Tag Archives: Trump

Dow hits record high as markets ride on Trump win

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) the day after the U.S. presidential election in New York City,

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) – The Dow Jones industrial average hit a record intraday high on Thursday as investors bet that President-elect Donald Trump would lead a shift away from austerity policies.

Investors are seeing Trump’s policies such higher defense and infrastructure spending, tax cuts and deregulation of banks and as being more business-friendly than Democrat Hillary Clinton’s position of maintaining status quo.

“The markets are adjusting to a new reality and are giving Trump the benefit of doubt,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer of Sarhan Capital.

“He does have some problems with immigration and with social issues, but his economic policies, at least in the short-term, are perceived to be stimulative and net good for the economy and that’s why stocks are rallying.”

The dollar jumped to a more than two-week high of 98.92, while gold turned flat as investors returned to riskier assets such as stocks.

The Mexican peso continued its downward momentum against the dollar as Trump’s policies are considered deeply negative for the country.

At 9:43 a.m. ET (1343 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 161.69 points, or 0.87 percent, at 18,751.38.

The S&P 500 was up 17.11 points, or 0.79 percent, at 2,180.37. The index is less than 20 points shy of its record intraday high.

The Nasdaq Composite index was up 45.40 points, or 0.86 percent, at 5,296.47.

Financial and healthcare stocks rose, continuing to hold their positions as the top performers among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors in the post-Trump victory rally.

Consumer staples, utilities and real-estate – the defensive parts of the market – remained the big losers.

As investors decipher what a Trump presidency would mean to the financial markets, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard repeated his call that a single interest rate increase would be adequate for the foreseeable future.

Macy’s rose 6.4 percent to $40.85 after the department store operator raised its full-year sales forecast and announced a partnership to monetize some of its real-estate assets.

Shares of drugmakers such as Merck, Celgene and Gilead rose on Trump’s victory and after California voters turned down a ballot initiative aimed at reining in rising prices for prescription drugs.

IBM provided the biggest boost to the S&P and the Dow, rising 2.7 percent to $159.02 after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the technology services provider’s stock and raised its price target.

Walt Disney and Nordstrom are expected to report earnings after market closes.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,725 to 1,049. On the Nasdaq, 1,756 issues rose and 648 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 70 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 221 new highs and 14 new lows.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Thousands protest Trump’s surprise win causing some violence and arrests

A pile of burning garbage set by demonstrators is seen on Broadway during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United

By Timothy Mclaughlin and Alexander Besant

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Demonstrators marched in cities across the United States on Wednesday to protest against Republican Donald Trump’s surprise presidential election win, blasting his campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and other groups.

In New York, thousands filled streets in midtown Manhattan as they made their way to Trump Tower, Trump’s gilded home on Fifth Avenue. Hundreds of others gathered at a Manhattan park and shouted “Not my president.”

In Los Angeles, protesters sat on the 110 and 101 highway interchange, blocking traffic on one of the city’s main arteries as police in riot gear tried to clear them. Some 13 protesters were arrested, a local CBS affiliate reported.

An earlier rally and march in Los Angeles drew more than 5,000 people, many of them high school and college students, local media reported.

A demonstration of more than 6,000 people blocked traffic in Oakland, California, police said. Protesters threw objects at police in riot gear, burned trash in the middle of an intersection, set off fireworks and smashed store front windows.

Demonstrators run on Telegraph Avenue after police deployed teargas during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States

Demonstrators run on Telegraph Avenue after police deployed teargas during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

Police responded by throwing chemical irritants at the protesters, according to a Reuters witness.

Two officers were injured in Oakland and two police squad cars were damaged, Johnna Watson, spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department told CNN.

In downtown Chicago, an estimated 1,800 people gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower, chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA.”

Chicago police closed roads in the area, impeding the demonstrators’ path. There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence there.

“I’m just really terrified about what is happening in this country,” said 22-year-old Adriana Rizzo in Chicago, who was holding a sign that read: “Enjoy your rights while you can.”

In Seattle, police responded to a shooting with multiple victims near the scene of anti-Trump protests. Police said it was unrelated to the demonstrations.

Protesters railed against Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep immigrants from entering the United States illegally.

Hundreds also gathered in Philadelphia, Boston and Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday evening. In Austin, the Texas capital, about 400 people marched through the streets, police said.

