Wall Street staged a powerful rally as Americans voted on Tuesday for a new president.
Investors are reportedly looking forward to the end of the uncertainty surrounding the long fight for the White House.
The rally pushed stocks to their highest close since 6 October. All three major US stock indexes are all up around 18% from low points on 17 October.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 305.45 points, or 3.28%, to 9,625.28.
Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 39.45 points, or 4.08%, to 1,005.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 53.79 points, or 3.12%, to 1,780.12.
About 1.31 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange - below last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion. About 2.34 billion shares were traded on the Nasdaq - above last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.
European shares earlier rose for a sixth consecutive day.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 4.3% higher at 974.15 points. However, the index is still down about 35% to date this year.
Commodities shares led the advance, as crude oil prices rose by about 11%. Copper was 6% and aluminium rose by 2.8%.
Banking shares were also higher. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are expected to cut interest rates sharply this week after the Reserve Bank of Australia did so on Tuesday.
Across Europe: Germany's DAX gained 5% and France's CAC rose 4.6%.
The Swiss market index closed up 2.66%.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 ended 196.22 points higher, 4.4%, at 4,639.50 - its highest closing level in four weeks. Nearly 1.5 billion shares changed hands.
However, the index is still down 28% to date this year.
Other markets
In Tokyo, the Nikkei rose 6.3% to a two-week high. The index ended up 537.62 points at 9,114.60. Tokyo markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed up 39.97 points at 14,384.34.
Australian shares cut early losses to end down 0.2% after Reserve Bank cut interest rates from 6% to 5.25% in an attempt to boost the economy and avert a recession. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 6.4 points to 4,215.1.
In New Zealand, the NZX50 index fell 12 points, or 0.43%, to close at 2844 on turnover of $79 million.
