Uncertainty Around U.S. Election Results Not Good For Markets: Alistair Newton

Equity investors have to be “very very cautious” about prospects in the near term amid a spike in uncertainty, according to Alavan Business Advisory’s Alistair Newton, as Donald Trump and Joe Biden remain locked in a close race for U.S. presidency.

There’s no way that U.S. election results are going to be declared tonight, considering the large voter turnout, the co-founder and director at the firm told BloombergQuint’s Niraj Shah in an interview. “I don’t think this is good for the markets. Investors hate uncertainty.”

As of 2:45 p.m. Indian time, Biden had 238 votes, while Trump had 213. States like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Wisconsin are yet to declare their results. While neither candidates managed to secure the mandated 270 votes of the electoral college, Trump falsely declared that he had won the re-election bid and called for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

“It looks like we are going to be gripped by a period of uncertainty,” Newton said. Still, the one anticipation that this outcome has put to rest is that of a ‘blue wave’. “Since the blue wave has not materialised as anticipated, there has been some repositioning in the U.S. equity market,” he said.

Besides a contested election, possibilities are also looming large for a split Congress as many sitting Democrats were defeated by their Republican challengers. A split Congress, Newton said, will make life very difficult for whoever is the next president of the U.S.

“Not a particularly happy context for investors to operate in,” he said.

Catch latest U.S. election updates here and snapshots of India market here.

Watch the full conversation here...