US futures erase decline as Treasuries, dollar advance

Bloomberg

S&P 500 futures fluctuated while Treasuries jumped amid concern that the US is heading for a contested election after President Donald Trump called for the Supreme Court to
intervene.
Contracts on the benchmark stock index swung from losses to gains. Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 remained up more than 1.5% for most of the Asian and European day. Ten-year Treasury yields tumbled to as low as 0.76% and the dollar strengthened against its biggest peers. The offshore yuan and Mexican peso retreated and gold slipped. European stocks opened lower.
Earlier futures lurched lower after Trump falsely declared early Wednesday he had won re-election against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, even as several battleground states continued to count votes.
“This is a fraud on the American public,” Trump said after noting that he held leads in several states that have not been called in his favour, including Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The comments sent a shockwave through global markets that have been anxious over the prospect of a drawn-out legal battle for the US presidency. While Biden had a solid lead in the polls, it’s becoming clear that the race is going to be far closer than expected.
Earlier, Biden said he felt good about his chances to win the presidency, cautioning supporters that it would take time to finish counting the votes.
“The race is tight and could go either way,” Fabiana Fedeli, global head of fundamental equities at Robeco, wrote in a note to clients. “A contested outcome would drag this volatility for as long as we have a clear result.”
Elsewhere, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. tumbled 7.5% in Hong Kong after China halted the initial public offering of Ant Group Co., in which Alibaba owns about a one-third stake. Asian stocks were mixed
with Japan outperforming and Australia lagging.
Meanwhile, companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., AstraZeneca Plc and Nintendo Company are expected to release the report about their earnings this week, while Macquarie Group Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation are set to release their report on Friday.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed at 8:58 am London time and futures on the S&P 500 Index increased 0.7%.
While Nasdaq 100 Index futures increased 2.6%, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.3%.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index jumped 0.6% and the British pound decreased 1% to $1.2929.
While the Japanese yen weakened by as much as 0.4% to 104.93 per dollar, the Mexican peso weakened 2.5% to 21.6459 per dollar.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased 10 basis points to 0.80% and the yield on 30-year Treasuries sank 10 basis points to 1.58%.
While Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to -0.64%, Britain’s 10-year yield decreased four basis points to 0.23%.
West Texas Intermediate crude increased 0.5% to $37.83 a barrel and gold weakened 0.8% to $1,893.46 an ounce.
While LME aluminum sank 2.6% to $1,856 per metric ton, iron ore rises 0.3% to $113.08 per metric ton.