Stock prices, bond yields and Bitcoin rose Wednesday as the Republican party took control of the Senate and former President Donald Trump moved closer to the 270 delegate votes needed to return him to the White House.

The full results of Tuesday’s election may not be known for days as officials count all the votes, but investors were repositioning on expectations of big gains for Republicans as they took control of the Senate for the first time in four years. The results of the parliamentary elections have not been finalized yet.

Trump won the battleground state of Georgia, a Republican stronghold that voted Democratic in 2020. A win in North Carolina helped Trump narrow Vice President Kamala Harris’ path to victory. Clinching Pennsylvania received 3 of the 270 delegates needed to become the next president.

The expectation is that Trump’s victory will lead to faster economic growth and more market-friendly policies.

Ahead of the US markets opening on Wednesday, the future of the S&P 500 was up 1.23% and the future of the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.02%. Nasdaq composite futures were 1.43% higher.

Bitcoin price rose nearly 8% to $75,345.00 as investors bet on the victory of Trump, who has pledged support for cryptocurrencies. It later dropped to $74,520.00.

Bond yields also rose; The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.4% from 4.28% on Tuesday.

“Markets are trying to understand what will happen next, but for now the market is pricing in the outlook for higher growth and higher inflation,” Peter Esho of Esho Capital said in a comment.

RELATED STORY | Donald Trump is predicted to win the presidential election by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris

In the early hours of Europe, the German DAX index rose 1.3% to 19,503.40 points, while the CAC 40 index in Paris rose 1.9% to 7,550.36 points. Britain’s FTSE 100 index increased by 1.4% to 8,285.06 points.

Markets around the world are focused on what the elections will mean for US economic, monetary and trade policy, as well as geopolitics. A split between political parties in Congress would complicate policymaking and could have far-reaching consequences, given the Trump White House’s support for sharp increases in tariffs, especially on imports from China.

The dollar gained value against the Mexican peso and Chinese yuan, which are expected to be significantly affected by tariff increases in two major trading partners. It was also rising against the yen and euro.

The broad U.S. stock market has historically tended to rise no matter which party wins the White House, even as each party’s policies could benefit or hurt the profits of different sectors.

According to Sam Stovall, CFRA’s chief investment strategist, the S&P 500 has risen in 73% of the years since 1945 when a Democrat was president and in 70% of the years when a Republican was the nation’s chief executive.

The S&P 500 is up nearly 70% since the 2020 election, when President Joe Biden took office. It rose to records as the US economy recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic and managed to avoid recession despite the jump in inflation.

The economy was an important issue for inflation-weary US voters who chose Trump this time; But mainstream economists say Trump’s policy proposals will make inflation worse.

Trump also vowed to sharply raise tariffs on imports from China and other countries, darkening the outlook for Chinese exporters at a time when Beijing is relying heavily on boosting production to revive its flagging economy.

“Positive results for Harris are expected to boost Asian assets, while Trump gains could put downward pressure,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.

Chinese markets were among the most active in the region this week as leaders held a meeting with the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislative body.

The meeting is expected to deliver further steps to help spur faster economic growth and address rising local government debt levels. On Tuesday, Premier Li Qiang’s optimistic comments about the potential of both fiscal and monetary policies helped stock benchmarks in Hong Kong and Shanghai rise more than 2%. Li also expressed confidence that China will achieve its growth target of around 5% this year.

In Asian stock trading on Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 2.6% to 39,480.67 points, while the Kospi index in Seoul fell 0.9% to 2,553.90 points.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.8% to 8,199.50 points.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended a three-day rally, falling 2.2% to 20,538.38 as investors sought safe-haven assets amid U.S. election uncertainty. While the Hang Seng Technology Index lost 2.5 percent, the Shanghai Composite index decreased by 0.1 percent to 3,383.81 points.

In other early trading Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 90 cents to $71.09 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gave up 1.00 cents per barrel and fell to $74.53.

RELATED STORY | What might happen to the criminal cases of Trump, who is now expected to become president?