Around the World's Markets: New York

THE DOW closed unchanged at 8,706.15 as Wall Street took time off to follow election day and enjoy a breather. "This is simply a consolidating pause and the elections could be an excuse," said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter. "The market needs to consolidate and the profit-taking is very light, which suggests the market wants to go higher."

The Nasdaq closed at 1,788 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was flat at 1,110.