Markets down amid US presidential election uncertainty

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Global markets continue their decline this week, amid uncertainty surrounding the imminent US presidential election.

Major U.S., European benchmarks expected to close lowerwhile the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris promises to be historically close.

“The US election outcome that global markets fear most is a stalemate – no clear winner”says Michael McCarthy, business strategy expert at Moomoo Australia.

“Such an outcome would almost certainly derail the more than four-year bull market in U.S. stocks, dragging global stocks lower as well.”.

At the same time, the US dollar weakened ahead of today’s release of non-farm payrolls figures on expectations of a slowing labor market.

Safe-haven assets, such as gold, silver and cryptocurrencies, have also declined, suggesting investors are repositioning as a potentially volatile period approaches.

Government bond yields continue to rise amid concerns about inflation fueled by Donald Trump’s agenda. Crude oil, meanwhile, rebounded after Monday’s sell-off as traders reassessed tensions in the Middle East and Chinese economic data.

European stock indices falling

Eurozone headline inflation rose to 2% in October, from 1.7% the previous monthaccording to Eurostat estimates. Core inflation remained stable at 2.7% year-on-year, also beating expectations.

The data could prompt the European Central Bank to take a more cautious approach to rate cuts to support the euro, which hit its highest level in almost two weeks against the U.S. dollar.

European stock indices all recorded declines this week. The Euro Stoxx 600 fell 2.61%, Germany’s DAX 1.98%, France’s CAC 40 1.96% and Britain’s FTSE 100 1.68% over the past five trading days.

All sectors posted weekly losses, with the technology sector lagging the most. ASML shares fell 6.64%, while SAP lost 1.76%. These declines reflect the decline on Wall Street, as the performance of large American technology companies weighed on growth stocks globally.