The American elections 2016 gripped the world and had us glued to our screens following the counting. The results sent shock waves around the world. Republican Donald Trump has won the elections over Hillary Clinton.
As voting came to an end, the media and pollsters updated their forecasts to point to a disappointing result. Democratic candidate Clinton, was the former first lady, senator and secretary of state and a deserving candidate. Although counting of votes began in her favour to win the White House as well as become the first female president of America, her luck ran out as the day progressed.
Trump’s success shows how divided the American voters are and demonstrated his ability to tap into white blue-collar workers. He also pulled at their resentment of cultural change, immigration and outsourced jobs which America was losing out on.
Speaking after winning, Trump vowed to fairly deal with other nations. He described his win as a national project of renewal. He promised to double America’s growth and build the strongest economy in the world. “I want to tell the world that we will always put America’s interest first and will deal with everyone fairly” he stated.
Even before the final results were declared, markets around the world plunged as states of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Michigan and Wisconsin, all vital to Clinton were pending. The value of the Mexican peso also went down over fears that Trump will keep up to his promise of building a wall between America and Mexico.
On the other hand, safe haven assets rose with the value of gold and the yen soaring. Wall Street futures fell 3.7 per cent and Asian markets saw a morning of turmoil with Indian stocks dropping a whole six per cent.
