KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index rose 12 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,750 as of 1:45 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 112 points, or 0.4 percent, to 25,573. The Nasdaq composite picked up 43 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,372. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 10 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,557.

Stocks dropped in October and recovered a sliver of their gains during a three-day rally last week. Since then they’ve made smaller moves ahead of the elections. Control of the House of Representatives and Senate are up for grabs and 36 governorships are being contested. Investors will be watching to see how the vote might influence U.S. trade, economic and security policies.

Stocks tend to fall before midterm elections and then rally once the voting is over. The S&P 500 has generated an average price return of 16.7 percent in the 12 months after midterm elections since 1946, according to CFRA.

THE QUOTE: Alicia Levine, chief market strategist at BNY Mellon Investment Management, said some of the most dramatic reactions to the elections might be seen in the health care sector, as Republicans could make another attempt to eliminate the 2010 Affordable care Act if they keep control of the House and Senate.

“If the Democrats take the House, the Affordable Care Act is not under threat of being repealed,” she said, which could help health insurers and hospitals. “If we see the Democrats take the governors houses, you could also see the expansion of Medicaid.”

A Democratic House majority might work with the administration to try to reduce drug prices, and would take a more lenient approach on food stamp benefits. That could help big box stores and grocery chains, which get a lot of revenue from those programs.

If Republicans keep control of the House, Levine said, they might cut capital gains taxes. While that could boost the economy, it would also encourage the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates at a faster pace, and investors are already concerned that rates could rise too fast.

CVS HAS THE RECEIPTS: Drugstore and pharmacy benefits manager CVS Health rose 4.5 percent to $76.98 after its results topped Wall Street forecasts in the third quarter. It was helped by a large bump in prescriptions. CVS also said it expects to complete its purchase of health insurer Aetna before the Thanksgiving holiday.

BOOK ’EM: Booking Holdings also surpassed estimates in the latest quarter and gave stronger-than-expected projections for the current quarter. The stock rose 4.9 percent to $1,962 and competitor TripAdvisor picked up 5.6 percent to $56.20.

DEALS SWIRLING: Symantec rallied after the security software company announced two purchases. Symantec said it bought business technology company Javelin and mobile security company Appthority. It didn’t disclose terms of either deal. Shares of Symantec rose further after Reuters reported that private equity firm Thoma Bravo is interested in buying the company. The stock was up 12.4 percent at $22.50 in afternoon trading.

MATERIALS WORLD: Materials companies jumped after results from fertilizer maker Mosaic and granite, limestone, sand and gravel seller Martin Marietta Materials. Mosaic rose 8.6 percent to $35.01 after it raised its annual profit forecast, and Martin Marietta climbed 7.1 percent to $187.19. Construction materials company Vulcan gained 4.3 percent to $104.94.

ENERGY: Oil prices continued to slip after the U.S. said it would allow a group of allies to continue buying oil from Iran as long as they continued to try to reduce their imports from that nation. The U.S. reinstated sanctions on Iran this month after withdrawing from an international agreement intended to curb Iran’s nuclear program, and analysts feared that oil prices would jump as supplies tightened.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 1.6 percent to $62.08 a barrel in New York. In early October it traded above $76 a barrel. Brent crude dipped 1.5 percent to $72.08 a barrel in London.

BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.21 percent from 3.19 percent.

METALS: Gold shed 0.5 percent to $1,226.30 an ounce. Silver lost 1 percent to $14.50 an ounce. Copper fell 0.9 percent to $2.73 a pound.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.49 yen from 113.21 yen. The euro fell to $1.1412 from $1.1418.

OVERSEAS: Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.9 percent as leaders from Britain and the European Union remained deadlocked over the issue of Ireland’s borders, a critical part of Britain’s impending departure from the EU. The two sides are trying to find a way to make sure there are no customs posts or other checks on the border between Ireland, which is part of the EU, and Northern Ireland, which will leave the group along with the rest of the U.K.

In France, the CAC 40 fell 0.5 percent. Germany’s DAX dipped 0.1 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.1 percent and the Kospi in South Korea added 0.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng bounced gained 0.7 percent.