Stocks in the United States rose sharply on Wednesday, a day after Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections.3,4
The advance followed the end of a major source of uncertainty, with sentiment also supported by President Donald Trump's social media post saying he would accept the results.2,4
The size of the move differed between early and later accounts of the trading day. Al Jazeera, describing the market opening at 9:30 a.m. ET, put the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.8 percent, the S&P 500 up 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq up 1 percent. TheBlaze, describing the day's trading, said the Dow jumped by 1,600 points for a 3 percent gain, its largest so far this year, while the S&P 500 gained 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 1.4 percent.2,4
Investor sentiment was buoyed by Trump's social media post saying he would accept the results, a step described as easing political uncertainty and pressure on markets. The CNBC account of the day framed the move around Trump quickly making peace, while CBS News described the market response as a surge following Democrats' midterm wins.1,3,4
Market analyst Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said the indices were responding positively to the end of another election period. "Investors are happy to have the midterms out of the way," Crisafulli said. The account of his remarks was cut off in the excerpt provided, and the full extent of his analysis beyond the reduced uncertainty after the vote was not available in the reports.2
Retailers that rely on imports moved higher amid possible changes in tariff policy. Walmart was up 1.3 percent and Target was up 3.3 percent.4
Health insurers moved in different directions. UnitedHealthcare was down 2.9 percent and CVS Health was down 12 percent, while Cigna was up 1.6 percent. The reports gave the share moves without explaining the reasons for the split among the companies, and no executive or official was quoted on the health-care moves.4
The outlook for companies involved in building out artificial intelligence was described as different because Democrats have been more critical of the sector. Oracle and Nvidia both opened lower, while Alphabet, Google's parent company, was up 3.5 percent at the opening bell. "There is no way to sugarcoat that Democrats taking control, especially over the Senate, will create some major hurdles for AI and tech legislation in the Beltway over the next two years," Dan Ives, managing partner of Yorkville Ives, said in a note on Wednesday.4
Ives added in a post on X, "We estimate 10% of datacenters will not happen now." Democrats performed well in states where the buildout is pronounced, including Ohio, where Sherrod Brown flipped the Senate seat; Texas, where Democrats took a Senate seat with James Talarico; and the governor's race, which Gina Hinojosa won, also flipping the seat. The reports did not say how those state results would directly affect individual projects.4
Oil prices declined alongside the equity advance. The global benchmark Brent crude oil futures were down $3.20, or 3.09 percent, to $100.40 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude was down $3.01, or 3.13 percent, to $93.08. Investors were also watching whether the war involving Iran and the war between Russia and Ukraine would end amid reports of talks, after the previous session saw oil prices hit their lowest levels in four weeks.2,4
What comes next for legislation, tariffs, health policy and technology rules under Democratic control of the House and Senate was not yet known in the reports.4
