Global markets were up significantly and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index broke its longest slide in nearly 36 years Monday as investors bet on a Hillary Clinton victory over Republican Donald Trump going into Tuesday’s election.

“This is the Comey celebration,” said Washington investor Michael Farr, referring to FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress on Sunday saying his agency’s investigation of Clinton’s emails was complete and there would be no prosecution.

Market volatility has been high since the Oct. 28 announcement that the agency was looking into another batch of emails from Clinton’s server, which threw fresh uncertainty on the race for the presidency. The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, had risen for nine consecutive days, signaling high investor anxiety.

“The FBI gets out of the way and markets are seeing a clearer path for a Clinton victory, which is what markets have expected for some time,” said Farr, chief executive of Farr, Miller & Washington, a D.C. investment advisory firm.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll gives Clinton a 4-point lead over Trump heading into Election Day.

Markets were up across the board Monday on the Comey news. The Dow Jones gained 371.32 points, or 2.1 percent, to 18,259.60. The average was briefly up as much as 375 points. The S&P 500 index rose 46.34 points, or 2.2 percent, to 2,131.52. Heading into Monday, the index had been down 66 points over the previous nine trading days. The Nasdaq composite index added 119.80 points, or 2.4 percent, to 5,166.17.

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Historically, short-term turbulence surrounding elections is not indicative of a longer term trend, Bloomberg reported.

“In the 22 elections going back to 1928, the S&P 500 has fallen 15 times the day after polls close, for an average loss of 1.8 percent. Stocks reversed course and moved higher over the next 12 months in nine of those instances,” it said.

The day-after election movements in the S&P 500 in particular are not a reliable signal of what’s ahead.

“While the index swings an average 1.5 percent the day after the vote,” it said, “gains or losses over the first 24 hours predict the market’s direction 12 months later less than half the time.”

Marvin McIntyre, a managing director in Morgan Stanley’s wealth management group, called Monday’s market shift “a relief rally, similar to pre-Brexit. The market loathes uncertainty,” he said, “and there is no more of a wild card than Donald Trump.”

In addition to a jump in stocks, the price of oil and the U.S. dollar both gained. Gold sold off.


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