A representative of the Trump campaign did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the protests. Trump said in his victory speech he would be president for all Americans, saying: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”

Earlier this month, his campaign rejected the support of a Ku Klux Klan newspaper and said that “Mr. Trump and his campaign denounces hate in any form.”

People march in protest to the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States in Seattle,

People march in protest to the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States in Seattle, Washington, U.S. November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Redmond

“DREAMERS” FEAR DEPORTATION

Earlier on Wednesday, some 1,500 students and teachers rallied in the courtyard of Berkeley High School, in a San Francisco Bay Area city known for its liberal politics, before marching toward the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

Hundreds of high school and college students also walked out in protest in Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and three other Bay Area cities – Oakland, Richmond and El Cerrito.

A predominantly Latino group of about 300 high school students walked out of classes on Wednesday in Los Angeles and marched to the steps of City Hall, where they held a brief but boisterous rally.

Chanting in Spanish “the people united will never be defeated,” the group held signs with slogans such as “Not Supporting Racism, Not My President” and “Immigrants Make America Great.”

Many of those students were members of the “Dreamers” generation, children whose parents entered the United States with them illegally, school officials said, and who fear deportation under a Trump administration.

“A child should not live in fear that they will be deported,” said Stephanie Hipolito, one of the student organizers of the walkout. She said her parents were U.S. citizens.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence.

Wednesday’s demonstrations followed a night of protests in the San Francisco area and elsewhere in the country in response to Trump’s victory against heavily favored Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

(Reporting by Noah Berger and Stephen Lam in Oakland, Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago, Alexander Besant in New York, Curtis Skinner in Berkeley, California, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler, Peter Cooney and Paul Tait)

Europe gets Trump ‘wake-up call’, but can it step up?

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets his running mate Mike Pence during his election night rally in Manhattan, New York

By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – For Europe, already reeling from Britain’s decision to leave its 28-member club, Donald Trump’s election introduces a host of new uncertainties it is ill-equipped to tackle.

Preoccupied by a growing anti-establishment mood across the continent, the European Union’s leaders gave little thought to the idea a man dubbed “the pioneer of a new authoritarian and chauvinist international movement” by Germany’s deputy chancellor could take power in the United States.

The day before, one of the EU’s leaders had confided a contingency plan of “crossing ourselves and praying”. The day after, as they pledged to work with Trump, a senior EU diplomat summed up their dilemma.

“Since we have refused to really think through this scenario, we have a list of questions that need to be answered, but almost everything is a big unknown,” the envoy told Reuters.

For some, Europe must now step up and take more responsibility, both for its own security and the wider world, if the entrepreneur makes good on campaign talk of limiting U.S. defense commitments and other engagements abroad.

Trade relations, climate change, Russia and tackling Islamic State are all areas where Europe may have to forge its own path if a Trump-led Washington pulls back from the global stage.

“This is another wake-up call,” said Manfred Weber, a German ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel who leads conservatives in the European Parliament. “It is now up to Europe. We must be more self-confident and assume more responsibility.

“We do not know what to expect from the USA.”

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told Reuters a Trump White House “may help some people in Europe understand that we need to reinforce defense cooperation among Europeans”.

But EU leaders know that euroskeptic radicals, inspired by Trump and Britain’s vote to leave the bloc in June, could exploit any attempt to tighten cooperation to condemn them to the same ignominious electoral fate as Hillary Clinton.

East Europeans fret President Vladimir Putin may use Trump’s vow to improve ties with sanctions-hit Moscow to extend Russian influence, as in Ukraine. The Norwegian head of NATO felt obliged to spell out that Trump could not renege on security guarantees.

“PUTTING ON A BRAVE FACE”

“Europe cannot blink after Brexit, after the election of Donald Trump,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said of the political earthquake in Washington, which, 27 years to the day since the fall of the Berlin Wall, continues to provide the lion’s share of military muscle to defending the continent.

“Europe must stand together more, be more active and go more on the offensive,” Ayrault said. “Even just to protect itself.”

Privately, senior officials question its ability to do that.

“Europe will need to do more to take care of its own – but are we capable?” a senior European diplomat asked. The EU has been riven with tensions over economic policy, the Syrian refugee crisis and Britain’s exit, and remains very divided.

Another senior EU diplomat told Reuters: “This changes the business model of the EU. But we have no idea how.”

He dismissed suggestions a U.S. withdrawal from some engagements could offer benefits by obliging Europeans to invest more in their cooperation and spend more on their own defense: “That’s not a silver lining. That’s putting on a brave face.”

