Wall Street just delivered its own verdict on Tuesday’s midterm elections, and it was loud.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketed 1,569.40 points on Wednesday, a gain of 3.03%, to close at 53,356.12, as investors digested a sweeping Democratic victory that hands the party control of both the House and the Senate.
The best day in more than a year
According to CNBC, it was the Dow’s best single session since April 9, 2025, the day President Donald Trump announced a pause on his so-called reciprocal tariffs. The 30-stock index also climbed back above 53,000 for the first time since September 8.
CNN, citing data from CFRA Research, reported that it was the Dow’s biggest single-day gain after a midterm election since 1982.
The rally was broad. The S&P 500 rose 1.58% to 7,688.62, which CNN said was its second-biggest post-midterm single-day gain since 1982. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.44% to finish at 25,736.51, its best post-midterm day since 2018.
Why investors cheered
Market watchers pointed to two big forces. The first is certainty. CNBC reported that the decisive result, along with President Trump’s acceptance of the outcome, removed the political uncertainty that had been hanging over Wall Street. Kiplinger noted that the election left no question about who will control Congress for the next two years.
The second is oil. Crude prices collapsed during the day after Vice President JD Vance publicly blamed the Republican losses on the war with Iran. CNBC reported that U.S. crude fell more than 8%, and CNN reported that Brent, the global benchmark, tumbled nearly 8% to about $95.70 a barrel while U.S. crude broke below $90.
“The market has decided that for the moment maybe we’re going to give peace a chance,” Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil, told CNN. Kloza said national average gas prices could fall below $4 a gallon around Veterans Day next week.
Not everyone is convinced
Some analysts warned the relief could be short-lived. Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group and a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush, told CNN that traders are betting the administration will wind down the war, but “We’re not buying it. We think escalation is more likely.”
President Trump has said the Iran war contributed to his party’s losses but that he would “have to do it again.”
What comes next
Democrats will take control of both chambers of Congress in January, setting up two years of divided government. Democratic leaders have already signaled plans to push on affordability and to use Congress’s power of the purse on the Iran war, while Wall Street will be watching closely to see whether Wednesday’s euphoria holds.
Reporting based on CNBC, CNN, ABC News, Kiplinger and The Associated Press.