Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States after voters gambled on his promise to “Make America Great Again”.
Hillary Clinton has rung Donald Trump to concede defeat as Trump soared into the lead.
Mr Trump’s victory was sealed when he took key battleground states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The apparent election of businessman and TV personality Donald Trump, someone who has never held any public office, is an illustration of the anger and frustration gripping many Americans at the current political landscape and it’s Democratic White House.
In a potential upset which bears similarities to the UKs Brexit Victory, Donald Trump rewrote the rules of campaigning.
With Mrs Clinton’s failure to become the first woman president in US history will likely see her drop off the radar and end her political career.
Donald Trumps triumph will end eight years of Democratic dominance of the White House and looks likely to undo major achievements of President Barack Obama.
Mr Trump has pledged to act quickly to repeal Mr Obama’s landmark health care law, revoke the nuclear agreement with Iran and rewrite important trade deals with other countries, particularly Mexico and Canada.
International markets panicked as Mr Trump closed in on victory, with shares tumbling and the dollar falling in value against the Japanese Yen.
Mr Trump’s outspoken rhetoric about Mexicans during the campaign – and his promise to build a wall between the US and its southern neighbour – also triggered a fall in the peso.
Raw materials and the companies that produce them were sent into turmoil.
Oil, industrial metals and agricultural commodities plunged on Wednesday while gold surged with safe-haven assets, as the Republican was set to to pull off a huge electoral upset and march into the White House after winning states including Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Traders rushed to unwind bets they piled into over the past two days amid predictions that Democrat Clinton would sweep to an easy victory. Shares of gold miners jumped while those of energy companies across Asia slid.
A Trump presidency promises to reshape the relationship of the U.S. with the world, and the potential for unpredictability in American policy is fueling speculation the Federal Reserve will refrain from raising interest rates. Global financial markets were in tumult on the brink of the billionaire businessman’s victory, with gold rallying the most since Britain’s surprise vote to leave the European Union sent shock waves through markets in June.
“The commodities sphere is in complete turmoil at the moment,” said Will Yun, an analyst at Hyundai Futures Corp. in Seoul.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil dropped as much as 4.3 percent to $43.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude slid 3.6 percent to $44.40 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Bullion for immediate delivery jumped as much as 4.8 percent to $1,337.38 an ounce, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The Bloomberg Commodity Index, a measure of raw material returns, was down 0.3 percent.
Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd. dropped 7.5 percent, the most since May. Beijing-based China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., the world’s biggest refiner known as Sinopec, slumped 4.6 percent in Hong Kong trading.
Source: Plymouth Herald
