US betting market prediction points to a likely Trump victory in most intense battle against Harris

Meanwhile, The Economist reports, investors continue to place and modify their bets. From prediction markets to bonds, they have more options than ever to express their opinions on the anticipated outcome of the tight race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Despite the fact that Trump’s apparent lead over Harris has shrunk in recent days, they still have placed the majority of their money on the former president.

Know what PredictIt, Kalshi, and Polymarket have predicted

Election-betting markets are the best location for discovering what the public is thinking. PredictIt, Kalshi, and Polymarket are the three that garner the most attention.

As of Monday afternoon in the United States, Trump has around a 60% probability of winning the election, according to Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based website that claims to be the largest prediction market in the world. This indicates a decrease from 67% the previous week, following some late surveys that were more favorable for Harris such as the unexpected Selzer poll in Iowa. However, Polymarket has many detractors, some of whom claim that its prices are easily influenced.

Read more about US Elections 2024: Catch all the newsmakers, detailed explainers and deep analysis of the US Elections

On the other hand, Harris is ahead by the smallest of margins at PredictIt, which is the oldest of the three major online betting markets, which was established precisely ten years ago. However, it also has stringent limitations on several bettors and the quantity of their wagers, making it the most constrained platform by design.

The regulated exchange Kalshi now shows that Trump has 56% chance of winning, a downfall from 65% last week. Kalshi temporarily indicated that Harris was the front-runner after the Selzer poll.

It might be simple to write off these different platforms as pointless betting venues run by young men who spend a large portion of their waking hours on the internet. Their pricing has, however, remarkably resembled “real money” in larger established markets.

In order to gauge the position of equities investors in the election, experts at the investment firm Piper Sandler constructed two distinct stock portfolios, the fortunes of which may fluctuate based on the outcome of the presidential election.

HT in US: Special Coverage of the American elections by Prashant Jha

A look at Trump and Harris’s portfolios

Their Trump portfolio includes short positions in companies like Apple that would suffer from a trade war with China, as well as oil and weapons industries. While they gambled against banking institutions and pharmaceutical companies that would be subject to greater regulations under Democrats, their Harris portfolio is heavily weighted toward manufacturers of electric vehicles and renewable energy.