President-elect Donald Trump's poll victory last week sent major US stock indexes surging to new records, with Tesla and Bitcoin among the biggest winners so far.
The price of Bitcoin briefly surpassed $93,000 for the first time on Wednesday as the cryptocurrency continued its rise after Mr Trump's election, overtaking Saudi Aramco as the world's seventh-largest asset by market cap at $1.833 trillion.
Bitcoin and Tesla are among a number of sectors and companies to benefit from the so-called Trump bump that are expected to reap the rewards of his new administration.
Tesla
Tesla has been one of the biggest winners since the election, with billionaire owner Elon Musk's backing of Mr Trump paying off big for the electric vehicle company.
Even after a slight post-election dip on Tuesday, Tesla shares have still surged by more than 32 per cent since election day.
That has also led to a huge increase in net worth for Mr Musk, already the world's richest person. As of Wednesday, Mr Musk's net worth had risen to $319 billion, almost $90 billion more than the world's second-richest man, Jeff Bezos.
Mr Musk was one of Mr Trump's most vocal surrogates during the final months of the campaign trail and was rewarded by being tapped to co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency.
He is said to have a strong influence on the new administration, reportedly joining a call between Mr Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. He was also expected to join Mr Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Crypto
Mr Trump's election has been a huge boost to the cryptocurrency industry. The president-elect, once a sceptic, has since embraced the industry and now also owns a crypto business, World Liberty Financial.
Mr Trump previously said he wants the US to become the “crypto capital of the planet” and also raised the possibility of establishing a strategic bitcoin stockpile.
Crypto traders are also emboldened by the possibility of a new head of the Securities and Exchanges Commission. Current chairman Gary Gensler, one of the crypto industry's biggest rivals, is expected to resign before Mr Trump takes office.
Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency to rise under these hopes. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has jumped 37 per cent since election day. Dogecoin is up 156.2 per cent.
Private prisons
Shares in jail stocks have risen since Mr Trump vowed to follow through with a mass deportation plan that could affect millions of undocumented immigrants.
“We expect the incoming Trump administration to take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security, as well as interior enforcement, and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals,” Geo Group executive chairman George Zoley said during an earnings call last week.
Shares in Geo Group, the largest private prisoner operator in the US, have risen by 67.8 per cent since election day.
Mr Zoley said the incoming administration will bring a “potential sea change” for the industry.
CoreCivic, a company that owns and manages private prisons, has also experienced a recent increase in share price. The company's stock has risen by 61.12 per cent.
Large banks
Mr Trump's return to the White House is also seen as a boon to big banks who could benefit from less regulation and more domestic investment.
Goldman Sachs and Bank of America shares have increased by the highest amount since election day at 14.1 per cent and 10.5 per cent, respectively.
Financial Trade Commissioner chairwoman Lina Khan's future is seen as being in jeopardy. Ms Khan's FTC has been aggressive in blocking several mega mergers seen as anti-competitive. Her replacement, as well as other antitrust appointments, could signal less regulation from agencies that would benefit banks and other companies.
The future of the Federal Reserve's proposed capital requirements – also known as the Basel III Endgame – is also in doubt. The Fed has already drastically lowered the capital the nation's largest banks would be required to hold after a fierce lobbying effort.
Shares in JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup have risen by 9.8 and 10.5 per cent, respectively.
The view from The National
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
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England Test squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
MATCH INFO
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Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
