TORONTO — Canada's main stock index was essentially flat Monday as losses in telecom stocks offset gains in energy, while U.S. markets were down ahead of Tuesday's election.

Monday was the “calm before the storm” ahead of the U.S. election and Thursday's interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve, said Pierre-Benoît Gauthier, vice-president of investment strategy at IG Wealth Management.

U.S. voters on Tuesday will decide whether former president Donald Trump or Democrat candidate and current vice-president Kamala Harris will be the next leader of the country.

Though the effects of election results on markets are often overblown, Gauthier said just getting through the election will be positive for markets, which famously do not like uncertainty.

“No matter what happens ... it goes from an unknown to a known,” he said. "And then we can go ahead with that."

Neither candidate appears to be disastrous for markets, added Gauthier: “You can sell both sides as having ... a bullish impact on the market.”

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 257.59 points at 41,794.60. The S&P 500 index was down 16.11 points at 5,712.69, while the Nasdaq composite was down 59.93 points at 18,179.98.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 0.90 points at 24,256.06.

Following the election, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut its key interest rate again on Thursday. Though the central bank started its cutting cycle off with a larger half-percentage-point reduction, Gauthier said he thinks that’s unlikely to happen again this week.

“I think that we are done with jumbo cuts for now,” he said.

“This is a case of expect the expected.”

Though earnings season is in full swing in the U.S. and reports are starting to come in north of the border, the election is overshadowing earnings this week, said Gauthier.

In the U.S. on Monday, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a drop in operating profit, while Fox beat expectations.

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.97 cents US compared with 71.78 cents US on Friday.

Oil prices rose almost three per cent Monday after Saudi Arabia and other oil producers said they will delay plans to increase production. That helped prop up the TSX, with the energy index gaining 1.3 per cent.

The December crude oil contract was up US$1.98 at US$71.47 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was up 12 cents at US$2.78 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$3.00 at US$2,746.20 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.43 a pound.