It's the day after the election, and the tricky task at hand onWall Street is trying to predict what happens next afteralmost everyone failed to predict what just happened. But don'texpect that to stop everyone from trying.

It's hard to determine how volatile markets will be in the nearterm, and the longer term is even more difficult. As a Donald Trumpvictory came into focus overnight, S&P 500 futures went ajaw-dropping “limit down” with a 5 percent plunge that brieflyhalted trading. They went on to recover most of that plunge beforethe open, and the first two hours of trading looked like anotherday in the office, with benchmark indexes flat to downslightly.

Trading is now much more about gut instincts than fundamentalanalysis. The status quo is not just gone—it's been set on fire andits ashes have been scattered to the wind faster than the attendeesat all those blue-state election night parties. What will replacethe status quo is a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in anill-fitting suit and a suspicious combover.Complicating matters arethe mass buying and selling of index products, which could cause atightening in correlations that may obscure trends for the nearfuture.

Still, in the spirit of the president-elect, who has afascination with “winners” and “losers,” some obvious beneficiariesof a Trump White House were rising strongly even before the marketopened. Drugmakers like Mylan NV and Abbvie Inc. surged on reliefthat Hillary Clinton won't be interfering with pharmaceuticalprices; miners like Newmont Mining Corp. and Freeport-McMoran Inc.rallied as investors rushed to the safe haven of gold; militarycontractors Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin are up for obviousreasons. The same goes for gunmakers Sturm Ruger and Smith &Wesson, which might not need to change its name now.

Many bank and financial stocks that struggled overnight havebegun to poke their heads above water on prospects that regulationssuch as Dodd-Frank and the Labor Department's fiduciary rule couldsoon just be bad memories. With apologies to Warren Buffett,perhaps we won't know who's been swimming naked until the swamp isdrained? With record numbers of VIX futures outstanding beforethe election, we can't help but wonder if this event has thepotential to make the mass exodus from hedge funds by pensions andinsurance companies look especially ill-timed.

Yet amid all the uncertainty, we humbly offer one possiblereason for equity investors to see the glass as half full.

If there's one thing we learned about Trump it's that heloves quantitative displays of his popularity, from ratings to pollnumbers. The question now, after the election results gave him thatfinal dose of ego-boosting affirmation that he craved, is wherewill he turn next for quantitative proof of his hugeness? Well,there's always the stock market. Could he now pivot to theS&P 500 as his go-to vanity mirror for sizing up hispopularity?

Surely he noticed how strongly stock-index futures protestedovernight as his presidency came into focus. But futures were offtheir lows as he gave his victory speech, which was heavy on thestock-market-friendly/bond-market-unfriendly aspects of hisplatform: “We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild ourhighways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals,” Trumppromised.

Conspicuously missing were the aspects of his platform thatwould alarm the stock market: ripping up international trade deals,alienating NATO allies, building walls, provoking entire religions,etc.

Is it possible to Make America Great Again if you trigger a bearmarket in the process, threatening the retirement well-being of agraying populace? That's something Trump is going to have tocontemplate as he looks in the mirror.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion ofBloomberg LP and its owners.

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