You can’t argue what the financial markets think of Donald Trump. While many investors find difficulty supporting Hillary Clinton, they really don’t trust Trump’s unpredictability and uncertainty.
So the day after the first presidential debate, where Clinton clearly held her own, stock prices across major markets rose across the world.
“From a market perspective, rightly or wrongly, there is an understanding that Mrs. Clinton would be a safe pair of hands, that there’s very little uncertainty there,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial in Waltham, Massachusetts.
U.S. consumer stocks were also bolstered by a report showing consumer confidence is up to its strongest number in nine years.
“The market liked the idea of a higher degree of certainty from her policies,” said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Markets. “Some of Trump’s more radical policies involved having control of Congress, which seems unlikely now and the market is sensing some relief.”
Across the globe Asian shares also rose, while the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso surged.
“Markets started to call the debate for Hillary within the first 15 minutes or so, with the Mexican peso surging in what is probably its busiest Asian session in years,” said Sean Callow, a senior currency analyst at Westpac in Sydney. “The bounce in S&P futures, AUD and USD/JPY all show that investors were watching closely and didn’t hesitate to declare Trump the loser.”
The debate was the highest rated political event in American history.