Stocks Rally Higher After Democrats Flip Congress

Wall Street cheered the Blue Wave that put Democrats in control of both the Senate and House, with major market indexes and media stocks posting gains Wednesday morning after the midterm elections.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared over 1,100 points in early trading, up 2.2%, to nearly 53,000, while the Nasdaq Composite index was up 2.4%. Analysts said the Democrats’ win cleared away political uncertainty — and investors were bullish on the likely gridlock in D.C. keeping policies unchanged.

“Still more uncertainty looms, but one thing is certain, there will be gridlock and historically this is good for the market,” Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, told CNBC. Woods said the market uptick also partly stemmed from President Donald Trump’s “initial tone and reaction to the results,” after Trump told the New York Times he would accept the midterm election results.

As of Wednesday morning, Democrats held a 54-44 edge in the Senate over Republicans, with two races (in Mississippi and Alaska) yet to be called, according to the AP. In the House, Dems had secured 228 seats — giving the party a clear majority — and the GOP stood at 139, with outcomes in 68 races still undetermined.

Media stocks that gained in early trading the morning after the midterms included Netflix (+4%), Comcast (+4%), Disney (+3.8%), Skydance (+2.8%) and Fox Corp. (+2.4%). Big tech stocks — despite analysts warning that Democratic majorities in Congress could create headwinds for AI data center buildouts — also rose: Apple (+6%) Amazon (7.6%), Alphabet (+4.9%) and Meta (+2.4%) all were trending higher.