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U.S. equity futures bumped higher Tuesday, while the dollar slipped slower against its global peers and Treasury yields steadied, as global investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the ultimate conclusion of a deadlocked presidential election.
Stocks ended lower on Monday amid much the same caution, with investors appearing reluctant to extend bets on a victory for either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump as the pair closed-out their respective campaigns.
Polls will open in some east coast states at 6:00 am Eastern time, with the first exit poll estimates expected at 5:00 pm Eastern from the National Election Pool.
Early voting, however, has seen an enormous surge in this election, with some 78 million ballots, nearly half of the overall expected total, having already been cast.
Market volatility gauges were on the rise heading into the vote, with the CBOE Group’s VIX index rising 0.2% to $21.93, a level that suggests daily swings of around 1.4%, or nearly 80 points, for the S&P 500.
Election risk will likely keep investors sidelined Tuesday as Americans go to the polls to elected the 47th President of the United States.
Benchmark Treasury bond yields, which have proven more volatile than stocks over the final weeks of the election campaign, were holding steady into the Tuesday session with 10-year notes pegged at 4.303% and 2-year paper trading at 4.171%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was last marked 0.12% lower at 103.756. The dollar benchmark, however, has fallen around 0.6% since late October, a move largely in-line with polling data showing a late-race improvement for Vice President Harris.
Related: Stocks will follow bonds as deadlocked election plays out
Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggest a modest 10 point opening bell gain, while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are priced for a 65 point bump.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is called 58 points higher, with heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) notching early gain.
Other stocks on the move include Palantir Technologies (PLTR) , which surged 13.4% in heavy premarket volume after the AI and data analytics group posted stronger-than-expected third quarter earnings and boosted its full-year revenue forecast.
Related: Goldman Sachs sees rate cuts, but elections make things tricky for 2025
Boeing (BA) shares were also on the move, rising 1.9% in premarket after the planemaker’s machinists’ union voted to end a months-long strike by agreeing to a new labor contract last night.
In overseas markets, investors remained cautious heading into today’s presidential election, which is seen as having a higher-than-usual risk of a count delay, or a dispute outcome, that could extend the final decision into the end of this week or beyond.
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Europe’s Stoxx 600 was marked 0.04% higher in early Frankfurt trading, while Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.32% in London.
Stocks in China got a boost from speculation that the National Party Congress, which meets this week in Beijing, will approve a new round of stimulus for the moribund economy, with shares rising to the highest in nearly a month.
The regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark rose 0.37% into the close of trading, while the Nikkei 225 returned from Monday’s Culture Day holiday to rise 1.11%.
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks
