Stock markets in Asia edged higher, the dollar rose against major currencies and U.S. treasury yields climbed as investors reacted to the early returns in the presidential election.
The results are far from settled and the markets continue to teeter back and forth. But some of the early trading in the Asian day signaled that investors were positioning themselves for a possible victory by former President Donald J. Trump.
Stocks and government bond yields nudged higher while Bitcoin set a record high in early Wednesday trading in Asia — moves that have all been associated with the possibility of economic stimulus under a Trump administration.
The U.S. dollar rose against the Japanese yen, as well as the Mexican peso and Chinese yuan — the currencies of two trading partners expected to be heavily affected by Mr. Trump’s proposal to raise tariffs.
Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at National Alliance Securities, said that the early market reaction appeared to favor Trump. “But it’s not over,” he said. “We’ll see.”
In October, investors started driving up U.S. Treasury yields and pushing the dollar higher against global currencies as they started to see a better chance of a Republican victory.
This was caused in part by the expectation that Mr. Trump’s proposed policies on taxes, trade and immigration may boost growth at the same time as dramatically increasing government spending. Together, analysts believe, they would drive interest rates higher over time.
But in the last week, as the odds in betting markets started to veer slightly from Mr. Trump, some of those trades pulled back. A victory for Vice President Kamala Harris has been seen as more of a continuation of the status quo in terms of policy at a time when the economy is growing and the Fed is cutting interest rates, which also tends to stimulate the economy and support stock prices.
In a sign of the initial market reaction favoring Ms. Harris’s opponent, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose by more than 0.1 percentage point to over 4.4 percent on Wednesday morning.
An index measuring the value of the dollar against several other major currencies rose 1.2 percent. In one of the closely watched currencies, the Japanese yen weakened 1.6 percent to 154.12 per dollar.
Across the region, stock markets extended gains from Tuesday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 2.2 percent. The Shanghai Stock Exchange was up and down, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 2.7 percent.
Bruce Pang, chief economist for the greater China area at JLL, a real estate and investment management firm, said the Hong Kong stocks are down, because the companies listed there are more exposed to a weaker Chinese currency.
U.S. stock futures were more than 1 percent higher.
In the volatile cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin rose nearly 9 percent in the last 24 hours to more than $74,000, eclipsing a record high set in March. Mr. Trump had been promoting himself as a crypto supporter on the campaign trail, fueling hopes that a Republican victory would propel digital currency prices higher.
Over the last few months, cryptocurrency prices have tended to rise and fall with the perception of Mr. Trump’s prospects. Bitcoin prices reached a near record high last month as online bettors seemed to favor his chances of winning, but dipped in the last week.
No stock is more directly linked to Mr. Trump’s political fate than Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. Mr. Trump is the social network’s most important user and largest shareholder, and the company’s shares have traded largely as a proxy for Mr. Trump’s political fortunes.
Trump Media’s stock price swung wildly in after hours trading. At one point, it was up 25 percent from its close on Tuesday, but pulled back to a 10 percent gain.
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