Donald Trump’s projected victory at the polls is giving a fresh boost to stocks.

Dow futures soared nearly 1,400 points, or 3.2%, lifting the blue-chip market into record terrain before the start of trade on Wednesday. S&P 500 futures were up more than 2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also looked set to open strong. 

Cryptocurrency is also surging as investors bet that the second Trump administration will benefit the volatile sector. Bitcoin prices rose nearly 8% to a record $75,345.00 in early trading, before dipping to about $73,500. 

The former president, who was once critical of digital currencies, pledged during his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet” and to create a bitcoin “strategic reserve.”

“Bitcoin is the one asset that was always going to soar if Trump returned to the White House,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, a British online investment platform. 

“Trump has already declared his love of the digital currency and crypto traders now have a new narrative by which to get even more excited about where the price could go,” he added.

The Republican Party’s electoral success on Tuesday, which included winning control of the Senate, is also benefiting Trump’s personal finances by boosting the stock price of Trump Media & Technology Group. Shares in the company, which owns the social network Truth Social and in which Trump owns a stake valued at more than $5 billion, jumped nearly 38% to $46.80 before markets opened. 

Although markets have pushed to new highs this year, Wall Street analysts warn that some of Trump’s key policy proposals could rekindle U.S. inflation, dampen economic growth and drive up the nation’s debts. 

The Federal Reserve will offer its latest readout on the state of the economy on Thursday, with Wall Street analysts expecting the central bank to lower its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point. The Fed in September dropped borrowing costs by 0.50 percentage points, its first cut since 2020.

contributed to this report.

San Juan, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Rafael swelled into a Category 2 storm early Wednesday as it swirled past the Cayman Islands, and it was forecast to rapidly intensify before making landfall later in the day in western Cuba. It was another stroke of bad news for Cuba, which has been struggling with blackouts while recovering from another hurricane two weeks ago that killed at least six people in the eastern part of the island.

The storm was located about 90 miles east-southeast of the Isle of Youth, and around 160 miles south-southeast of Havana as of 7 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday. Packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, Rafael had become a Category 2 storm. 

It was moving northwest at 14 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Forecasters warned that Rafael was expected to slam into Cuba on Wednesday after dumping rain on Jamaica and the Cayman Islands on Tuesday. The center warned of floods, storm surges and mudslides.

The U.S. State Department issued an advisory for Cuba on Tuesday afternoon, offering departure flights to non-essential staff and American citizens, and advising others to “reconsider travel to Cuba due to the potential impact of Tropical Storm Rafael,” before the storm grew into a hurricane.

On Tuesday morning, the Cuban Civil Defense called on Cubans to prepare as soon as possible, because when the storm makes landfall “it’s important to stay where you are.” The day before, authorities said they had issued an evacuation order for 37,000 people in far eastern Cuba, in the province of Guantanamo, due to bad weather.

A hurricane warning that had been in effect Tuesday for the Cayman Islands was dropped for the biggest of the islands Wednesday. The measure remained in effect for Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, along with the Cuban provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, and the Isle of Youth.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for a handful of other Cuban provinces, as well as the lower and middle Florida Keys from Key West to west of the Channel 5 Bridge, and Dry Tortugas. The warning was lifted in Jamaica after the storm passed by the western coast.  

Rafael on Tuesday knocked out power in Jamaica and unleashed flooding and landslides.

The Jamaica Public Service, the island’s electricity provider, said in a statement late Tuesday that impassable roads were preventing crews from restoring power in some areas.

Meanwhile, crews in Little Cayman and Cayman Brac were expected to fan out early Wednesday to assess damage after a direct hit late Tuesday. Power outages were reported across the Cayman Islands, and schools remained closed on Wednesday.

“While conditions have improved on Grand Cayman, residents are advised to exercise extreme caution on the roads and near coastlines as rough seas and residual flooding risks may persist,” the government said in a statement.

Forecasters warned Rafael would unleash heavy rains across the western Caribbean that could lead to flooding and mudslides in parts of Cuba and the Cayman Islands.

Heavy rainfall also was expected to spread north into Florida and nearby areas of the southeast U.S. during the middle to late part of the week. The Hurricane Center predicted storm surges in Florida could reach 1 to 3 feet in Dry Tortugas and 1 to 2 feet in the Lower Florida Keys. A few tornadoes also were expected Wednesday over the Keys and southwestern Florida.

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season was likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

The Mexican Navy said Tuesday it has seized 3.6 tons (about 8,000 pounds) of cocaine aboard a “narco sub” off the Pacific coast which was spotted earlier this week about 153 miles off the resort of Acapulco.

Navy ships arrived to intercept the boat, which was carrying 102 packages filled with bricks of cocaine, authorities said in a news release.

The craft, of a type known as “go-fast boats,” was powered by two outboard motors and appeared to be a low-profile, semi-submersible craft — commonly known as a “narco sub” — designed to make detection more difficult.

Aboard the craft, the Navy detained nine crew members, six of whom were foreigners. The Navy did not specify their nationalities, but many of the boats found off Mexico have Colombian or Venezuelan crew members.

Officials released an image of numbered packages containing the cocaine flanked by two naval ships.

Cocaine is produced in South America and is usually shipped through the Pacific or the Caribbean to reach the U.S. market.

The seizure comes just weeks after the Mexican navy announced it had seized more than 8.3 tons of drugs in the Pacific Ocean, a record for a single operation at sea. The cargo was intercepted from six different vessels, including a “narco sub” that held about 4,800 pounds of narcotics.

The Navy said Tuesday that more than 15,000 kilograms of alleged drugs have been seized at sea under the current administration.

Earlier this year, Mexico’s Navy seized more than seven tons of suspected cocaine in two separate raids in the Pacific Ocean, and dramatic video captured the high-speed chases on the open sea.

In September, the U.S. Coast Guard said that it had offloaded more than $54 million worth of cocaine  — including over 1,200 pounds of drugs that were seized from a “narco sub.”

Semi-submersibles, which cannot go fully underwater, are popular among international drug traffickers as they can sometimes elude detection by law enforcement. The vessels are sometimes seized in Colombian waters while heading to the United States, Central America and Europe. Earlier this summer, the Colombian Navy said it seized two “narco subs” off the country’s Pacific coast that together contained almost 5 tons of cocaine.