US STOCKS-Wall Street closes sharply higher on U.S. Election Day stimulus hopes

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* Banks, construction companies rise on stimulus bets
* Wall Street's fear gauge hits one-week low
* Gains for 10 of 11 major S&P sectors

(Adds percentage moves, volume data)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed sharply
higher on Tuesday as Americans voted in one of the country's
most rancorous presidential elections and investors bet it would
be decided without a prolonged 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 also reflected
a rebound from a selloff last week, the biggest weekly
percentage decline for the S&P 500 in over seven months.
"It seems as though the polls have narrowed which makes it a
little bit more difficult for Biden but the market reacting the
way it is now tells me the market thinks we are going to get a
resolution fairly quickly," said Randy Frederick, vice president
of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
"If for some reason we don't have any kind of a clear
picture, if there is an unwillingness to concede on the part of
the loser and this ends up having to go to the courts, we are in
for some choppy, volatile markets for awhile."
On Election Night 2016, U.S. stock index futures plunged 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 554.98 points,
or 2.06%, to 27,480.03, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 58.92 points,
or 1.78%, to 3,369.16 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
202.96 points, or 1.85%, to 11,160.57.
Gains were broad, with 10 of the 11 major S&P sectors on the
plus side, led by financials .SPSY and industrials .SPLRCI ,
each up more than 2%, while investors pared some bets on
post-vote volatility that dominated in recent weeks. The CBOE
Volatility index .VIX touched 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, however, 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 to its highest in
more than a week, while industrial stocks gained, with
Caterpillar Inc CAT.N up 2.71% and Honeywell International Inc
HON.N up 3.23%.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
4.23-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 4.11-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 49 new highs and 28 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.92 billion shares, compared
with the 9.02 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.

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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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