Wall Street rallied Wednesday as investors digested Democrats' sweeping midterm wins. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1,569.40 points, or 3%, to 53,356.12, the S&P 500 rose 1.6% to 7,688.62, and the Nasdaq climbed 1.4%, NBC Bay Area reported. CBS News called it the Dow's biggest gain of the year.
Silicon Valley's AI giants split. Nvidia sank 3.1% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500, while CoreWeave dropped 9.9%, according to NBC Bay Area. Alphabet rose 3.2%. NBC said investors see Democratic wins, particularly in Texas, as possibly slowing the buildout of AI data centers.
LPL Research's Jeff Buchbinder told investors that strong Democratic showings in key data-center states "may slow it down some," potentially increasing regulatory pressure on AI infrastructure stocks, CBS reported. Trump Media & Technology Group fell about 25%.
Analysts cautioned against reading too much into one day. "Earnings trump elections," Annex Wealth Management's Brian Jacobsen told NBC. Capital Economics' Stephen Brown told CBS the outcome doesn't change much in the near term because Democrats lack a filibuster-proof Senate majority and the president retains veto power.
Vote counts cited here are unofficial. Bay Area counties are still processing mail and provisional ballots, and results are not certified until later this month, so margins can change.