EU foreign ministers called a special meeting over dinner on Sunday to discuss what Trump’s America will mean for Europe.

Giles Merritt of pro-EU Brussels think-tank Friends of Europe said leaders had no time to lose to “head off trouble” and could revive their own Union by helping defend global stability. They “must … fashion a common European response … before President Trump sets foot in the Oval Office”, he said.

CHANGE THE WHOLE SYSTEM?

It was a result few in Europe had wanted, barring Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orban. European leaders — and Obama Administration envoys — were reduced to highlighting the lowest common denominators of shared history and ideals in giving assurances of continued cooperation.

After a U.S. campaign marked by accusations of racism and sexism, Merkel, preparing for her own election battle next year, said she would work with Trump on the basis of shared values that included “respecting … people’s dignity regardless of their origin, the color of their skin, religion (or) gender”.

Donald Tusk, the former Polish premier who chairs EU summits, responded to what he called “new challenges” and “uncertainty over the future of our Transatlantic relations” by stressing centuries of blood ties across the ocean.

French President Francois Hollande stressed a need for even stronger Transatlantic cooperation to tackle climate change, Islamist security threats and the global economy.

Washington’s ambassador to NATO could offer no detail on the incoming administration’s policy but reassured European peers in Brussels that NATO had always been a “bipartisan venture”.

Anthony Gardner, outgoing President Barack Obama’s envoy to the EU, said change was possible in areas including sanctions on Russia, support for Ukraine, nuclear proliferation, trade, NATO and the Middle East, but added: “Let’s wait to see who appoints as his key advisers.”

He did not see Washington abandoning a key partner for the past 50 years, but his reassurance did not quell a sense of near panic among some senior officials in Brussels.

One said grimly: “This is bad. Brexit was a stupid and damaging mistake but the people running it are not complete lunatics. Now we have a populist in power who can change the whole system as we know it.”

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Thousands take to streets of U.S. cities to protest Trump victory

By Timothy Mclaughlin and Alexander Besant

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Throngs of demonstrators marched in cities across the United States on Wednesday to protest Republican Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the U.S. presidential election, blasting his controversial campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and other groups.

In New York, thousands of protesters filled streets in midtown Manhattan as they made their way to Trump Tower, Trump’s gilded home on Fifth Avenue, while hundreds of others gathered at a Manhattan park and shouted “Not my president.”

In downtown Chicago, an estimated 1,800 people gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower, chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA.”

Chicago police closed roads in the area, impeding the demonstrators’ path. There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence.

“I’m just really terrified about what is happening in this country,” said 22-year-old Adriana Rizzo in Chicago, who was holding a sign that read: “Enjoy your rights while you can.”

Protesters railed against Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep immigrants from entering the country illegally.

Hundreds also gathered in Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday evening, and organizers planned rallies in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland, California.

In Austin, the Texas capital, about 400 people marched through the streets, police said.

A representative of the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the protests. In his victory speech, Trump said he would be president for all Americans, saying: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”

Earlier this month, his campaign rejected the support of a Ku Klux Klan newspaper and said that “Mr. Trump and his campaign denounces hate in any form.”

“DREAMERS” FEAR DEPORTATION

Earlier on Wednesday, some 1,500 students and teachers rallied in the courtyard of Berkeley High School, in Berkeley, a San Francisco Bay Area city known for its liberal politics, before marching toward the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

Hundreds of high school and college students also walked out in protest in Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and three other Bay Area cities, Oakland, Richmond and El Cerrito.

A predominantly Latino group of about 300 high school students walked out of classes on Wednesday morning in Los Angeles and marched to the steps of City Hall, where they held a brief but boisterous rally.

Chanting in Spanish: “The people united will never be defeated,” the group held signs with slogans such as “Not Supporting Racism, Not My President” and “Immigrants Make America Great.”

Many of those students were members of the “Dreamers” generation, children whose parents entered the United States with them illegally, school officials said, and who fear deportation under a Trump administration.

“A child should not live in fear that they will be deported,” said Stephanie Hipolito, one of the student organizers of the walkout. She said her parents were U.S. citizens.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence.

Wednesday’s demonstrations followed a night of protests in the San Francisco area and elsewhere in the country in response to Trump’s victory against heavily favored Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Demonstrators smashed storefront windows and set garbage and tires ablaze late on Tuesday in downtown Oakland. A few miles away, students at the University of California, Berkeley protested on campus.

