Dow futures nosedive 800 points as Trump win looks more certain


The markets have been in a panic since Donald Trump's odds of winning the presidency skyrocketed over the course of Tuesday evening. Dow futures nosedived 800 points and S&P 500 futures plummeted more than 5 percent before midnight. The plunge in Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures triggered a halt until the market opens Wednesday because they've fallen to limit-down levels.
"Right now, the markets are heading for the hills, but we'll see," Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist, global bonds and foreign exchange at Prudential Fixed Income, told CNBC. "That's a function of fear as much as fact."
Part of the fear stems from how other players around the world might act if Trump wins the presidency. The Mexican peso and Asia's Nikkei have already shown signs of suffering.
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"I think this could be the second strike of populism if Trump wins and I think that it's probably a bigger surprise for international markets than it is for the U.S.," Jack Ablin, CIO at BMO Private Bank, told CNBC. "Right now it's just emotional. Everything from the last two days would get undone, and then we'd have to take it down. We could see a 600 point [Dow] reversal."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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