Election Day 2012: Stocks Rise as Investors Wait for a Winner
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Nov 6th 2012 6:06PM
Updated Nov 6th 2012 8:24PM

NEW YORK (AP) - Major stock-market indexes climbed Tuesday as investors waited for the finish of a closely fought U.S. presidential election.
"We're on pins and needles," said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors, a money management firm. Orlando, who backs Republican Mitt Romney, said he thought the stock-market's gains reflected optimism that Romney could win.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 133.24 points to close at 13,245.68.
Companies that investors believe would benefit under a potential Romney administration surged ahead. They included United Technologies (UTX) and Boeing (BA), which do substantial business with the Defense Department.
Four financial companies - Travelers (TRV), American Express (AXP), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) - ranked among the 10 biggest gainers in the 30-stock Dow average.
Other investors say that they simply want the election behind them. That will allow Wall Street and Congress to shift their attention to the so-called fiscal cliff, a package of tax increases and government spending cuts scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.
In other trading Tuesday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.13 points to 1,428.39, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 12.27 points to 3,011.93.
The price of crude oil jumped $3 to $88.71 in New York as reports suggested that Superstorm Sandy caused a drop in gasoline supplies. That also helped lift stocks in petroleum refiners. Tesoro Corp (TSO) and Phillips 66 (PSX) each rose 5 percent.
In the market for government bonds, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 1.75 percent. That's up from 1.68 percent late Monday.
Even with the surge Tuesday, it remained a quieter Election Day for the stock market than last time.
On Election Day 2004, the prospect of a close election led to a late sell-off, and the Dow finished down 18 points, snapping a five-day winning streak. John Kerry didn't concede to George W. Bush until the following day.
Among other stocks making big moves Tuesday:
- Weight-loss company Medifast (MED) rose $2.29 to $29.11 after reporting that its quarterly earnings increased more than 40 percent as expenses fell.
- Express Scripts (ESRX) sank $7.73 to $55.15. The pharmacy benefits manager warned that persistently high unemployment and economic uncertainty would hurt its business next year.
- NYSE Euronext (NYX) fell $1.34 to $24.27. The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange reported Tuesday that its quarterly earnings fell by nearly half. A drop in the number of transactions it handles pulled down revenue.
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