Investing.com – Wall Street traded slightly higher in mid-day trade on Tuesday as financial markets awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, with most investors cautiously betting on a win by Democrat Hillary Clinton.
At 11:56AM ET (16:56GMT), the Dow Jones gained 82 points, or 0.45%, the S&P 500 rose 9 points, or 0.41% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 23 points, or 0.45%.
U.S. stocks snapped a nine-day losing streak on Monday to rack up their biggest one-day percentage gain since March, after the FBI said that no charges were warranted in the case of Democrat Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, lifting a cloud over her presidential campaign.
The highly-anticipated U.S. Presidential Election was underway on Tuesday. The Congressional Elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives will also be held today.
The first exit polls, which are a projection, are expected to come out on Tuesday night at around 7:00PM ET (00:00 GMT on Wednesday). Results will be declared state by state.
If the outcome is clear, the television networks are expected to make their official call at 11:00PM ET (04:00 GMT Wednesday).
Global financial markets were rattled last week by signs the U.S. presidential election race between Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump was tightening.
However, hopes for a Clinton win mounted after FBI Director James Comey informed Congress over the weekend that it had "not changed its conclusions" on the private email server maintained by the Democratic candidate
According to the final Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, Democrat Hillary Clinton has about a 90% chance of defeating Republican Donald Trump in the race for the White House.
Market players have tended to see Clinton as the candidate of the status quo, while there is greater uncertainty over what a Trump victory might mean for U.S. foreign policy, international trade deals and the domestic economy.
Global banks were preparing for potential market turbulence by boosting staff levels and planning out strategies in the case of high volumes or volatility.
Most analysts pointed to the major risk being a surprise victory by Trump, with Citigroup suggesting that the event could trigger a 3% to 5% sell-off in the S&P 500 on Wednesday.
Experts further suggested that an unexpected win by the Republican candidate could lead to a decline in the dollar, a drop in U.S. bond yields and even a reduction to Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hike expectations at the end of the year.
Markets are currently pricing in an increase in the Fed’s target rate in December, at 81.1%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
That was despite the fact that Chicago Fed president Charles Evans, a known dove at the central bank, showed some doubt about the Fed reaching its 2% inflation target.
On the data front, the U.S. Labor Department said that the number of job openings, excluding the farming industry, increased to 5.486 million in September, missing estimates for a larger increase to 5.508 million. Still, the reading remained in territory associated with a healthy labor market.
In big moves on company earnings, shares of Hertz Global Holdings (NYSE:HTZ) sank nearly 44% after the car-rental company late Monday reported a sharp drop in quarterly profit and cut its outlook.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) tumbled 20% after it slashed its guidance for the year as earnings for the latest quarter topped estimates but revenue slid more than expected.
CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) plunged close to 13% as the drugstore operator cut its full-year guidance.
DR Horton Inc (NYSE:DHI) was down more than 5% after the homebuilder’s profit and sales came in below forecasts.
News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) fell more than 4% after swinging to a loss in its fiscal first-quarter.
On the upside, Priceline Group (NASDAQ:PCLN) and Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) gained close to 7% and 3%, respectively, on the back of better than expected earnings.
Meanwhile, oil prices underwent choppy trade on caution ahead of the election outcome, while continuing to weigh prospects of a coordinated production cut among major global oil producers at the end of this month.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.97% to $44.97 by 11:58AM ET (16:58GMT), while Brent oil slipped 0.09% to $46.11.