Stocks opened sharply higher on Election Day, continuing their winning streak from the start of the week.
The Dow (INDU) opened up 1.1%, or about 300 points, while the S&P 500 (SPX) — Wall Street’s broadest measure — rose 0.9% at the opening bell. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) kicked off 0.5% higher.
Last week, all three indexes recorded their worst weeks since March.
Betting markets continue to favor former Vice President Joe Biden to win the election, with PredictIt putting his chances at 64%.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs think there’s a decent chance the winner will be declared Tuesday night because swing states like Florida, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina will report results quickly.
This is key for the stock market, which hates uncertainty. Not knowing the winner for days has been dubbed the “nightmare scenario” by investors.
Financial markets have been moving on hopes — and then dashed hopes — for more fiscal stimulus out of Washington for months now, and investors expect a bigger stimulus package under a Democratic administration. The US economy has started on its long road to recovery, but economists and central bankers agree that more government spending will be needed to keep the improvements going.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said Tuesday morning on “Fox & Friends” he believed the market was up because investors were pricing in another term for him.
Trump has repeatedly said the market would sell off if Biden was elected, even though market participants have refuted this thesis because of the expected government spending to boost the recovery.
