Stocks generally do well in the months following any midterm U.S. election, regardless of who wins, and the S&P 500 jumped 1.8 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,524 points, or 2.9 percent, as of noon Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.1 percent higher, The Korea Times reported.
***
Stocks of solar-power companies, dollar stores and hospital owners helped lead the way as Wall Street tried to sort the winners from losers following the widespread losses for Republicans. Investors, meanwhile, see risks ahead for Trump’s social-media company, the artificial-intelligence industry and businesses owned by Elon Musk, who donated heavily to Republicans.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell below $100 for the first time in nearly a month. Vice President JD Vance blamed the war with Iran, which caused a spike in oil prices, for Republicans’ midterm losses.
Strategists along Wall Street had been urging investors not to get swept up in the election because it may not matter much for the broad market in the long term. Prices for stocks depend more on where profits for companies and interest rates are heading than on who controls what in Washington.
“Earnings trump elections,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management.
Still, Wall Street may have gotten a preferred political scenario as Democrats are set to take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Wall Street generally prefers split control of Washington because it lessens the risk of transformative changes to the economy.
Much remains impossible to predict, of course, and Trump retains executive authority over key areas such as defense, foreign policy and in some instances trade.
