India, Nov. 6 -- The global economy normally thrives on political continuity. It likes when people remain in power, when their mandates get strengthened, and when poll winds blow in the direction of leaders at the helm of affairs. But the way markets around the world celebrated - Dow went up 3% on Wednesday and Hang Seng (3.67%) and Nifty (2.4%) soared on Thursday - US President Donald Trump's catastrophic defeat in the midterm elections shows that economic sentiment is sometimes propelled by events that are exactly the opposite of what it usually craves.

The hopes of a revival have sprung largely from how oil prices have crashed in the aftermath of the midterm verdict. Brent was down to $94 a barrel on Thursday from a high of $118 last ...