(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago, Alexander Besant in New York, Curtis Skinner in Berkeley, California, and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney)

Wall Street swings in post-U.S. election rollercoaster

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday, rebounding from stunning overnight losses fueled by the U.S. election as sectors that appeared poised to benefit from a Donald Trump presidency led the charge.

After tremendous losses in the overnight session, the Dow and S&P 500 briefly turned positive shortly after the open. Strong gains in the heavily weighted healthcare sector. SPXHC, up 2.9 percent, and financials. SPSY, up 2.5 percent, kept the market within striking distance of the unchanged level.

A curb on drug pricing was one of the key campaign themes for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, while Republican President-elect Donald Trump has called for repealing the Affordable Care Act and loosening restrictions on banks enacted after the financial crisis.

“There was the potential for, maybe not all the way to price controls, but certainly more pressure on some of the pharma names and that has likely gone away,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

“It remains to be seen what President Trump and the Republicans will do on the healthcare side, certainly that has been a drumbeat for eight years now about the repeal of Obamacare”

The Dow Jones industrial average. DJI rose 20.78 points, or 0.11 percent, to 18,353.52, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.1 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,137.46 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 12.34 points, or 0.24 percent, to 5,181.15.

Through the night, financial markets reacted violently to poll results and as Clinton’s path to victory narrowed. The S&P slid 5 percent and hit a limit down, meaning the contract could not trade lower, only sideways or up. Dow Industrials futures briefly fell 800 points.

Republicans also maintained their majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, enabling the party to reshape Washington with two years of “unified” government.

“The reality is the President doesn’t dominate everything and we are still going to have a fairly split and divided Congress because even though the Republicans technically have control of the House and the Senate, they don’t have strong control,” said Jason Pride, director of investment strategy at Glenmede in Philadelphia.

“The lack of strong control kind of handicaps their ability to push through, or handicaps any one person, particularly the President’s ability, to push through extreme policies,” he said.

Wall Street is typically seen as preferring gridlock, or shared control of the White House and Congress, than a sweep of both chambers of Congress and the presidency.

The CBOE Volatility index futures shot nearly 40 percent higher at one point, reflecting investors’ reservations over a Trump presidency, but sharply retraced that advance after Trump’s acceptance speech. During the session the CBOE Volatility index. VIX was down 11.5 percent.

“Certainly (the trading floor) has a much different tone than what it did just several hours ago, but for now things remain very orderly and we would anticipate that tone to continue or improve as we get closer to the open,” said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading, U.S. at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago, Illinois.

Big pharmaceutical names gained, with Pfizer PFE jumping 7.8 percent to $32.34. The iShares Nasdsaq Biotechnology ETF  climbed 7.2 percent and was on track for its biggest daily percentage gain in eight years.

(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Tanya Agrawal and Yashaswini Swamynathan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Meredith Mazzilli)

Anxious world leaders seek clarity on Trump policies

Donald Trump arriving at election night speech

By Angus MacSwan

LONDON (Reuters) – World leaders reacted to Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election with offers to work with him tinged with anxiety over how he would deal with a host of problems, from the Middle East to an assertive Russia.

Several authoritarian and right-wing leaders commended the billionaire businessman and reality TV star who against the odds won the leadership of the world’s most powerful country.

Trump, who has no previous political or military experience, sent conciliatory signals after his upset of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, pledging to seek common ground, not conflict, with the United States’ allies.

During his election campaign, Trump expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioned central tenets of the NATO military alliance and suggested Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons to shoulder their own defense burden.

Putin was among the first to send congratulations after Trump declared victory.

Ties between Washington and Moscow have become strained over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and allegations of Russian cyber attacks featured in the U.S. election campaign.

“We heard the campaign statements of the future U.S. presidential candidate about the restoration of relations between Russia and the United States,” Putin said.

“It is not an easy path, but we are ready to do our part and do everything to return Russian and American relations to a stable path of development.”

Among other issues causing concern among allies are Trump’s vows to undo a global agreement on climate change, ditch trade deals he says have been bad for U.S. workers and renegotiate the nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers which has led to an easing of sanctions on Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif urged Trump to stay committed to the Iran deal. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the election result would have no effect on Tehran’s policies and the nuclear accord with six world powers could not be dismissed by one government.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who had a poor relationship with President Barack Obama, said he hoped to reach “new heights” in bilateral ties under Trump.

