Major market indexes and media stocks rose Wednesday morning after the midterm elections as Wall Street applauded the Blue Wave that gave Democrats control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.2%, more than 1,100 points to nearly 53,000 in early trading, while the Nasdaq Composite index was up 2.4%. Analysts said the Democrats’ victory removed political uncertainty and investors were optimistic about possible gridlock in D.C. without changing policies.
“More uncertainty is on the horizon, but one thing is certain, there will be bottlenecks, and historically that’s been a good thing for the market,” Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, told CNBC. Woods said the market’s rally was due in part to President Donald Trump’s “initial tone and reaction to the results” after he told the New York Times he would accept the midterm election results.
As of Wednesday morning, Democrats held a 54-44 lead over Republicans in the Senate, with two races yet to be called in Mississippi and Alaska, according to the AP. In the House of Representatives, Democrats gained 228 seats, giving the party a clear majority, and the GOP remained at 139 seats; The results of 68 races have still not been determined.
Media stocks rising in the early morning hours following the midterms include Netflix (+4%), Comcast (+4%), Disney (+3.8%), Skydance (+2.8%) and Fox Corp. (+2.4%). Major tech stocks rose (despite analysts’ warnings that a Democratic majority in Congress could create headwinds for AI data center deployments): Apple (+6%) Amazon (+7.6%), Alphabet (+4.9%) and Meta (+2.4%) were in an uptrend.
“The US midterm elections are a political hurricane,” Mike Bell, head of strategy at RBC BlueBay Asset Management, told the Times. “But for all the political storms the vote will create, markets are less likely to be affected by this outcome.”
Not all stocks increased. Shares of Elon Musk’s SpaceX were down 1.3% in morning trading, and shares of Tesla were down -2.4%. Musk, the world’s richest person, spent an estimated $168 million supporting Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in the race for an open Senate seat in Texas; Democrat James Talarico won by 12 points. Voters in Texas also elected Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate who unseated incumbent GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, as governor.
“Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk posted on X late Tuesday night, then shrugged.
Additionally, shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the operator of Truth Social (Trump’s primary social media platform), also fell post-election. TMTG shares traded down more than 10% in Wednesday morning trading, pushing its market value below $1.5 billion. The Trump family foundation owns 41 percent of Trump Media, Reuters reported last month.