The dollar rose broadly on Monday and cryptocurrencies jumped as trades for a victory by Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. elections gathered steam in the wake of an attempted assassination of the former U.S. President.
Trump, 78, was holding a campaign rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend when shots rang out, hitting his right ear and leaving his face streaked with blood. His campaign said he was doing well.
Investors reacted by narrowing the odds of a Trump victory come November, which in turn pushed the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields higher on Monday, alongside cryptocurrencies. “Sympathy votes could increase the odds of a Trump victory as more of his supporters may now feel the need to turnout at polling booths in November to vote for him,” said Vasu Menon, managing director of investment strategy at OCBC.
Online betting site PredictIT has a Republican win at 66 cents, from 60 cents on Friday, with the Democrats at 38 cents. The current odds indicate that Republicans are twice as likely to win the election as Democrats.
Against the dollar, the euro fell 0.2% to $1.0888, while sterling dipped 0.13% to $1.2973.
The greenback similarly rose 0.48% against the Norwegian crown and was last 0.35% higher against the Swedish crown. “A bias for a supported, possibly even stronger, USD is likely to play out if the U.S. heads into Trump 2.0,” said Vishnu Varathan, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho Bank.
“This is admittedly more from other major currencies being undermined from a conspiracy of antagonistic U.S. trade and geo-political posturing rather than undisputed allure of USD.” Long-dated U.S. bond yields meanwhile ticked higher on expectations that a Trump win would see policies that would drive up government debt and stoke inflation. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was last up roughly three basis points at 4.2158%. Elsewhere, crypto prices surged, with bitcoin last up roughly 5% at $62,997. Ether jumped nearly 6% to $3,368.14. Trump has presented himself as a champion for cryptocurrency, although he has not offered specifics on his proposed crypto policy.