Tuesday's afternoon trade: stocks surge as voters head to polls

US stock markets reversed an early fall Tuesday and surged sharply higher as voters headed to polls to choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for their next president. Adding to Monday's 2 percent gains, which came as Democrat Clinton's chances for a victory appeared to improve, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.7 percent in early afternoon trade.
What caused the sharp mid-morning reversal was unclear; the markets swung almost one percentage point in a short period and the closely-watched Vix volatility index, a signal of market nervousness, fell sharply at the same time. Votecastr's analyses are not based on actual voting but extrapolations of observed turnout in Tuesday's voting compared with actual turnout and vote data from previous elections. But Michael James of Wedbush Securities said there was no single catalyst for the surge higher; it was a continuation of Monday's momentum. At 1 pm (1800 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 18,393.62, up 0.7 percent. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.7 percent to 2,146.46, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.9 percent to 5,213.59.