Brent fell nearly 9% to about $95. Oil and defense stocks sank, and hospital and dollar-store shares rallied.
NEW YORK – US stocks soared on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its best day since April 2025, after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress and oil prices tumbled.
The Dow jumped 1,569.40 points, or 3.03%, to close at 53,356.12, CNBC reported. The S&P 500 rose 1.6%, or 120 points, to close at 7,689, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.4%. Brent crude fell about 8.7% to around $94.62 a barrel, and US crude fell about 8% to about $88, after Vice President JD Vance blamed the Iran war for Republican losses, ABC News reported. Brent had settled near $104 on Monday.
The AP said a Democratic-led Congress could push Trump to pull back from the Iran war, which sent shares of defense contractors lower. Big oil companies sank after rallying for much of the year as the war drove up crude prices. Stocks of hospital owners and dollar stores serving low-income Americans led gains, including a 9.6% rise for HCA Healthcare, and renewable-energy and healthcare stocks also rallied. Apple and Microsoft hit record highs, and the dollar slid.
Investors saw risks ahead for Trump’s social-media company, the artificial-intelligence industry and Elon Musk’s businesses, according to the AP, and one analyst warned of risks to tech from newly empowered Democrats critical of AI data centers. Analysts said markets welcomed the prospect of gridlock that could limit Congress’s ability to pass major tax and spending bills.
Stocks usually do well after midterm elections. The S&P 500 has risen an average of 15.5% in the six months after the last 14 midterm races since 1970, according to Edward Jones. Indexes climbed around the world: Paris rose 2%, Shanghai 2.2% and London 1.8%, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.4%.