Markets wobble then rebound in wake of Trump’s triumph

THE London stock market rebounded quickly during trading after initially plunging as traders reacted to Donald Trump’s victory in the US election.

The Republican President-elect was just a few electoral college votes short of the required 270 when the markets opened this morning and within minutes the FTSE 100 was down by 1.7%.

However an hour later the index had recovered to last night’s close. At 2.50pm it was trading up 0.7% for the day. The FTSE 250, which is made up of companies that typically have a more UK focus, initially fell further, down more than 2%, before it also rebounded back into positive territory.

After 46 of the 50 states had declared, Donald Trump was leading 278-218 in the electoral college, although Hillary Clinton had received 160,000 more votes, with 59.29m.

US stocks opened down when Wall Street began trading this afternoon, but losses were slimmer than initially anticipated. The worst-hit index, the Nasdaq, was down 0.7% in early trading, but analysts had been forecasting a 1.9% drop.