Stock futures curb losses from overnight selloff after election

[November 09, 2016]  By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were sharply lower early on Wednesday but well off overnight lows, as a market that had been anticipating an election victory by Democrat Hillary Clinton scrambled to adjust to an upset win by Republican Donald Trump.

S&P 500 futures pared losses by more than half as Trump struck a conciliatory tone when he took the stage at his Manhattan headquarters in the wake of the victory. He began by thanking Clinton for her many years in public service.

"His victory speech helped turn markets a bit," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

"He sounded conciliatory and didn't bring up tariffs or the wall, which were probably two of the market's biggest concerns."

Trump campaigned strongly on taxing imports from Mexico and China and building a wall on the southern border for which Mexico would pay.

Through the night, financial markets reacted violently as the results beat the polls and closed Clinton's path to victory. The S&P futures <ESc1> slid 5 percent and hit a limit down, meaning the contract could not trade lower, only sideways or up. Dow Industrials futures briefly fell 800 points.

Republicans also maintained their majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, enabling the party to reshape Washington with two years of "unified" government.

Wall Street is typically seen as preferring gridlock, or shared control of the White House and Congress, than a sweep of both Congress houses and the presidency.

As of 7:45 a.m., S&P 500 e-minis <EScv1> were down 32.75 points, or 1.53 percent, with 2,256,567 contracts changing hands. Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQcv1> were down 93.75 points, or 1.95 percent, in volume of 279,569 contracts.

Dow e-minis <1YMcv1> were down 279 points, or 1.53 percent, with 341,709 contracts changing hands.

CBOE Volatility index futures <VXc1> shot nearly 40 percent higher at one point, reflecting investors' reservations over a Trump presidency, but sharply retraced that advance after Trump's acceptance speech. The front-month VIX contract was recently up 16.1 percent.

"What we've seen so far has been relatively orderly, we haven't seen any kind of disorderly jumps. Futures have come back in the last couple of hours," said John Canally, chief economic strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.

"The results were clear and the market likes clarity. There is a Republican House and Republican Senate and that would generally be a market-favoring outcome."

U.S. President elect Donald Trump arrives to address supporters with his son Barron and wife Melania at election night rally in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The Mexican peso <MXN=> slumped versus the U.S. currency to a historic low above 20 per dollar. The peso fell as much as 12 percent versus the greenback and was recently down 7.7 percent at 19.85.

The iShares MSCI Mexico ETF <EWW.P> was down 10.7 percent in premarket trade.

The sharp moves in various financial assets were reminiscent of the sharp downturn suffered by markets after Britain's vote in June to leave the European Union, known as Brexit, which markets misread. S&P e-minis fell 5.7 percent over the two sessions following the vote, but the decline proved a buying opportunity as futures regained their pre-Brexit level within 10 sessions.

"It may prove to be, ultimately, a buying opportunity if the downdraft is severe enough but I don’t expect markets will bounce back quickly either, so you might have to wait awhile to be rewarded," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston.

"Eventually markets, as they normally do historically, adjust but this time it may take a little longer to for that process to unfold."

While stocks fell, traditional safe havens such as gold and U.S. Treasuries rose as investors avoided risk. The U.S. dollar index <.DXY> was off 0.3 percent after falling as much as 2 percent overnight while Gold <XAU=> was up 2.1 percent after climbing as much as 4.9 percent.

Benchmark 10-year notes <US10YT=RR> were last down 17/32 in price to yield 1.923 percent, up from 1.86 percent late on Tuesday, and rose as high as 1.97 percent, the highest yield since March 16.

(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
 

[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.