Wednesday close: Dow gains 1,569 points (+3.03%), largest one-day gain since April 2025; oil plunges 8.3% in biggest three-session retreat in nearly five years (Nov 4)
What happened
Wall Street closed Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1,569.40 points, or 3.03%, to 53,356.12 — its largest one-day gain since April 9, 2025 and the 5th-largest one-day points increase on record, topping the 1,500-point jump the day after President Trump's 2024 election. The S&P 500 gained 1.58% to 7,688.62 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.44% to 25,736.51, after futures had fallen sharply overnight Tuesday and reversed course Wednesday morning as the scale of the Democratic midterm sweep became clear. West Texas Intermediate crude plummeted $7.97, or 8.3%, to $88.12 a barrel, completing the largest three-session percentage retreat in almost five years, while the 10-year Treasury yield fell 6 basis points to 4.891%, near its lowest level in more than a year.
Why it matters & what’s next are part of Pro, along with the audio summary.
Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- MSFT (+7%, biggest Dow gainer on AI-capex-slowdown bets)
- AMZN (+6-7%)
- AAPL (+6%, reversing its post-earnings slide as memory-cost fears eased)
- GOOGL (+4%)
- META (+2.7%)
- NVDA (-2%, AI-infrastructure buildout names under pressure)
- TSLA (-4%, Musk's GOP backing and government-contract scrutiny); defense contractors and private-prison stocks (selloff as GOP trifecta trade unwinds); solar and health insurers (rallied on Democratic regulatory outlook); energy sector (worst performer as crude plunged — Marathon Petroleum, Valero among decliners).
