Dow jumps 3% as Democrats take Congress and oil falls 8.3%
Memory chips, oil producers and CVS Health fell. Health insurers, hospitals, gold miners and airlines rose.
Key takeaways
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 3% on Wednesday after Democrats won both chambers of Congress and oil fell 8.3%. The S&P 500 rose 1.6%. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4%. State Street’s SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust DIA rose with the Dow.
Democrats won majorities in the House and the Senate, and President Donald Trump accepted the results, CNBC reported. CNBC said the Democratic victory, and Trump’s acceptance of it, removed the political uncertainty hanging over the market. It called the session the Dow’s best day since April 9, 2025, when Trump announced a pause on a round of tariffs.
The Cboe Volatility Index, a gauge of expected swings in the S&P 500, fell 20% to 16.61.
Oil falls on bets the Iran war ends sooner
CNBC said the election was leading the oil market to believe President Donald Trump now has a bigger incentive to cut a deal with Iran, after a war that has disrupted energy supplies for eight months.
“There’s just going to be even more pressure to end the war,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at One Point BFG Wealth Partners, CNBC reported.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, closed at $88.12 a barrel, down 8.3%, and Brent crude, the international benchmark, closed at $94.62, down 8.7%, CNBC reported.
Vice President JD Vance pointed to the same war. “The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote on social media Wednesday, CNBC reported.
USCF’s United States Oil Fund USO fell 8.1%. State Street’s Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF XLE fell 4.7%. Exxon Mobil fell 4.5%, and Chevron fell 3.7%. State Street’s SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF XOP fell 6.4%.
Airline shares rose as fuel costs fell, 24/7 Wall St. said. U.S. Global’s U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS rose 6.7%. Delta Air Lines rose 7.2%, and JetBlue rose 11.9%.
Airlines gained as crude and producers sold off
McDonald’s rises after an earnings beat
McDonald’s rose 6.5%. Adjusted earnings of $3.57 a share beat the $3.38 a share analysts polled by LSEG expected, and sales at U.S. restaurants open at least a year fell 0.2%, a smaller drop than the 0.5% Wall Street had forecast and the first decline in six quarters, CNBC reported.
Chip suppliers fall as Apple hits a record
iShares Semiconductor ETF SOXX fell 3.1%. Micron Technology fell 7%. Nvidia fell 3.2%.
The Motley Fool wrote that Democratic wins in the Texas and Ohio governor’s races, in two data-center hubs, had raised doubts about how fast new facilities get built. CNBC said Apple stood to benefit from a slower data-center buildout, which would ease pressure on memory-chip prices.
Apple closed up 5.3% at $349.51 after trading as high as $354.47. CNBC called Wednesday an all-time high for the stock.
Companies that rent out computing power for artificial intelligence fell with the chip suppliers. CoreWeave fell 9.9% to $48.42 after touching $48.02, a 52-week low. Roundhill Investments’ Roundhill Neocloud ETF NCLD fell 9.1% and touched a 52-week low of $13.87.
Health insurers and hospitals rise, and CVS falls
Barron’s reported jumps among operators in state Medicaid programs, Affordable Care Act markets and hospital groups. HCA Healthcare rose 10.3%. Molina Healthcare rose 8.9%. State Street’s Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF XLV rose 3.1%.
CVS Health went the other way. The company said it plans to split by the first half of 2028, separating the pharmacy business from insurer Aetna and the Caremark pharmacy-benefit unit, CNBC reported. The shares fell 12.5%. CNBC said Wall Street appeared more pessimistic about the announcement.
Solar rises
Invesco Solar ETF TAN rose 5.7%. CNBC tied renewable shares to the Democratic win.
Gold climbs back above $4,000
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.90% from 4.95%. iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT rose 0.8%. At 4:42 p.m. ET, gold futures were at $4,069.90, up 3.3% from Tuesday, and the dollar index, a gauge of the U.S. currency against major peers, was down 0.3%. SPDR Gold Shares GLD rose 3.7%.
VanEck Gold Miners ETF GDX rose 8.9%, and VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF GDXJ rose 9.6%.
Bloomberg said the Democratic sweep had sent the dollar and Treasury yields lower, lifting gold back above $4,000 an ounce.
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