Today's presidential and congressional elections can't come soon enough for investors hoping for some clarity on crucial US fiscal policy questions.

While the winners have a sizeable list of long-term issues to tackle when it comes to government spending, taxes and regulation, many investors will be watching the results with an eye toward a more pressing concern: reaching a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, the year end expiration of some $670bn worth of tax cuts and spending that economists say could send the US back into recession.