Global stocks extend US market rally as Wall Street awaits nail-biting US election result

• Global stocks rose Thursday, joining the US election rally, as investors expect to position for a divided government.
• US stock futures rose as much as 2.2%, suggesting a higher open for Wall Street's benchmark indexes, after the biggest one-day rally since April for the Nasdaq 100.
• Joe Biden held a projected 253 electoral votes compared with President Donald Trump's 214, but the US Senate was beginning to look as if it might remain in Republican hands.
• In the UK, the Bank of England boosted its bond-buying program by £150 billion on the same day England entered its second major lockdown.
• Here's the live US 2020 presidential election tracker.

Global stocks rose Thursday, extending the US rally, as Wall Street investors awaited the final result of the razor-thin US general election.

US stock futures suggested the equity market could post even more gains, after Wednesday's session in which the technology-heavy Nasdaq posted its best single-day increase since April.

Futures on the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq rose as much as 2.2%.

The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, which is known as the stock market's fear gauge, did the opposite of what most traders expected it to do in the face of election-related uncertainty: It tumbled 5%, to 29.57. Ordinarily, a rollicking market can expect to see a higher VIX.

"We were so ready for mayhem that mayhem was taken off the table by our preparedness for mayhem," said Stephen Innes, the chief global market strategist at Axi, about the drop in the VIX index.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is projected to hold at least 253 electoral votes, compared with President Donald Trump's 214, after Wisconsin and Michigan were called for the Democrat on Wednesday. At the same time, the Democratic Party's hopes of regaining a Senate majority look slim.

The dollar index was about flat after ripping higher on the postelection limbo and was trading at about $93.24.

"Selling the dollar is nowhere near as clear-cut as it would have been under a blue-wave regime," Innes said. Whoever wins the presidency, he added, the chances of easier fiscal policy fall dramatically with a Republican-controlled Senate.

Read more: Morgan Stanley breaks down why defense stocks are cheap must-buys after the election regardless of who wins — including the top pick it expects to rally 62%

Though downside risks remain in a contested election outcome, the key drivers for risk assets are still in place, according to Mark Haefele, the chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Those include economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, widespread availability of a vaccine by the second quarter, and continued aggressive policy support from central banks, he said.

"Our preferred US large-cap equity sectors remain consumer discretionary, financials, healthcare, and industrials," the UBS strategists Solita Marcelli and Tom McLoughlin said. "We also continue to prefer US mid-caps."

In Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, while the Euro Stoxx 50 and Germany's DAX added 1%.

The Bank of England boosted its bond-buying program by £150 billion, or $195 billion, on Thursday as England entered its second major lockdown of the pandemic. The announcement shows just how worried the UK's central bank is about the impact of COVID-19 on its economy, said Richard Pearson, the director at the investment platform EQi.

"With GDP set to tank again thanks to a second lockdown, the bank will do what it can, but its conventional tools are already well-worn," Pearson said.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng led gains by rising 3% as Tencent and Alibaba gained over 5%. China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.3%, and Japan's Nikkei rose 1.7%.

Read more: Legendary trader Gil Blake famously raked in 20-plus percent returns for 12 consecutive years. He shares his 5 'basic steps to becoming a successful trader.'