• The Dow Jones pushed back into the high end of near-term consolidation on Tuesday.
• Equity markets are bracing for the results of the US election showdown that kicks off this week.
• Indexes have been rangebound heading into the election window.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained ground on Tuesday, climbing around 300 points to add three-quarters of one percent to its top-line. The major equity index is bumping into the ceiling of a near-term consolidation range as investors brace for the outcome of the US election as US voters head to the polls.

Another Federal Reserve (Fed) rate call looms ahead this week. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is widely expected to deliver another quarter-point cut to interest rates on Thursday, bringing the Fed Funds Rate down 25 bps to 4.75%. The Fed Funds Rate peaked at 5.5% in July of 2023, and investors have been clamoring for a return to a low interest rate environment that has become familiar territory since US interest rates clattered to an all-time low near 0% in early 2009.

US election odds have both candidates neck-and-neck in a dead-heat race for the Presidency, with former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris polling within 5% of each other, depending on which poll results you reference. Equity investors, tech sector addicts specifically, appear to broadly believe former President Trump to be the preferred stock-friendly candidate, an odd choice considering the Republican candidate has strongly voiced support of a return to the Smoot-Hawley tariff era of US history. Trump has regularly suggested stiff tariffs across the board on all imported goods into the US, an incredibly inflationary economic policy proposal.