US stocks gained about $900 billion in value at the open after the midterms

US stocks jumped at Wednesday’s open, the first session after Democrats won both chambers of Congress. Just after the bell the Dow rose 1,022 points, or 2%, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each added 1.3%, CNBC reported.

US public companies had a combined market cap of $78.7 trillion at the end of September, according to Siblis Research. A gain of about 1.2% across that base comes to roughly $900 billion. The figure is our estimate.

Buyers kept coming through the morning. By 11:03 in New York the Dow traded 1,377 points, or 2.7%, higher, the S&P 500 was up 1.6% and the Nasdaq 1.8%.

Why investors bought

Strategists read the result as gridlock. Jay Woods of Freedom Capital Markets said “there will be gridlock and historically this is good for the market”. Angelo Kourkafas of Edward Jones called the vote “a clearing event removing some uncertainty”. President Trump told The New York Times he was “absolutely willing” to accept the results.

Winners and losers

The biggest gains:

• Amazon rose 7%, Apple and Microsoft 6%, Alphabet 5%;
• the Invesco Solar ETF gained about 8%;
• health insurers Molina and Centene rose 5% to 7%.

AI infrastructure went the other way. CoreWeave, which began as an Ethereum miner, fell more than 7%, Nebius more than 4% and Nvidia 1%. Tesla slipped 2%, and Trump Media dropped about 11% before the open.

Texas weighed on the group. Democrat Gina Hinojosa led Governor Greg Abbott, and Texas holds about 27% of US data-centre capacity, according to Wells Fargo. Democrats had run against AI data centres in several races.

Gold up, dollar down

Gold rose 2.9% to $4,043 an ounce. The dollar index fell 0.39% to 101.32, and the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to about 4.93%. Bitcoin rose 1.6% to $78,277, less than the S&P 500, after dipping below $76,000 overnight. WTI crude fell about 2%, to near $94 a barrel.

What it means for you

The S&P 500 has risen in the year after each of the last 11 midterm elections, by 13.7% on average, CNBC calculated. The figures here are intraday, and the close can differ. If you hold bitcoin, Wednesday showed it trailing stocks on good political news. On the crypto bill, Kalshi traders give CLARITY a 6% chance before 2027, and Democratic votes now decide its fate.

Market data are intraday figures from CNBC and Decrypt. The $900 billion figure is our estimate from Siblis Research data. This is not investment advice.