US STOCKS-Wall Street rises but market braced for choppy trade in U.S. election week

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* Clorox rises after strongest sales growth in 2 decades
* Banks help value outperform growth names
* VIX dips from near four-month high

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to market close)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P closed higher on
Monday with the Nasdaq posted slimmer gains on the eve of the
U.S. presidential election, as investors girded for what could
be big market swings after all three indexes notched their
biggest weekly decline since March.
Market participants largely expected short-term volatility
and the likelihood of major long-term policy shifts related to
taxes, government spending, trade and regulation depending on
whether Republican President Donald Trump or his Democratic
challenger Joe Biden wins the White House race.
Biden is ahead in national opinion polls, but races are
tight in battleground states that could tip the election to
Trump. Analysts said the outcome most likely to shake equity
markets in the near term would be no immediate winner on Tuesday
night. While the Dow and S&P were on the plus side, they ended well
off session highs, and the Nasdaq dipped into the red as
mega-cap technology and tech-related names struggled to gain
traction after slumping in the prior week.
Growth stocks .RLG edged higher, but were soundly
outperformed by beaten-down value names .RLV , which tend to
provide better returns coming out of a recession, and notched
their biggest daily percentage gain in nearly a month.
"It is hard to say whether this is a bet on sector rotation,
an institutional driven bet today or if this is more traders
speculating on what might happen tomorrow," said Peter Giacchi,
Head of DMM Floor Trading at Citadel Securities in New York.
"The longer this plays out over the course of the week, if
it takes that long, the more volatility we would expect."
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
402.96 points, or 1.52%, to 26,904.56, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
37.33 points, or 1.14%, to 3,307.29 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 35.88 points, or 0.33%, to 10,947.47.
Investors betting on a Biden administration, which is
expected to deliver a massive fiscal stimulus and promote green
energy, have fueled a rally in solar stocks, industrials and
small-cap names in recent weeks. On the other hand, JP Morgan has listed Bank of America
BAC.N , Wells Fargo WFC.N and Citigroup C.N in its "Trump
basket" of stocks. The S&P banks index .SPXBK added about 2%.
Energy .SPNY , materials .SPLRCM and industrials
.SPLRCI enjoyed the sharpest percentage gains among major S&P
sectors.
The S&P 500 ended a turbulent week at near six-week lows on
Friday, after quarterly reports from technology mega-caps failed
to impress and as coronavirus cases surged in the United States
and Europe. The weekly percentage drop was the largest since
late March, which marked the end of a selloff that sent the
benchmark index into a bear market, or drop of more than 20%
from a high.
The CBOE volatility index .VIX , known as Wall Street's
fear gauge, inched lower on Monday after ratcheting up to near
four-month highs last week.
Investors will watch this week's Federal Reserve two-day
policy meeting, the monthly jobs report and earnings from about
a quarter of the S&P 500 companies.
Clorox Co CLX.N shares jumped after reporting its
strongest quarterly sales growth in more than two decades and
raising its full-year revenue forecast. Market research firm Nielsen Holdings Plc NLSN.N rose on
plans to sell its consumer goods data unit for $2.7 billion to
private equity firm Advent International. But the S&P airlines index .SPCOMAIR fell while cruise
operators Carnival Corp CCL.N and Norwegian Cruise Line
Holdings Ltd NCLH.N also lost ground, reflecting fears over a
relentless surge in COVID-19 cases.