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Trump leads in betting markets, polls show tight race

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Palantir ( PLTR ) soars after raising its annual revenue view

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Boeing ( BA ) gains as workers accept new contract offer

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Futures up: Dow 0.09%, S&P 500 0.2%, Nasdaq 0.37%

(Updated at 7:15 a.m. ET/1115 GMT)

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal

Nov 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on

Tuesday as voting began in a tightly contested U.S. election,

with traders girding up for volatile trading over the next few

sessions until a clear winner is declared.

Both Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala

Harris predicted victory on Monday, while polls showed the race

as extremely close with the final results expected to take days.

However, betting market odds, which many investors over the

past few months have been relying to predict the outcome, showed

the former president as the frontrunner.

Stock futures gained as U.S. Treasury yields eased slightly,

while investors looked ahead to an interest-rate cut by the

Federal Reserve on Thursday.

Equity markets were more settled than bond and currency

markets where volatility measures rose sharply.

The VIX, Wall Street's "fear gauge", rose to 21.95,

above its 30-day moving average of 19.65, but below the

two-month high it hit last week.

"High-level US equity action has been hard to ascribe to

politics alone as really there is no clear frontrunner in the

presidential election, and full government control for either

party is far from certain as well," said Scott Chronert, U.S.

equity strategist at Citi.

Investors are also keeping an eye on Congressional elections

to determine the balance of power in Washington. Many analysts

predict a split government, which would limit the ability of the

President to enact significant policy changes.

Rate-sensitive megacap growth stocks rose in premarket

trading, with Nvidia ( NVDA ) up 0.9% and Alphabet

adding 0.5%. Tesla gained 1.8%.

Stocks viewed as bets on a win for the former president

rose in choppy trading, with Trump Media & Technology Group ( DJT )

last up 9.7%, and software developer Phunware ( PHUN )

gaining 7.8%.

Dow E-minis were up 37 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500

E-minis were up 11.75 points, or 0.2% and Nasdaq 100

E-minis were up 74.25 points, or 0.37%.

Boeing ( BA ) gained 1.6% as a prolonged and crippling

strike ended after factory workers accepted a new contract

offer.

Palantir ( PLTR ) soared 14.4% after the data analytics firm

raised its annual revenue forecast for the third time on the

back of demand for its AI platform.

Adding to the action-filled week, the Federal Reserve will

start its November meeting on Wednesday. Markets have priced in

a 25-basis point cut to the benchmark interest rate, but the

outlook for future easing has grown uncertain as data points to

a strong economy.

On the data docket, September international trade numbers

and October S&P Global and ISM services PMI are expected, while

a handful of companies would report quarterly earnings before

the bell.