Part of that, market pros say, is simply that investors feel more certain about who will be in the White House for the next four years and which policies they will have to deal with.Obama's chances of winning in November increased to above 60 percent on Tuesday, up from about 50 percent at the beginning of the year, according to the odds on prediction market Intrade.com. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 [.SPX Loading... () 
] has hit a new bull market high and is up 9 percent on the year.The stock market’s rise comes as the supposed Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney, continues to struggle to win the GOP nomination.Romney has just a 55 percent chance of winning Tuesday’s Michigan Primary, down from 80 percent just a day ago, according to Intrade. Meanwhile, the odds of GOP challenger Rick Santorum winning the primary have shot up to 45 percent.
The surge in President Obama’s chances at a second term also have coincided with a string of better-than-expected domestic economic data this year, including an all-important drop in the unemployment rate. The latest reading of U.S. consumer confidence on Tuesday blew away economists’ expectations. That contrasts with the Republican debates, many of which have centered on social issues.“The Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich infighting has done irreparable harm to the Republican Party’s ability to present an alternative economic platform to voters,” says Joe Terranova, chief market strategist for Virtus Investment Partners. “As long as manufacturing and other key data continues to improve, the market is growing comfortable with Obama being President again.”History shows the market tends to rise during election years. Gains tend to be even greater if the incumbent party wins.To be sure, not everyone is buying the old adage that the “market hates uncertainty.” Some feel it is still way too early to predict what will happen in November and that Obama’s policies will be harmful to business, causing a sell-off in 2013 if he is re-elected.“As to penciling in Obama, while the market likes certainty, certainty of bad news will not be good for the market,” said Stephen Weiss of Short Hills Capital. “Although the effect of an Obama second term will be muted if economy continues to improve.” 
Weiss and others can at least take heart with the Congressional odds. Intrade puts the Republicans’ chances of controlling the Senate and House after the November elections at 72 percent and 64 percent respectively. That brings up another Wall Street maxim: “Market likes gridlock.” This way, a single party can’t mess it up.----------------------------------------------------------------------DO YOU KNOW?: Why are optimistic investors called bulls?Click here and find out in the latest installment of our Wall Street History series.----------------------------------------------------------------------
For the best market insight, catch 'Fast Money' each night at 5pm ET, and the ‘Halftime Report’ each afternoon at 12:00 ET on CNBC. Follow @CNBCMelloy on Twitter.______________________________________________________ 
John Melloy is the Executive Producer of Fast Money. Before joining CNBC, he was an editor for Bloomberg News, overseeing the U.S. Stock Market coverage team. Click here to see his full bio.
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Amid the fall-out of a phone-hacking scandal that triggered the arrest of a string of Sun journalists, industry insiders believe The Sun on Sunday, whose launch is being personally led by Murdoch himself, looks likely to be heavier on fashion and football and lighter on the sex and scandal for which the News of the World was renowned. Before it was ignominiously closed down last year The News of the World, founded in 1843, wallowed in muck-raking sensationalism designed to amuse and shock in equal measure. Its fondness for page one headlines packed with puns and sexual innuendo was legendary. A couple of its more memorable headlines included "Andrew and the Sex Slave Beast" and "My Big Fat Gypsy Divorce at Just 19." In contrast, The Sun typically leads on more mainstream news stories with irreverent front-page headlines such as "Bin Bagged" when Osama bin Laden was killed. David Mulrenan, head of UK press at media buyer ZenithOptimedia, told Reuters the new Sun on Sunday was likely to be a much tamer beast than its defunct predecessor. "It's going to be a lot less salacious than the News of the World, and probably open up a lot more of the family market," he said. He said The Sun on Sunday would go some way to filling the gap in the Sunday market, and that advertisers who pulled out last year over the revelation that the News of the World had hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler were likely to pile into the Sun on Sunday at its launch. Murdoch penned a tweet on Thursday reflecting his optimism about the new title that boasted: "We're completely sold out for advertising!" The speed at which the new paper is being rolled out - it was announced only six days before its scheduled first appearance on newsstands - came as a shock to rivals, advertisers and even the staff. It will launch at a price of 50 pence (78 cents), undercutting rivals. The price of the Saturday edition will also be cut to 50 pence from 60 pence. "The key thing for them will be the audience because that is the way they make their money, they're less reliant on advertising," Alun Lucas at media buyer MEC Manchester told Reuters. "So they'll be aggressive in recruiting the readers and then the advertisers will follow." The launch will pose a host of challenges both within the company and for rivals and advertisers, compounded by the fact it is happening at such a frantic pace. How, for instance, will staff working across the seven-day title manage to reserve exclusive stories for Sunday in the way that the News of the World used to do, by holing up sources in safe houses or hotels for days before publication to keep them from talking to other journalists? Should rivals respond with a cover price cut of their own, at a time when they are already facing long-term structural decline as fewer people buy newspapers? And should advertisers commit to the new title when in reality they know very little about what it will look like? Clueless Sources within News International [NWSA Loading... () 
] and media buyers who have met the paper's commercial team have suggested that with just days to go until the launch, staff are under intense pressure and working frantically to pull the paper together. Journalists are offering stories but do not know how much space they will have or if their ideas are even wanted. Few have any idea of job roles or titles and the commercial team is struggling to articulate what the new paper will look like. "The commercial team have been doing a roadshow to advertisers and at the start of the week they appeared to be totally clueless," one media buyer said, asking not to be named. "Clients need to be persuaded that it's a good environment to advertise in, yet we don't know the cover price, the pagination, the editorial slant." One former News of the World reporter said the company did not seem to have any concrete plans. "They seem to have announced the launch, made a big fuss and are now frantically trying to get the first copy out, and they'll figure the rest out later," the former employee said. News groups including News International have been examining ways to cut costs in recent years, with closer cooperation between the daily and Sunday papers seen as one option. In the eyes of many News of the World journalists, who have not been approached about a job on the new title, the new seven-day plan is simply a way to save money, while boosting morale as Murdoch challenges his critics with a new launch. He shut the News of the World down in July when it was selling an average of 2.7 million copies. Media consultancy Enders estimates that some 55 percent of the News of the World's sales have since been picked up by rival publishers, such as Trinity Mirror's [TNI-GB Loading... ()