Wall Street closes sharply higher after the Democratic sweep, the Dow up 1,569 points for its best day since April 2025, as oil falls about 9 percent

The overnight market and the closing market told opposite stories. Futures fell as much as 2.5 percent in the first hours after the polls closed, with the Nasdaq taking the worst of it. By Wednesday's close the Dow had posted its best day since April 9, 2025, up 1,569.40 points to 53,356.12, its first finish above 53,000 since September 8. The S&P 500 rose 1.58 percent to 7,688.62, its best day in three months, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.44 percent to 25,736.51. The Russell 2000 added 1.58 percent to 2,856.96. All figures are the November 4 close.

The turn ran on oil. Brent crude fell about 8.7 percent to about 94.62 dollars a barrel as of November 4, and American crude fell about 8 percent to about 88 dollars, as traders priced in pressure on the administration to wind down the war with Iran now that the Democrats hold Congress. Cheaper oil took the inflation fear out of the day. The 10 year Treasury yield eased to about 4.88 percent as of November 4, down from 4.95 percent late on Tuesday, and gold rose 3.38 percent to 4,073.70 dollars an ounce as of November 4.

Nine of the eleven S&P 500 sectors rose, five of them by 3 percent or more, with consumer discretionary stocks up about 4.2 percent. Energy shares fell about 4.8 percent on the oil drop, and data center shares fell on fears that a Democratic Congress brings tighter regulation of artificial intelligence, Reuters reported. The market's verdict on the sweep, at least for one session, was that a settled result beats an unsettled one.