Dow jumps 1,569 points to 53,356 as oil sinks 8% and Democrats take Congress

US stocks ended Wednesday sharply higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 53,356.12, up 1,569.40 points, or 3.0%, a day after Democrats won control of Congress. The S&P 500 rose 1.6% to 7,688.62 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4% to 25,736.51. All figures are from Yahoo Finance data pulled after the 4:00 PM ET close.

The rally was lopsided. The Dow, which holds more industrial, financial and health names, beat the Nasdaq by roughly twice. The S&P 500 is still about 1.7% below its 1-year closing high of 7,818.93, and the Dow sits about 1.8% under its Aug. 5 peak, so this was a big day, not a record. We examined the record-high claims in our fact check.

Oil did the heavy lifting

The sharpest move was in energy. December West Texas Intermediate settled near $88.41 a barrel, down from $96.09 on Tuesday, a drop of 8.0%. Front-month Brent fell about 8.3% to $94.96. Our War Room report covers the Iran statements that accompanied the slide; the Chronicle cannot say from the data alone how much of the drop came from the election and how much from the Iran headlines.

Lower crude is not good for everyone. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) fell 4.7% on the day, and the defense ETF ITA slipped 1.5%. For truckers, movers and landscapers the other side of that is cheaper diesel; we worked the numbers in what the oil slide means for a trucker.

Rates and gold

The Treasury's daily par yield curve put the 10-year at 4.90%, down from 4.95% Tuesday, the 2-year at 4.58% from 4.61%, and the 30-year at 5.28% from 5.32%. Falling yields helped borrowers' sentiment but moved little in dollar terms: on a $500,000 floating-rate line tied to the 10-year, five basis points is about $250 a year in interest, our arithmetic.

Gold futures settled near $4,074.50 an ounce, up about 3.4% from $3,940.40 the day before, and back above $4,000. See our gold report.

Single stocks

• 3M rose 9.5% to $193.95 after filing an 8-K on a $7.35 billion PFAS settlement; the company will book a $5.8 billion charge, with part of the payout not due until 2028. Details in our story.
• CVS Health fell 12.5% to $79.96 after reporting plans to split in two. See our update.
• Nvidia slipped 3.2% to $200.13 as AI data center names fell after Texas elected a Democratic governor; see that split. AMD was up 1.0% at $488.78 after its earnings.

What to watch Thursday and Friday

The October jobs report arrives Friday, Nov. 6 at 8:30 AM ET, per the BLS schedule. ADP's private payroll count on Wednesday showed 86,000 jobs in October, slightly above expectations, according to the CNBC-cited summary on our scoop board. A one-day rally on policy hopes and cheaper oil is easy to reverse if payrolls surprise, and the Fed's next move depends on that data. For a retirement account tracking the Dow, a 3.0% day on $100,000 is about $3,030, a move that one session can also give back. Live levels are on our markets page.

Sources: Yahoo Finance index, futures and stock data (closing values pulled Nov. 4, 2026); US Treasury daily par yield curve rates; 3M filings on SEC EDGAR; BLS. This is market information, not investment advice.