NEW YORK — Wall Street will be closely eyeing how the U.S. dollar, oil and gold trade on Election Day because the price movements of these assets could offer clues as to which presidential candidate will win the White House. If the U.S. dollar spikes in value it could be signaling that traders believe Republican Mitt Romney has a good shot at unseating President Obama, says Richard Suttmeier, chief market strategist at ValuEngine.com. Romney, who is viewed as more fiscally conservative than Obama, is more conducive to a stronger dollar, Suttmeier says. Romney is also not a fan of the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies, which have goosed stock markets but weakened the dollar. He has said he would replace Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the architect of the easy-money policy, when his term expires in early 2014. Wall Street is betting that if Romney becomes president, he would nominate a central banker to head the Fed who favors tighter monetary policy. “The perception around the world is if Obama is re-elected the deficit will keep going up and there will be a lack of fiscal discipline,� Suttmeier says. In early trading the dollar was flat versus the euro. The euro was trading at 1.2802. Traders are also watching gold. A spike in gold would suggest that Obama will win a second term, says Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. Obama’s plans to stimulate the economy using borrowed money will make paper assets like the dollar less valuable. And gold holds its value in inflationary times. Gold was up nearly $5.90, or 0.4%, to $1,693.30 Tuesday. Crude oil will also be watched. Some on Wall Street think if Romney wins, he could take a hard-line stance on Iran, which could lead to geopolitical conflict that could lead to a oil price spike, Krosby adds. Crude oil prices were up 0.9% to $86.45 Tuesday. Crude oil prices have been hurt recently by a weak global economy.

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