Donald Trump is about to return to the White House after being considered the winner in all key swing states. Trump, addressing his supporters at his election watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida, called it “a political victory the likes of which our country has never seen before.” While Trump has not yet been declared the winner by most news outlets, he won Pennsylvania, breaking the Democratic blue wall and all but dashing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris' hopes of a comeback. Republicans should also control the Senate and give Trump the support he needed to push through his economic policies. Control of the House of Representatives remained too close to call. Election polls released by a consortium of networks suggested Trump was helped by voter frustration over the state of the economy. The direction became clear more quickly than many expected. Even as the first results came in during the Asian day, some regional authorities were already moving to protect their currencies while others remained on standby.

Market reaction was widespread and rapid. U.S. stock futures rose, Treasury yields rose and the dollar rose by the most since March 2020. Emerging market currencies weakened. Bitcoin jumped to a record high, oil fell and gold crashed. The Chinese yuan and stocks fell on concerns about the potential fallout from heightened trade tensions, even as shares of a Chinese company that sounds like “Trump Wins Big” to Mandarin speakers jumped.