Republican win sends Dow Jones to record high

US stocks rose, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record, as Republicans won their first Senate majority in eight years and data showed companies added more workers in October. In Europe, stocks gained on better-than-estimated earnings before tomorrow's central bank meeting, while the dollar strengthened and precious metals fell.The European Central Bank is set to meet tomorrow for the first time since the Bank of Japan extended its record stimulus.

The SandP 500 climbed 0.3 per cent to 2,018.56 at 11:40 a.m. in New York, heading for a record close. The Dow added 66.34 points, or 0.4 per cent, to an all-time high of 17,450.18.

"With the election results, the strong ISM manufacturing result from the other day and today's employment report, it continues to improve investor sentiment," Robert Pavlik, who helps oversee $4.5 billion as chief market strategist at Banyan Partners LLC in New York, said in a phone interview. "The market also likes the fact that the ECB might deliver some additional quantitative easing-type measures."

Republicans retained control of the House and won enough seats to reclaim a Senate majority held by Democrats since 2006. They will control both for the remainder of President Barack Obama’s term. Midterm Elections Fourth quarters of midterm years have produced average equity gains of 8 per cent in the past 65 years, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. They’ve been followed by rallies of almost that much in the next three months, making the average 16 per cent two-quarter rally the best combination of the election cycles.

The SandP 500 has risen an average 15.1 per cent in calendar years when a Democratic president has been opposed by a Republican-controlled Congress since 1945, according to SandP Capital IQ equity strategist Sam Stovall. Stocks haven't needed a united Congress to post gains during the bull market that began in March 2009.

Companies in the US added 230,000 workers to payrolls in October, figures from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed today. The median forecast of 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 220,000. Estimates ranged from gains of 193,000 to 265,000. The private data come before a Labor Department report this week that may show private payrolls rose by 223,000 last month, according to a Bloomberg survey. The jobless rate probably held at a six-year low of 5.9 per cent, the survey showed.

Bloomberg