US pre-open: Futures surge on Trump victory

Wall Street futures were sharply higher ahead of the bell on Wednesday after news outlets began to call the 2024 presidential election for Donald Trump.

As of 1220 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 2.92%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 2.08% and 1.47% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 427.28 points higher on Tuesday as America headed to the polls in what was widely considered to be a deadlocked race between former president Trump and vice president Kamala Harris.

Trump was projected to defeat his Democratic rival after winning 276 Electoral College votes, including the key swing states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. The Republican Party was also projected to win back the Senate, while the race for the House of Representatives was still ongoing, leaving the potential for a possible "red sweep".

Stocks linked to Trump traded higher ahead of the bell, with shares in both Tesla, of which CEO Elon Musk was a prominent supporter of the former president, and Trump Media & Technology trading firmly in the green, as did bank stocks.

Bitcoin also surged to an all-time high of $75,000 on the back of hopes for relaxed regulation on cryptocurrencies, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note surged to roughly 4.455% due to speculation that Trump's proposed tax cuts and other spending plans would spark economic growth but also widen the fiscal deficit and further accelerate inflation.

On the macro front, mortgage applications sunk 10.8% week-on-week in the seven days ended 1 November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, a sixth consecutive decline following a 0.1% drop in the prior week. Applications plunged 35% across October as a whole due to a 67 basis point monthly rise in benchmark interest rates.

In the corporate space, embattled drugstore retailer CVS Heatlh posted mixed Q3 results as increased medical expenses weighed on the company's bottom line.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com