Wall Street Rallies as Dow Jumps 1,200 Points After Democrats Win Congress

Wall Street rallied on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, after Democrats secured sweeping victories in the midterm elections and won control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. By 9:46 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 1,203.07 points, or 2.30 percent, to 52,989.79, Reuters reported. The S and P 500 gained 129.88 points, or 1.72 percent, to 7,698.80, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 540.38 points, or 2.13 percent, to 25,912.39.

The move started at the opening bell. At the open the Dow rose 997.76 points, or 1.93 percent, to 52,784.48, the S and P 500 rose 86.51 points, or 1.14 percent, to 7,655.43, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 271.36 points, or 1.07 percent, to 25,643.36. CNN reported the Dow surged 1,045 points, or 2 percent, shortly after the opening bell, with the S and P 500 up 1.25 percent and the Nasdaq up 1.3 percent. MarketWatch put the Dow about 1,000 points higher at the open, at about 52,802 according to FactSet, heading for one of its best days so far in 2026.

Why investors bought

The Wall Street Journal reported the rebound followed comments by President Trump that he would accept the election results and looked forward to working with Democrats, after stocks had slid in off-hours trading as results started rolling in. Treasury yields were down slightly and the dollar was falling against the euro, the yen and other currencies, the Journal said.

Reuters reported that investors bet a divided Washington could limit the scope for sharp policy shifts. Michael Krautzberger, chief investment officer for public markets, and Liam Wash, senior US economist, at Allianz Global Investors said: "Investors could conclude that Washington remains structurally constrained, limiting the prospects for dramatic shifts in the economic outlook."

The S and P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded 105 new highs and 54 new lows, Reuters reported.

Winners and losers inside the rally

Amazon.com jumped 7.1 percent in the 9:46 a.m. update, Meta Platforms added 1.6 percent and Alphabet gained 3.4 percent. Inside the Dow, Amgen jumped nearly 6 percent after its earnings report, Merck rallied more than 2 percent and Apple gained more than 2 percent, while Nvidia lost more than 1 percent in early trading, Investor's Business Daily reported.

The premarket trade had already pointed higher. At 8:31 a.m. ET Dow E-minis were up 904 points, or 1.74 percent, S and P 500 E-minis were up 66 points, or 0.87 percent, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 64.5 points, or 0.23 percent. McDonald's gained 2.1 percent after beating quarterly profit estimates and Block jumped 9.7 percent after raising its full-year gross profit outlook. The Invesco Solar ETF climbed 6.4 percent. Defense stocks Northrop Grumman, RTX and Lockheed Martin fell sharply, and Nvidia was down 1.2 percent before the open.

One group moved the other way. Concerns over tighter AI regulation weighed on data center operators, with IREN, Hut 8, Applied Digital and Core Scientific falling between 5.2 percent and 10 percent before the open. Elon Musk-led SpaceX fell 6.5 percent and Tesla fell 4.7 percent in premarket trading. Reuters reported Goldman Sachs economists said Democratic wins at the state and local level are likely to lead to short-term data center moratoria, potentially affecting about 45 percent of planned US data center capacity expansion. Reuters also noted the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index had confirmed a technical correction on Monday.