US stock market closes higher ahead of midterm elections

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indexes in the US stock market closed higher on Monday, the day before midterm elections.

Americans will head to polling centers on Tuesday for midterms, in which all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 35 out of 100 seats in the Senate are being contested.

Before the key elections, the Dow Jones index jumped 423 points, or 1.31%, to close at 32,827. The S&P 500 rose 36 points, or 0.96%, to 3,806.

The Nasdaq increased 89 points, or 0.85%, to finish the first trading day of the week at 10,564.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, was down 0.3% to 24.48. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose 1.5% to 4.222%.

The dollar index was down 0.67% to 110.14, but still around its highest in 20 years, while the euro soared 0.6% to $1.0020 against the greenback.

Precious metals were down, with gold losing 0.4% to $1,674 and silver shedding 0.4% to $20.78.

Oil prices were on the decline, with global oil benchmark Brent crude trading at $98.08 per barrel, down 0.5%. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was around $91.97 – down 0.7%.