Photo: Tdorante10 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1,569.40 points, or 3.0%, to 53,356.12 on Wednesday as Democrats won majorities in both chambers of Congress, AP reported, and oil prices plunged more than 8%. The S&P 500 rose 1.6% to 7,688.62, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4% to 25,736.51, a second straight advance for both.
The Russell 2000 of smaller companies added 1.5% to 2,854.65. The VIX fear gauge dropped almost 20% to about 16.7.
Oil falls as the Iran risk fades. WTI crude settled at $88.12 a barrel, down $7.97, or 8.3%, as investors bet that the election result lowers the odds of a wider Iran conflict, CNBC reported. Energy was the day’s worst sector, down 4.7%, and Exxon Mobil fell 4.5%. Gold settled up 3.4% at $4,073.00 an ounce.
Broad rally, three sectors lag. Eight of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors rose. Consumer discretionary led with a 4.3% gain, followed by financials (+3.5%), communication services (+3.5%), consumer staples (+3.4%), real estate (+3.3%), health care (+3.1%), materials (+2.5%) and utilities (+0.4%). Technology was flat, industrials slipped 1.1% and energy lost 4.7%.
Megacaps lead. Microsoft rose 6.7%, Amazon 6.1% and Apple 5.3%, which more than recovered Tuesday’s 1.9% slide. JPMorgan gained 4.2% as bank shares climbed with the broad market, and Shopify jumped 7.3% to recover most of Tuesday’s 8.7% drop.
AI data-center names slip. Nvidia fell 3.1%, Tesla 3.3% and Caterpillar 5.2%. The Democratic wins, including the Texas governor’s race, raised questions about how fast AI data centers get built, CNBC reported. Eaton, a power-equipment maker tied to that buildout, sank 9.9% and gave back all of Tuesday’s 7% post-earnings gain. Super Micro fell 5.7% a day after its results despite a beat, while Arista rose 5.0% and AMD added 1.0%.
Rates, dollar, crypto. The 10-year Treasury yield eased about 6 basis points to roughly 4.89%. The dollar index slipped 0.3% to 101.52. Bitcoin rose about 3.6% to roughly $80,100 and Coinbase gained 4.2%.
What it means. Cheaper oil should ease pressure on gasoline prices over the coming weeks, and a lower Treasury yield can nudge mortgage rates down. Both depend on oil and bond markets holding these moves, which swung sharply after Tuesday’s limited U.S. strike on Iran.
What to watch. Berkshire Hathaway reports later this week and the October jobs report arrives Friday. For traders, the key question is whether the oil drop holds and whether AI infrastructure stocks stabilize after the election.
JBizNews Desk | Wall Street
© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.