Obama and Netanyahu sparred over the issue of Israeli settlements, while Trump has said they should expand.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also congratulated Trump, but analysts said his rule may be profoundly negative for Palestinian aspirations.

And despite Trump’s negative rhetoric about Muslims during his campaign, including threats to ban them from the United States, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he hoped the business magnate’s election would breathe new life into U.S.-Egyptian ties.

UNCERTAINTY

In Britain, where Trump’s victory had echoes of last June’s referendum in which voters showed dissatisfaction with the political establishment by voting to leave European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said the “enduring and special relationship” between the two countries would remain intact.

Nigel Farage, a leader of the Brexit campaign who spoke at a Trump rally during the election campaign, tweeted: “I hand over the mantle to @RealDonaldTrump! Many congratulations. You have fought a brave campaign.”

But some European officials took the unusual step of denouncing the outcome, calling it a worrying signal for liberal democracy and tolerance in the world.

“Trump is the pioneer of a new authoritarian and chauvinist international movement. He is also a warning for us,” German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told Funke newspaper group.

Some leaders are smarting from insults that Trump doled out in the past few months, such as calling German Chancellor Angela Merkel “insane” for allowing more than 1 million migrants into the country last year.

“We’re realizing now that we have no idea what this American president will do,” Norbert Roettgen, a conservative ally of Merkel and head of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told German radio. “Geopolitically we are in a very uncertain situation.”

President Francois Hollande said France wanted to begin talks with Trump immediately to clarify his stance on international affairs.

“This American election opens a period of uncertainty,” Hollande said.

French officials had openly endorsed Clinton and warned that Trump’s “confused” foreign policy objectives were alarming for the rest of the world.

“The U.S. is a vital partner for France and what’s at stake is peace, the fight against terrorism, the situation in the Middle East, economic relations and the preservation of the planet,” Hollande said.

But like-minded right-wing European parties that are hoping to make inroads of their own in 2017 — a year in which Germany, France and the Netherlands hold elections, and Italy and Britain could also do so — hailed Trump’s victory.

“Their world is falling apart. Ours is being built,” Florian Philippot, a senior figure in France’s far-right National Front (FN), tweeted.

CHINA CONCILIATORY

In Asia, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message with a conciliatory tone, telling Trump that Beijing and Washington shared responsibility for promoting global development and prosperity.

“I place great importance on the China-U.S. relationship, and look forward to working with you to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,” Xi told Trump, who said on the campaign trail to take on China and to tax Chinese imports to stop currency evaluation.

South Korea expressed the hope that Trump would maintain current U.S. policy of pressuring North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests. Seoul was concerned Trump may make unpredictable proposals to North Korea, a ruling party official said, quoting top national security officials.

A Japanese government official, speaking before Trump clinched the election, urged him to send a message as soon as possible to reassure the world of the United States’ commitment to its allies.

“We are certainly concerned about the comments (Trump) has made to date about the alliance and the U.S. role in the Pacific, particularly Japan,” the Japanese official said.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus in Europe, Asia and the Americas, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Angus MacSwan)

Trump election puts Iran nuclear deal on shaky ground

Iran President

By Yeganeh Torbati

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s election as president raises the prospect the United States will pull out of the nuclear pact it signed last year with Iran, alienating Washington from its allies and potentially freeing Iran to act on its ambitions.

Outgoing President Barack Obama’s administration touted the deal, a legacy foreign policy achievement, as a way to suspend Tehran’s suspected drive to develop atomic weapons. In return Obama, a Democrat, agreed to a lifting of most sanctions.

The deal, harshly opposed by Republicans in Congress, was reached as a political commitment rather than a treaty ratified by lawmakers, making it vulnerable to a new U.S. president, such as Trump, who might disagree with its terms.

A Republican, Trump ran for the White House opposing the deal but contradictory statements made it unclear how he would act. In an upset over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump won on Tuesday and will succeed Obama on Jan. 20.

A businessman-turned-politician who has never held public office, Trump called the nuclear pact a “disaster” and “the worst deal ever negotiated” during his campaign and said it could lead to a “nuclear holocaust.”

In a speech to the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC in March, Trump declared that his “Number-One priority” would be to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”

He said he would have negotiated a better deal, with longer restrictions, but somewhat paradoxically, he criticized remaining U.S. sanctions that prevent American companies from dealing with Iran.

By contrast, he has conceded it would be hard to destroy a deal enshrined in a United Nations resolution. In August 2015, he said he would not “rip up” the nuclear deal, but that he would “police that contract so tough they don’t have a chance.”

