U.S. stocks surge, and the Dow soars 1,500 points as Brent oil's price drops below $95 per barrel

PBS NewsHour · Kim Chandler; David Fischer; Associated Press · 2026-11-04 20:47 UTC

U.S. stocks are soaring Wednesday after President Donald Trump’s party lost its sole control of Washington in the midterm elections.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are soaring Wednesday after President Donald Trump's party lost its sole control of Washington in the midterm elections.

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%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,519 points, or 2.9%, as of 2:06 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.9% higher.

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.

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