Wall Street jumps as election waiting nears the end

Stocks climbed on Tuesday, the last day of trading before the election results came to a close, as investors looked forward to a resolution to the drawn-out race for the White House.

The rally defied a string of weaker-than expected results from U.S. companies and was attributed in part to expectations that a victor in the presidential race would be known late Tuesday or early Wednesday, despite some fears that have nagged markets recently that the outcome could remain up in the air for days.