Dollar soars, euro tumbles as Trump wins US presidential election
Updated at 10:00 EST
Dollar set for biggest one-day rise since March 2020
Trump beats Harris to retake White House
Euro, yuan, peso among biggest losers on potential new tariffs
By Karen Brettell
Nov 6 (Reuters) -The dollar soared on Wednesday and was set for its biggest one-day rise since March 2020 after Republican Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, while the euro, Chinese yuan and Mexican peso were among the biggest losers on potential new tariffs in the regions.
Trump beat Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris to retake the White House while Republicans also won a U.S. Senate majority. Control of the House of Representatives remains in question, with Republicans currently holding a narrow majority.
A full sweep by Republicans would allow the party to make larger policy changes and in turn would likely provoke larger currency moves.
Trump’s policies on restricting illegal immigration, enacting new tariffs, lower taxes and deregulation may boost growth and inflation and could crimp the Federal Reserve’s ability to cut rates.
"This can push inflation higher and force the Fed to a slower easing path, which is dollar-positive," said Nikos Tzabouras, senior market specialist at trading platform Tradu.
The euro zone, Mexico, China and Canada are viewed as being as being at risk of potential new tariffs, which may hurt economic growth in the regions and widen their interest rate differentials with the United States.
Nick Wood, Head of Execution at MillTechFX and Millennium Global notes that currency moves on Wednesday have been orderly, with currency pairs in general seeing volumes around 25% to 30% above usual.
That may have been helped by investors holding relatively light positions heading into the election.
“It seems like elements of the market were actually kind of running quite light in terms of risk, so therefore they can be a little bit more patient in terms of entering positions as opposed to feeling like you're the wrong side of something and having to exit a position at a speed,” he said.
A complicating factor for the dollar outlook longer term, meanwhile, could be that Trump has stated a preference for a weak U.S. currency.
“Both this year, but also during his previous stay at the White House, he had essentially challenged the longstanding strong dollar mantra, because he prefers a weaker currency to help with exports and American economic activity," said Tzabouras.
"And he had also called for lower interest rates, so this could actually pose headwinds for the dollar in the long run as these policies begin to take shape.”
The dollar index =USD was last up 1.72% at 105.17 and reached 105.44, the highest since July 3. The euro EUR=EBS dropped 1.91% to $1.0720 and got as low as $1.0683, the lowest since June 27.
The greenback rose 1.60% to 154.02 Japanese yen JPY=EBS and reached 154.48, the highest since July 30.
The Japanese yen could now approach levels that prompted officials to intervene and shore up the currency earlier this year.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Wednesday that the government intended to closely watch moves on the foreign exchange market, including speculative moves, with a higher sense of urgency.
Trump has also expressed favorable views on cryptocurrencies, which helped to lift bitcoin to a record high of $75,389. It BTC= was last up 7.3% at $74,181.
The Fed is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on Thursday and investors will also watch for any new clues on whether the U.S. central bank could pause cuts in December.
A much stronger than expected jobs report for September led investors to pare back expectations on how many times the Fed is likely to cut rates. A much weaker than anticipated report for October has raised some doubts over this view though this data was clouded by the impact of recent hurricanes and labor strikes.
Traders are now pricing 65% odds the Fed will also cut in December, down from 77% on Tuesday, according to the CME Group’s Fed Watch Tool.
The Bank of England is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, while the Riksbank is seen easing by 50 basis points and the Norges Bank is expected to stay on hold.
Markets react to Trump U.S. election win https://reut.rs/3CfrDB3
Additional reporting by Samuel Indyk and Kevin Buckland; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