Iran denies ever having considered developing atomic weapons. But experts said any U.S. violation of the deal would allow Iran also to pull back from its commitments to curb nuclear development.

Those commitments include reducing the number of its centrifuges by two-thirds, capping its level of uranium enrichment well below the level needed for bomb-grade material, reducing its enriched uranium stockpile from around 10,000 kg to 300 kg for 15 years, and submitting to international inspections to verify its compliance.

‘DIVISIVE DEAL’

“Say goodbye to the Iran deal,” said Richard Nephew, a former U.S. negotiator with Iran now at Columbia University.

“There is very little likelihood that it stays, either because of a deliberate decision to tear it up by Trump, or steps that the U.S. takes which prompt an Iranian walk back.”

The spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency: “Iran is prepared for any change,” adding that Iran would try to stand by the deal.

The nuclear deal was divisive in Iran, with hardliners opposed to better relations with the West arguing that pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani was giving up too much of the country’s nuclear infrastructure for too little relief.

Rouhani said on Wednesday the U.S. election results would have no effect on Tehran’s policies, state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying. [nL8N1DA46H]

Some of Washington’s closest Middle East allies have been skeptical of the nuclear deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been outright hostile. Gulf leaders say the deal has emboldened Iran’s pursuit of regional hegemony in part through support for proxy groups fueling regional conflicts.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose power supersedes that of Rouhani, regularly criticizes the United States and says it should not be trusted, but ultimately assented to the terms of the deal, known by its acronym JCPOA.

KHAMENEI BIG WINNER

“The big winner in the aftermath of a Trump victory is Iran’s Supreme Leader,” said Suzanne Maloney, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution.

“He will have the most cartoonish American enemy, he will exult in the (hopefully brief) crash of the American economy, and he will be able to walk away from Iran’s obligations under the JCPOA while pinning the responsibility on Washington.”

Further complicating any Trump effort to renegotiate the deal is that it is a multilateral agreement involving U.S. allies in Europe as well as fellow world powers Russia and China. European and Asian firms have been returning to Iran and making major investments there, meaning the United States would likely be alone in pulling out of the deal, possibly isolating it from its partners.

On Wednesday, the head of gas, renewables and power for French oil and gas company Total TOTF.PA in Iran said Trump’s election would have no impact on investments [nP6N1CW004].

Khamenei has already promised to “set fire” to the nuclear deal if the West violates it. Iran has repeatedly complained it has not received benefits promised. Though European companies have been eager to explore business prospects in Iran, few deals have been enacted in part because European banks have been reluctant to finance deals involving Iran.

“As to whether he can negotiate a ‘better’ deal, it takes two (or seven) sides to agree to begin that process, something I rate as highly unlikely,” said Zachary Goldman, executive director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University and a former U.S. Treasury official.

“And if we walk away from the deal I think we will be in the worst of all worlds – Iran will feel freed from its commitments and we may be blamed for the deal falling apart.”

(Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Beirut; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Howard Goller)

Trump triumphs over Clinton in White House upset

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets his running mate Mike Pence during his election night rally in Manhattan, New York

By Steve Holland and John Whitesides

(Reuters) – Republican Donald Trump stunned the world on Tuesday by defeating heavily favored Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, ending eight years of Democratic rule and sending the United States on a new, uncertain path.

A wealthy real-estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to defeat Clinton, whose gold-plated establishment resume includes stints as a first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

Worried a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, investors were in full flight from risky assets such as stocks. In overnight trading, S&P 500 index futures fell 5 percent to hit their so-called limit down levels, indicating they would not be permitted to trade any lower until regular U.S. stock market hours on Wednesday.

The Associated Press and Fox News projected that Trump had collected just enough of the 270 state-by-state electoral votes needed to win a four-year term that starts on Jan. 20, taking battleground states where presidential elections are traditionally decided.

CNN reported Clinton had called Trump to concede the election.

A short time earlier, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told supporters at her election rally in New York to go home. “Several states are too close to call so we’re not going to have anything more to say tonight,” he said.

Victorious in a cliffhanger race that opinion polls had forecast was Clinton’s to win, Trump won avid support among a core base of white non-college educated workers with his promise to be the “greatest jobs president that God ever created.”

His win raises a host of questions for the United States at home and abroad. He campaigned on a pledge to take the country on a more isolationist, protectionist “America First” path. He has vowed to impose a 35 percent tariff on goods exported to the United States by U.S. companies that went abroad.

