U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as voters headed to the polls for the final day of voting. presidential election And more data is piling up that the economy remains strong.
The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, moving closer to its target level. Records set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 427 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4%.
The biggest event in the market was the election, even though the results won't be known for days or weeks as authorities count all the votes. Such uncertainty could spook markets along with an upcoming meeting by the Federal Reserve About interest rates Later this week. There are widespread expectations that the central bank will lower interest rates for the second consecutive year.
Investors are already betting on a victory for former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. But Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, suggests avoiding getting caught up in these pre-election moves or even the immediate aftermath. Either before or after Inauguration Day. ”
Dow and S&P 500 futures were up slightly as of 7:27 p.m. ET, while Nasdaq futures were unchanged as several East Coast states closed polls and early returns began to roll in.
In Asia, some indexes rose in early trading on Wednesday. Tokyo's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.7%, while Seoul's Kospi rose 0.5%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8%.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs the former president's platform Truth Social, fell 20% in after-hours trading. Shares closed 1.2% lower in regular trading as trading in the stock was halted multiple times due to volatility. The stock tends to be driven more by President Trump's chances of re-election than by the company's earnings outlook. It rebounded strongly last month.
Despite all the uncertainty heading into the final days of voting, many professional investors have indicated they will remain focused on the long term. The overall U.S. stock market has historically trended upward. Whichever party wins The White House does so, even though each party's policies may help or hurt the interests of various industries.
Since 1945, the S&P 500 has risen 73% of the years when a Democrat was president and 70% of the years when a Republican was the nation's chief executive, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.
The U.S. stock market has risen even more since the Democratic Party became president, in part because losses under George W. Bush pushed down the average for the Republican Party. Mr. Bush took over as the dot-com bubble was deflating and left office when the 2008 global financial crisis and Great Recession devastated markets.
