Update: Dow Logs Best Day Since April 2025 Following US Midterm Elections

04:57 PM EST, 11/04/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with market moves at the end of the day, and other changes, if any.) The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose the most since April 2025 on Wednesday as President Donald Trump accepted the Democrats' decisive victory in the US midterm elections. The Dow advanced 3% to 53,356.12, marking its biggest one-day percentage gain since April 9 last year. The S&P 500 climbed 1.6% to 7,688.62, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.4% to close at 25,736.51. Except energy and industrials, all sectors ended in the green, led by consumer discretionary. The Democratic Party secured 54 seats in the 100-member Senate and 237 seats in the 435-member House of Representatives, ending Republican majorities in both chambers, election results by the Associated Press showed Wednesday. The AP had yet to call 2 Senate and 59 House races as of late Wednesday afternoon. President Donald Trump said he was "absolutely willing" to accept the election results and that he looked forward to working with the Democrats, The New York Times reported. Oxford Economics sees a potential government shutdown next month, saying government funding will lapse after Dec. 11. If that happens, the firm said it would likely lower its GDP forecast for the fourth quarter of this year and possibly the estimate for the first quarter of 2027, depending on the duration of the shutdown. "Democrats will likely want to pass another stopgap funding bill and kick the can down the road to next year, when they'll have greater say in setting the spending agenda," Oxford said in a note e-mailed to MT Newswires. "In contrast, Republicans will push for an omnibus package that funds the government through the end of (fiscal) 2027." US Vice President JD Vance blamed the Iran war for the Republicans' election defeat, according to his post on social media platform X. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 7.7% at $88.67 a barrel in Wednesday late-afternoon trade, while Brent slid 8.1% to $95.26 a barrel. A US-Iran peace deal looks more likely following the Democratic Party's decisive election victory, potentially helping end the conflict that has disrupted global energy markets this year, Rystad Energy said Wednesday. "With war funding and appointees now subject to a hostile majority, the administration faces greater institutional pressure to pursue a Hormuz deal rather than a further round of strikes," Rystad Chief Economist Claudio Galimberti said in remarks e-mailed to MT Newswires. "A restoration of flows through the Strait of Hormuz is the prerequisite for Middle East crude supply and refined product inventories to normalize." A Democratic Congress is likely to bring greater scrutiny on technology and artificial intelligence spending, Saxo Bank Investment and Options Strategist Koen Hoorelbeke said in a note. Shares of SpaceX (SPCX), Tesla (TSLA) and CoreWeave (CRWV) were all down. The Democratic Party's decisive victory could weigh on broad artificial intelligence sentiment amid expectations for increased restrictions on data center buildouts, Morgan Stanley said in a Wednesday client note. In company news, McDonald's (MCD) reported third-quarter earnings and comparable sales growth above market expectations on Wednesday, while its US same-store sales turned positive in September amid the fast-food giant's focus on value-driven initiatives. The stock jumped 6.5%, among the biggest gains on the Dow. Datadog (DDOG) shares slid 14%, among the worst performers on the S&P 500, after the cloud monitoring and security platform issued a soft fourth-quarter revenue forecast, signaling a growth deceleration despite third-quarter results topping Wall Street's estimates. In economic news, US private sector employment growth topped market expectations for October, while pay increases were steady, ADP (ADP) data showed Wednesday. Treasury yields were lower, with the two-year rate falling 3.7 basis points to 4.58% while the 10-year rate declined 6.2 basis points to 4.89%. Spot gold gained 3.4% to $4,062.12 per troy ounce, while silver jumped 5% to $52.22 per ounce.