Trump’s rising odds of victory bolstered oil producers, gun makers and private prisons. His pro-crypto stance lifted Bitcoin and related companies. Tesla rallied as Elon Musk endorsed him. Solar energy and pot firms sank as Biden’s Democrats are seen as being more friendly toward the sectors.

“Trump was the prohibitive favourite even before the weekend and the kind of industries that would underperform under a Trump presidency were probably already set up to do so,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. “I’m not surprised to see some of those same trades today.”

Investors were also emboldened by Trump’s pick of JD Vance as his running mate, who at 39, nearly four decades younger than Trump, 78, is offering a fresh voice to Republican efforts to bolster their appeal to the working-class workers who were once a bedrock of the Democratic party in battlegrounds such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

“The decision is crucial because one-third of US presidents throughout American history have previously occupied the position of vice president,” said Tom McLoughlin at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Moreover, in this instance, Trump’s decision effectively anoints Vance as his successor in terms of delivering a populist message to a younger generation of voters.”

Online betting site PredictIt showed bets of an election win at 67 cents for Trump, after the assassination attempt, up from Friday’s 60 cents, with a victory for Biden at 26 cents.

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Traders also kept a close eye on remarks from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who said second-quarter economic data has provided the central bank’s policymakers greater confidence that inflation is heading down to the central bank’s 2 per cent goal, possibly paving the way for near-term interest-rate cuts.

Powell highlighted the three latest inflation readings, though he made clear he didn’t intend to send any specific message about the timing of rate reductions.

Megacaps were mixed. Apple hit a fresh peak after being named a top stock pick at Morgan Stanley. Artificial intelligence giant Nvidia fell. Investment bank Goldman Sachs gained as a surge in profits outweighed plans to moderate the pace of buybacks. Department store Macy’s tumbled after ending buyout talks.

US 30-year yields rose above the two-year for the first time since January on bets Trump would pursue an expansive fiscal policy if he wins the November election. The US dollar edged up.

Shares of the former president’s social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of his Truth Social platform, soared 31 per cent, adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the former president’s net worth.

Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media, with 114 million shares. At its current share price, Trump’s stake is worth more than $US4.5 billion ($6.7 billion). He is not permitted to sell shares before the end of September.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, energy shares were enjoying the biggest percentage gain, while utilities were the laggards.

On the downside, solar energy firms slid as the prospect of Trump’s election dimmed prospects for renewable energy US subsidies. US-listed shares of Chinese companies also declined on fears of tightened trade restrictions under another Trump administration.