US Stocks Surge After Democrats Win Control of House and Senate in Midterm Elections
US stock indexes rallied on Wednesday following a seismic midterm election outcome in which Democrats secured control of both the House and the Senate. After an initial knee-jerk drop as results trickled in overnight, markets swiftly repriced the shift toward a divided government, resulting in broad gains across multiple sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose roughly 2%, climbing more than 1,100 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively. Technology stocks experienced mixed reactions; while chipmakers like Nvidia and Micron fell more than 1% amid market expectations that newly elected officials and ballot measures might restrict data center construction, other tech giants surged. Apple and Microsoft both hit all-time highs, with Apple jumping 6% as investors viewed the company as a defensive play and a potential beneficiary of cooling memory chip demand.
Alongside the election results, investors digested a busy economic and earnings calendar on Wednesday. The Institute for Supply Management reported that US services activity expanded at a slower pace in October, with its services index ticking down to 54.5. Meanwhile, a slew of major corporate earnings reports—including updates from Arm Holdings, McDonald's, Qualcomm, Novo Nordisk, and Uber Technologies—offered fresh insights into consumer health and artificial intelligence demand.
