The daily business briefing: October 20, 2016

Mexican peso climbs as markets bet against Trump, Tesla announces self-driving capability for all its cars, and more

Thousand peso bills
(Image credit: JES AZNAR/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Mexican peso hits 6-week high as markets bet against Trump

The Mexican peso spiked briefly after Wednesday's presidential debate in what analysts interpreted as a sign the market is firming up bets against Republican nominee Donald Trump, although the peso's gains faded overnight. "The Mexican peso flew to a six-week high post the debate," said Tobias Davis, head of corporate treasury sales at Western Union International Bank, in a note. "The currency tells us [Hillary Clinton] won the evening." Trump has vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he says benefits Mexico and hurts the U.S. "With the polls so heavily in Clinton's favor, markets are priced for her victory," said Sean Callow, a senior strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney. "There probably would only have been a sharp move in markets if Trump had performed extremely well, which wasn't the case."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.