New York (CNN Business)In the first market reaction to Joe Biden being projected as the next US president, US stock futures were up on Sunday.
Dow (INDU)futures were up 142 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 (SPX) futures were up about 0.5% and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were up 0.6%. Stocks ended mostly unchanged on Friday. The Dow slipped 67 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were flat.
Wall Street has been betting on Joe Biden to win the White House and for Republicans to take the Senate for the last week as the results of the election come into sharper focus. Such an outcome would allow for more modest policies on taxing and regulations. But the fight for Senate control is still in limbo, with likely Senate runoff elections in Georgia.
Markets have had their election party. Is there a hangover coming?”It’s what happens in the Senate race that could determine the next move up or down,” said chief market analyst at CMC Markets, Michael Hewson. “If that looks as if it might change in the run-offs in January then you could see some weakness in certain parts of the stock market in the event the Democrats get their blue wave wish.”Read MoreLooking ahead, investors will be bracing for Biden’s next moves. On Saturday, Biden announced during his victory speech his plans to assemble a coronavirus taskforce that will aid in helping curb the spread of the virus. Biden is set to announce the names of those on his task force on Monday, two sources with knowledge told CNN. The number of coronavirus cases has seen an upswing with more than 50 million cases of Covid-19 reported worldwide.”What we need in the US right now is someone who can really control the outbreak of coronavirus. Investors are confident that Biden gives them this assurity,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade.
Despite a Biden victory, investors still hold concerns for how President Donald Trump will respond to the election loss in the weeks ahead. “The one variable that cannot be accounted for is President Trump becoming even more erratic and destabilizing over the next ten weeks,” said Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. “There is no telling what he might try to do and no ability to predict how the markets might react in response.”
Source: edition.cnn.com
