of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend following weeks of mounting pressure that fueled speculation in domestic, global and cryptocurrency markets that increasingly hedged on a second Donald Trump victory.U.S. stock futures edged upwards after Biden told Americans it was time for him “to stand down,” with Dow futures climbing 0.14%, S&P 500 futures 0.39% and Nasdaq futures 0.64% before markets opened early Monday morning.
Asia Pacific shares mostly fell, however, with Japan’s Nikkei benchmark falling 1.16%, South Korea’s Kospi losing 1.14%, Australia’s ASX 200 dropping 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite index dropping 0.61% after China’s central bankinterest rates following Beijing’s weaker-than-expected economic data last week, though Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index bucked the trend and added 1.25%.
The price of Bitcoin has held relatively steady following Biden’s announcement, briefly topping $68,000 before falling to around $67,400, with other major cryptocurrencies like Ether, Dogecoin, Solana’s Sol and Cardano’s Ada also rising on Monday before paring gains.Given the U.S.’ political and financial clout on the world stage, global markets understandably respond to the changing odds of who will occupy the White House next.