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* Banks, construction companies rise on stimulus bets
* Wall Street's fear gauge hits one-week low
* Dow up 2.09%, S&P 500 up 1.84%, Nasdaq up 1.84%
(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to mid-afternoon; new byline, adds NEW YORK dateline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
Nov 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday as
Americans voted in one of the country's most turbulent
presidential elections and investors bet it would be decided
without a drawn-out process, leading to a swift deal on more
fiscal stimulus.
Democrat Joe Biden's lead over Republican President Donald
Trump in national opinion polls has raised expectations for a
decisive outcome and a post-election stimulus package that would
make good on Biden's promises of infrastructure spending.
Some analysts said the market's strong gains reflected a
rebound from a selloff last week, the biggest weekly percentage
decline for the S&P 500 in over seven months.
"As much as the polls say one thing, I think we all know
anything can happen," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at
Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
"We do know if it is Biden there most likely will be more
stimulus and at least initially a lubing of the system with that
free money but then in the back end of that you have corporate
tax hikes, you've got more regulation, you've got things the
market doesn't like."
U.S. stock index futures plunged on Election Night 2016 as
it became apparent Trump could pull an upset victory against
Democrat Hillary Clinton. The benchmark S&P 500 has since risen
55% as Trump's lower tax rates boosted corporate profits and
share buybacks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 561.94 points,
or 2.09%, to 27,486.99, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 60.98 points,
or 1.84%, to 3,371.22 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
202.02 points, or 1.84%, to 11,159.64.
Gains were broad, with 10 of the 11 major S&P sectors on the
plus side, led by financials .SPSY , up 2.57% and industrials
.SPLRCI , up 2.84% while investors pared some bets on post-vote
volatility that dominated in recent weeks. The CBOE Volatility
index .VIX hit a one-week low after hitting a 4-1/2 month high
last week.
Not all of the stock sectors analysts identified as likely
winners from a Democrat sweep were up, with marijuana and
renewable energy companies lower.
Democrats are also favored to emerge from 14 hotly contested
U.S. Senate races with full control of Congress, although final
results from at least five of those contests may not be
available for days, or months in some cases. Some view the races in hotly contested swing states as close
enough that Trump could piece together the 270 Electoral College
votes he needs to stay in the White House another four years.
S&P banking subindex .SPXBK surged 3.06% to its
highest in more than a week, while industrial stocks gained,
with Caterpillar Inc CAT.N up 2.34% and Honeywell
International Inc HON.N up 3.24%.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
5.04-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.61-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 44 new highs and 25 new lows.
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"Biden" shares vs "Trump" shares https://tmsnrt.rs/3881PWc
Markets under different presidents during history https://tmsnrt.rs/3p35jj4
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