(Kitco News) – Well the US election result hangs on a knife-edge with Democratic candidate Joe Biden on 224 votes and current (Republican) President Donald Trump just slightly behind on 213. Trump is now odds on with the bookmakers to win as some of the key states that Biden needed to win over remain in Republican hands. Some states like Florida are too close to call and during and the EU session on Wednesday (today) the results will continue to filter through. Joe Biden will now need to make progress in areas like Pennsylvania and the results could be out as late as Friday so the market could be in for a wait to find out the official outcome. The magic number remains 270 votes and both candidates are hanging on as every state gets called.
US President Trump has not been too impressed with the overall process as he took to Twitter to say the election is a fraud on the American people and he plans to go to the supreme court as he wants all voting to stop. This could become more of an issue of Biden wins are there could be a long drawn out hand over process at the White House.
Futures are falling leading into the EU session. S&P 500 futures are down 0.89%, while Dow futures are 1.47% in the red. Over in the Asia Pac area, the markets traded mixed with the Nikkei 225 rising 1.72% and the ASX trading just under flat. Gold is down nearly 1% as the best performer in the FX markets remains the US dollar. Base metals are also under pressure due to the strength in the greenback with copper trading 1.50% in the red.
Highlights in today’s session include EU, US and UK composite and services PMI, comments from ECB’s Schnabel and Panetta. Also earnings from Qualcomm, BMW and Credit Agricole. The main event will still be finding out the outcome of the rest of the results in the individual states.