Both candidates, albeit Trump more than Clinton, had historically low popularity ratings in an election that many voters characterized as a choice between two unpleasant alternatives.

Trump, who at 70 will be the oldest first-term U.S. president, came out on top after a bitter and divisive campaign that focused largely on the character of the candidates and whether they could be trusted to serve as the country’s 45th president.

The presidency will be his first elected office, and it remains to be seen how he will work with Congress. During the campaign Trump was the target of sharp disapproval, not just from Democrats but from many in his own party.

Television networks projected Republicans would retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives, where all 435 seats were up for grabs. In the U.S. Senate, the party also put up an unexpectedly tough fight to protect its majority in the U.S. Senate.

Trump entered the race 17 months ago and survived a series of seemingly crippling blows, many of them self-inflicted, including the emergence in October of a 2005 video in which he boasted about making unwanted sexual advances on women. He apologized but within days, several women emerged to say he had groped them, allegations he denied. He was judged the loser of all three presidential debates with Clinton.

TOUTS HIS BUSINESS ACUMEN

During the campaign, Trump said he would make America great again through the force of his personality, negotiating skill and business acumen. He proposed refusing entry to the United States of people from war-torn Middle Eastern countries, a modified version of an earlier proposed ban on Muslims.

His volatile nature and unorthodox proposals led to campaign feuds with a long list of people, including Muslims, the disabled, Republican U.S. Senator John McCain, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, the family of a slain Muslim-American soldier, a Miss Universe winner and a federal judge of Mexican heritage.

Throughout his campaign – and especially in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July – Trump described a dark America that had been knocked to its knees by China, Mexico, Russia and Islamic State. The American dream was dead, he said, smothered by malevolent business interests and corrupt politicians, and he alone could revive it.

He offered vague plans to win economic concessions from China, to build a wall on the southern U.S. border with Mexico to keep out undocumented immigrants and to pay for it with tax money sent home by migrants.

The Mexican peso plunged to its lowest-ever levels. The peso had become a touchstone for sentiment on the election as Trump threatened to rip up a free trade agreement with Mexico.

His triumph was a rebuke to President Barack Obama, a Democrat who spent weeks flying around the country to campaign against him. Obama will hand over the office to Trump after serving the maximum eight years allowed by law.

Trump promises to push Congress to repeal Obama’s troubled healthcare plan and to reverse his Clean Power Plan. He plans to create jobs by relying on U.S. fossil fuels such as oil and gas.

CLINTON’S FAILED SECOND BID

Trump’s victory marked a frustrating end to the presidential aspirations of Clinton, 69, who for the second time failed in her drive to be elected the first woman U.S. president.

In a posting on Twitter, Clinton acknowledged a battle that was unexpectedly tight given her edge in opinion polls going into Election Day.

“This team has so much to be proud of. Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything,” she tweeted.

The wife of former President Bill Clinton and herself a former U.S. senator, she held a steady lead in many opinion polls for months. Voters perceived in her a cautious and calculating candidate and an inability to personally connect with them.

Even though the FBI found no grounds for criminal charges after a probe into her use of a private email server rather than a government system while she was secretary of state, the issue allowed critics to raise doubts about her integrity. Hacked emails also showed a cozy relationship between her State Department and donors to her family’s Clinton Foundation charity.

Trump seized on the emails to charge that Clinton represented a corrupt political system in Washington that had to be swept clean.

Trump’s national security ideas, opposed by most of the elite voices across the political spectrum, have simultaneously included promises to build up the U.S. military while at the same time avoiding foreign military entanglements.

He wants to rewrite international trade deals to reduce trade deficits. He has taken positions that raise the possibility of damaging relations with America’s most trusted allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

He has promised to warm relations with Russia that have chilled under Obama over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intervention in the Syrian civil war and his seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get along with Russia?” he said at many rallies.

(Writing by Steve Holland and John Whitesides; Additional reporting by Amanda Becker and Emily Stephenson in New York, Letitia Stein in St. Petersburg, Florida, Luciana Lopez in Miami, Colleen Jenkins in Winston-
Salem and Kim Palmer in Ohio Editing by Howard Goller and Frances Kerry)

Donald Trump to be new President of the United States of America!

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence wave to the crowd before addressing the crowd during a campaign stop at the Grand Park Events

According to many news sources, in the most spiritual battle within an election that there has ever been, Donald Trump will become the 45th President of the United States of America!

