Thursday, 5 November
Englishहिंदी
Get the 7 am briefing
India and the world,
in English and Hindi
Andhra PradeshCricketFootballGlobal marketsKarnatakaCourtsUS midterms
Sensex 77,301.40 +0.50%Nifty 50 23,960.60 +0.63%₹ / $ 94.64

EconomyGlobal markets

Dow surges 1,569 points in best day since April 2025 as Democrats take Congress and oil slumps

Wall Street closed sharply higher on Wednesday, the Dow up 3% to above 53,000, as a clear midterm result and a fall of more than 8% in crude prices lifted shares. Defence and AI data-centre stocks went the other way.

From the editorial desk · New YorkPublished
The Wall Street street sign in Lower Manhattan (file photo)
The Wall Street street sign in Lower Manhattan (file photo)Photo: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Key points

  1. The Dow closed up 1,569 points, or 3%, at 53,356.
  2. US and Brent crude fell more than 8% on bets the Iran war will end sooner.
  3. Defence and data-centre shares fell against the rally.

Wall Street closed with its biggest gain in 19 months on Wednesday, the first full day of trading after Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, as investors welcomed the end of election uncertainty and a steep fall in oil.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 1,569 points, or 3.03%, at 53,356.12, its first close above 53,000 since September 8 and its best day since April 9, 2025. The S&P 500 rose 1.58% to 7,688.62 and the Nasdaq Composite 1.44% to 25,736.51. Longer-dated Treasury yields slipped and the dollar weakened against most major currencies.

“Stocks are sharply higher today as election clarity reduces uncertainty,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bank Wealth Management.

Crude did much of the work. US crude and Brent futures both fell more than 8% on bets that the change of power in Washington will hasten the end of the Iran war. Vice-President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the war was the reason Republicans lost, adding to pressure on the White House to wind it down.

Consumer stocks led the S&P 500, with Walmart up 4%, while Amazon, Meta and Alphabet gained. Energy shares fell. So did defence makers Northrop Grumman, RTX and Lockheed Martin, on concern that President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defence budget will face a harder time in Congress.

The artificial intelligence trade cracked. Data-centre operators IREN and Hut 8 fell sharply, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index touched a six-month low. Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat elected governor of Texas, has promised an immediate moratorium on data centres in the state. The AI trade “will face some headwinds,” said Scott Chronert, head of US equity strategy at Citi Research.

For India, a sharp fall in crude is the most welcome part of the night. A lower oil import bill eases pressure on the rupee and on inflation, and sets a firm tone for Dalal Street on Thursday, after the Sensex rose for a fifth straight session on Wednesday.