Wall Street stock futures advanced Tuesday, as U.S. voters headed to the polls to choose a new president. With today’s focus on politics, trading volume is expected to be thin as investors await the outcome.

The U.S. Senate contest also will be in the spotlight as a third of the upper chamber’s seats are up for grabs.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened up 0.38¢ at US85.06¢ after gaining 1.66¢ Monday.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In commodities news, oil futures fell 34 cents to US$63.57 a barrel.

In today’s earnings news, MasterCard reported an adjusted profit was stronger than forecast.

Global auto parts maker Magna International Inc. reported a third-quarter net loss of US$215 million as sales fell 9% from a year earlier. Magna halved its dividend and cut its full-year sales outlook.

German luxury carmaker BMW said its third-quarter earnings dropped 63% to 298 million euros (US$375.5 million).

Overseas, Asian indexes finished mixed though Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 6.3% after a three-day break.

European markets rose, with London’s FTSE adding 0.6%, while the German DAX was up of 2.2% and the Paris CAC-40 was up 3%.

On Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange kicked off the first trading day of November with gains, but as plunging oil prices set in among energy producers late in the day, the benchmark index slipped into the red.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 41.50 points, or 0.42% at 9,721.26.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture index increased by 20.29 points, or 2.22%, to close at 935.59.

In New York, markets closed on Monday with little change.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 5.18 points, or 0.1%, to close at 9,319.83. The S&P 500 index shed 2.45 points, or 0.2%, to close at 966.3, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 5.38 points, or 0.31% to end at 1,726.33.