“A Sea change has taken place! There is a change that is happening in history at this very moment!  Against ALL ODDS, the prophets were right.  The prophets stood strong!  A Miracle of Miracles!” said Pastor Bakker.

 

This is probably the greatest political upset in history and has stunned the world!

Republicans will also be the majority in both the Senate and House.

 

Trump’s surprise wins in key states rattle world markets

Supporters of U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump celebrate the results from Ohio and Florida at his election night rally in Manhattan, New

By Steve Holland and Emily Stephenson

(Reuters) – Republican Donald Trump scored a series of shocking wins in battleground U.S. states including Florida and Ohio on Tuesday, opening a path to the White House for the political outsider and rattling world markets that had counted on a win by Democrat Hillary Clinton.

With investors worried a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, the U.S. dollar sank and stock markets plummeted in wild Asian trading. Opinion polls before Election Day had given Clinton a slim lead.

Mexico’s peso plunged to its lowest-ever levels as Trump’s chances of winning the presidency increased. Concerns of a Trump victory have weighed heavily on the peso for months because of his threats to rip up a free trade agreement with Mexico and tax money sent home by migrants to pay to build a wall on the southern U.S. border.

Trump surged to wins in Florida, Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina, and Fox News projected a win for him in Wisconsin. With voting completed in 49 of the 50 U.S. states, he also narrowly led in Michigan and New Hampshire, edging him closer to 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the state-by-state fight for the White House.

Shortly after Fox called Wisconsin for Trump, supporters at his election evening rally in New York began to chant “Lock her up” – a common refrain on the campaign trail for the former U.S. secretary of state repeatedly dubbed “Crooked Hillary” by Trump.

Clinton still had ways to reach 270 electoral votes, but she would have to sweep the remaining battleground states including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada, and pull off an upset win in Arizona.

Trump captured conservative states in the South and Midwest, while Clinton swept several states on the East Coast and Illinois in the Midwest.

After running close throughout the night in Virginia, Clinton pulled out the swing state that is home to her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine. But Trump

At 8:55 p.m. EST, Clinton acknowledged a battle that was unexpectedly tight given her edge in opinion polls going into Election Day.

She tweeted: “This team has so much to be proud of. Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything.”

As of 11:40 p.m. EST, Trump had 244 electoral votes to Clinton’s 209, with U.S. television networks projecting the winner in 41 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

A wealthy real-estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to challenge Clinton, whose gold-plated establishment resume includes stints as a first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

UNPOPULAR CANDIDATES
Both candidates had historically low popularity ratings, although Trump’s were worse than Clinton’s, in an election that many voters characterized as a choice between two unpleasant alternatives.

Before Tuesday’s voting, Clinton led Trump, 44 percent to 39 percent in the last Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll. A Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation poll gave her a 90 percent chance of defeating Trump and becoming the first woman elected U.S. president.

Also at stake on Tuesday was control of Congress. Television networks projected Republicans would retain control of the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats were up for grabs.

In the Senate, where Republicans were defending a slim four-seat majority, Democrats scored their first breakthrough in Illinois when Republican Senator Mark Kirk lost re-election. But Republicans Rob Portman in Ohio and Marco Rubio in Florida won high-profile Senate re-election fights.

In a presidential campaign that focused more on the character of the candidates than on policy, Clinton, 69, and Trump, 70, accused each other of being fundamentally unfit to lead the country.

Trump entered the race 17 months ago and survived a series of seemingly crippling blows, many of them self-inflicted, including the emergence in October of a 2005 video in which he boasted about making unwanted sexual advances on women. He apologized but within days, several women emerged to say he had groped them, allegations he denied.

He was judged the loser of all three presidential debates with Clinton and she led him by varying margins for months in opinion polls.

Trump won avid support among a core base of white non-college educated workers with his promise to be the “greatest jobs president that God ever created.” He has vowed to impose a 35 percent tariff on goods exported to the United States by U.S. companies that went abroad.

His volatile nature and unorthodox proposals led to campaign feuds with a long list of people, including Muslims, the disabled, Republican U.S. Senator John McCain, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, the family of a slain Muslim-American soldier, a Miss Universe winner and a federal judge of Mexican heritage.

(Additional reporting by Amanda Becker in New York, Letitia Stein in St. Petersburg, Florida, Luciana Lopez in Miami, Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem and Kim Palmer and Emily Flitter in Ohio; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Howard Goller and Frances Kerry)