Bulls Score Election Rally on Wall Street

Updated from 3:21 p.m. EST

Stocks in New York closed with healthy gains Tuesday as traders sorted through some encouraging quarterly earnings reports and polls across the nation opened for the U.S. presidential election.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 305.45 points, or 3.3%, to 9625.28, and the S&P 500 climbed 39.45 points, or 4.1%, to 1005.75. The Nasdaq tacked on 53.79 points, or 3.1%, to 1780.12.

"I wouldn't hang my hat on it," said Chris Johnson, CEO and chief investment strategist for Johnson Research, of today's rally in the major averages. He said that the markets have lately been extremely oversold and that recent upward price action has been on fairly low volume. "This is a step in the right direction, but it's certainly not the green light we've been looking for in terms of the longer-term opportunity."

Johnson said that the election has largely been priced into the market. "In the current economic environment I don't think you're going to see huge tax increases coming down the road," he said. He said he's watching for whether the Democrats win a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which would grant them substantial power to institute broad changes. "That's the thing where everybody's saying, 'look out,'" he said.

"In a year when you can feel like there's nothing but uncertainty ... at least [the election] is one thing that we'll know is over," said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management. He said he's more encouraged by the market's recent ability to "rally, or not crater, despite really bad economic news across the board," and he doesn't expect there to be much encouraging data in the fourth quarter.