Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh, said a Biden victory could lead to some inflation, which would be beneficial to banks in particular.

“A Federal Reserve committed to keeping rates lower and yet allowing not a flat curve, but one with some steepening to it, and then some inflation and you get yourself a hip hip hooray for banks.”

The S&P banking subindex .SPXBK surged 3.3% to its highest in more than a week, while industrial stocks such as Caterpillar Inc CAT.N and Honeywell International Inc HON.N rose more than 2% each.

By 11:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 680.43 points, or 2.53%, at 27,605.48, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 78.26 points, or 2.36%, at 3,388.50. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 243.11 points, or 2.22%, at 11,200.72.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 5.64-to-1 on the NYSE and 3.99-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 25 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 38 new highs and 17 new lows.