Global markets plummet as US election projections reveal close race

As US TV networks started calling state projection results in the US election, US stock futures started plunging, with key battleground states too close to call between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Dow futures plummeted 700 points, or 4%, Wednesday morning (CET) with major indexes in Asia falling by more than 2%.

Markets hate uncertainty – and many investors believe Donald Trump’s unpredictable nature and anti-trade stance could bring lots of global uncertainty if he wins the presidency.

“Shock and awe would aptly describe movements of global markets right now,” said Matt Simpson, a senior markets analyst at ThinkMarkets.

Stock futures really began tumbling as it became clear that several key battleground states, including Virginia, North Carolina and Florida were too close to call.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this close,” said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at brokerage firm ConvergEx. “Regardless of how things shake out in an hour or two, this is a surprise – a big surprise.”

The Mexican peso plunged more than 10% to an all-time low, after seesawing violently all evening as Trump started pulling ahead in key battleground states.

Trump’s anti-Mexico rhetoric has affected the value of the peso for weeks. Trump had talked about renegotiating or even ending NAFTA, the free trade deal between the US, Mexico and Canada.

“The Mexican economy is most tied to Donald Trump’s criticism of global trade. It really is ground zero of this discussion economically,” said Colas.

Investors turned to assets that are seen as safer bets in times of uncertainty. Gold jumped more than 2% and the Japanese yen surged more than 2% against the dollar.