Markets slump around the world as Trump leads U.S. presidential race

Stock markets around the world have contemplated the world with Donald Trump as the U.S. president, and it isn’t pretty.

The Shanghai stock exchange is down 0.35 percent. The Nikkei is down 5.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index is down 2.8 percent. Wall Street’s opening is hours away, and traders are sure to be jittery. Dow futures dropped more than 800 points, while S&P 500 futures fell more than 5 percent. It’s possible that market circuit breakers will be implemented to delay trading in the morning.

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The swing has been stunning. FiveThirtyEight said 17 hours ago there was a 71 percent chance that Clinton would win, while the New York Times said that there was an 84 percent chance she would win. Now there’s a 77 percent chance that Trump will win (10:25 pm Pacific time) according to FiveThirtyEight, while the New York Times says there is a 95 percent chance that Trump will win.

Not only will Wall Street have to contemplate what would happen in a Trump presidency, it will also have to think about what Trump could accomplish with Republican control of Congress and an ability to fill vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court. And there’s a lot of uncertainty that the stock markets won’t like, as the future will depend on matters such as who the president-elect chooses for the Cabinet and what policies will be implemented.

The question for the tech world is what will happen to tech stocks in the near term. They will likely take a dive in the morning. And in the long term, there are questions about issues such as the future of immigration, manufacturing in the U.S., and trade agreements.