Yahoo Finance 
Investors around the world are scoring the debate as a win for Hillary Clinton
After an intense first presidential debate between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, US stocks are higher, and global markets are signaling a win for Clinton.
S&P 500 futures rose just over 16 points over the course of the debate. The index sat at 2,151.50 at 10:40 p.m. ET, up from 2,135 at 9 p.m.
More notably perhaps, the Mexican peso strengthened against the US dollar, an indication that foreign-exchange traders graded the debate as a win for Clinton.
Asian markets including Japan's Nikkei and China's Shanghai Composite were selling off slightly, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng index was up a tad.
The markets, however, were up from the lows from before the debate, again reflecting a strong showing by Clinton, as investors see her policies as generally more favorable to Asia's economies.
Gold was also lower, falling $2.80 over the course of the debate.
(Investing.com)
The two candidates sparred on economic issues early on. Trump maintained that NAFTA, signed during former President Bill Clinton's term to lower trade barriers with Canada and Mexico, was terrible for the manufacturing industry, and said China was using the US like a "piggy bank."
Clinton argued that trade "with the other 95%" of the world was necessary in a modern economy, and that Trump "rooted for" the housing crisis for his personal gain.
Trump also said the US economy was in a "bubble" caused by the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially low to boost the economy until President Barack Obama is out of office. However, the Fed is politically independent.
More From Business Insider
