a rollback of China’s strict zero-Covid policies fuelled market volatility, but Tokyo ended 1.3 percent ahead.
– Crypto crunch –
Elsewhere, in the world of crypto finance, Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency platform, tweeted it has agreed to buy its financially-troubled rival FTX.com.
Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao said the group had signed a non-binding letter of intent “to fully acquire FTX.com,” which is enduring “a significant liquidity crunch”.
FTX’s native FTT token had earlier slumped 25.4 percent to 16.63 dollars, its lowest since early 2021 after Zhao said Binance was liquidating its holdings amid concerns about FTX’s finances.
Bitcoin, which had earlier sunk 5.3 percent to $19,583, ending a relatively bullish October run, shot back above $20,000 as its daily loss to 1.1 percent.
– Key figures around 1530 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 1.5 percent at 33,344.07 points
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.8 percent at 3,738.30
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,306.14 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 6,441.50 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.2 percent at 13,688.75 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 27,872.11 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.2 percent at 16,557.31 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,064.49 (close)
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.1562 from $1.1514 on Monday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0076 from $1.0020
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.49 from 146.93 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 87.14 pence from 87.03 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $90.90 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.7 percent at $97.22 per barrel
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