What does a Biden win mean for the markets?

President Trump may continue to refuse to concede defeat, but virtually everyone else in the US and the rest of the world is starting to ask: ‘What will a Joe Biden presidency mean?’

Unless there is some dramatic legal challenge that turns last week’s delayed result on its head, Biden will become the US’s 46^th President on January 20 next year.

The one thing the markets hate more than anything else is uncertainty, not least in the most powerful nation on earth.

This is evident from the reaction of the markets since Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris clinched victory. All the global markets saw healthy gains when they reopened at the start of the week.

Attention will turn next to the likely policies of the incoming administration where there have been suggestions that many Trump initiatives will be reversed. These include the likelihood of re-joining the Paris Climate Agreement and new measures to combat the spread of Coronavirus.

But any desire for spend and tax packages are likely to be checked by the continuing balance of Congress with the Democrats maintaining control of the House of Representatives and the Republicans likely to hold sway in the Senate.