Yahoo Finance THE WAIT IS OVER: Your economic preview of Election Day in America
The wait is over: Tuesday is Election Day in America.
Americans head to the polls Tuesday to, among other things, vote for our 45th president.
Markets, however, are acting like this race is over and Hillary Clinton is going to win.
Relief rally
After the benchmark S&P 500 fell for 9 straight days through last Friday, markets opened this week with a furious rally.
On Monday the Dow gained 371 points, or 2.1%, the S&P 500 was up 46 points, or 2.2%, and the Nasdaq was up 120 points, or 2.4%.
Most in markets attributed this rally — which was led overnight on Sunday by markets in Asia — to weekend news that the FBI had affirmed its decision not to charge Clinton over her use of a private email server.
Last week, we noted that Donald Trump was clearly the candidate giving markets pre-election jitters, as a potential Trump administration is viewed by markets as a wild card. And if there’s one thing markets hate, it is uncertainty.
In contrast, markets view a Clinton administration as a continuation of the Obama admin, and the prospect of a status quo outcome has certainly enthused investors.
At least for one day.
Jobs, Fed, etc.
Before we turn our focus to the election, however, the biggest economic data report of the week will come out Tuesday morning.
The September report on job openings and labor turnover is set for release at 10 a.m. ET, and economists expect the report to show there were 5.49 million jobs open in September.
Last Friday’s jobs report, you’ll recall, seemed to pave the way for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December, particularly on account of the strong wage gains we saw in October.
As for how the presidential election is likely to effect Janet Yellen’s post at the top of the Fed, Wall Street economists have been clear — change is not happening.
“If Trump wins would Yellen leave?” asked JP Morgan economist Michael Feroli in a note to clients on Monday.
“In a word: no.”
Dana Peterson at Citi added that a Yellen resignation in the wake of either a Trump or Clinton victory would also fan flames of discontent that the Fed has become an overtly politicized post.
The whole story
We know the election is on Tuesday, that the next president will be revealed, but what happens next?
Fortunately, Yahoo Finance has you covered to answer all your questions about where we go from here.
Rick Newman has the details on how Trump and Clinton differ on immigration, infrastructure, Social Security, taxes, and jobs.
Nicole Sinclair has the skinny on what the election means for stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities.
And here’s an outline of what the worst election scenario is for financial markets.
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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance.
Read more from Myles here; follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
