Canadian dollar stable as U.S. voters head to the polls on Election Day

TORONTO – Stock markets have begun to build on some of the big gains they experienced Monday, after a slow start in early trading on election day in the United States.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 57.22 points at 18,316.82 after nearly two hours of trading – adding to a 371-point gain on Monday.

The Dow’s big increase was attributed to investor reaction to news that the FBI has found no evidence that warrant charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton following a criminal probe into her private email server.

The broader S&P 500 index was up 5.26 points at 2,136.78 and the Nasdaq composite gained 12.36 points at 5,178.54 points late in the morning.

The three major U.S. indexes and the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index had been modestly lower earlier in Tuesday’s session.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 50.20 points at 14,702.65 after nearly two hours of trading Tuesday, after rising 143.20 points on Monday.

The Canadian dollar was at 75 cents US, up 0.22 of a U.S. cent from Monday’s close while bellwether commodity prices showed modest movements up or down.

The December crude contract advanced six cents at US$44.95 per barrel and December natural gas was down 16 cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract rose $2.80 to US$1,282.20 an ounce and December copper contracts were up six cents at US$2.37 a pound.