Wall Street surged on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections: the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 3.03% (1,569.40 points) to 53,356.12, the S&P 500 rose 1.58% to 7,688.62 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.44% to 25,736.51. Oil fell about 8% (Brent settled at $94.62) on hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran war, while semiconductor and data-center stocks sold off on fears of tighter limits on AI infrastructure. After the close AppLovin rose and Qualcomm and Snap fell. Overnight the Kospi dropped 5.28% and the Nikkei 225 fell 1.79%; European stocks are higher this morning, with the STOXX 600 up about 0.7% near a record. Today, Thursday, November 5, 2026, the Bank of England decides on rates at 12:00 UTC (a 25 basis point hike is widely expected), US jobless claims are due, ConocoPhillips, Cigna, Kimberly-Clark, Southern Company and Duke Energy report before the US open and Airbnb, Simon Property and EOG after the close. Data cut-off: 09:55 UTC (11:55 in Bucharest). The freshest source timestamps are Reuters via The Irish Times (09:53 GMT; index data as of 09:05 GMT) and Reuters via Investing.com (futures as of 08:03 GMT), so futures, oil and European prices may have moved since.
Wednesday, November 4: how the main indices closed
| Index | Close | Change on the day |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,688.62 | +119.70 points (+1.58%) |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 53,356.12 | +1,569.40 points (+3.03%) |
| Nasdaq Composite | 25,736.51 | +364.50 points (+1.44%) |
| Russell 2000 | 2,856.95 to 2,856.96 | +44.51 points (+1.58%) |
| Nasdaq 100 | 28,437.17 | +0.91% (Capp Notes; single source for the level) |
| STOXX Europe 600 | 657.40 | +1.82% (Capp Notes; consistent with +0.7% to 661.99 at 09:05 GMT today per Reuters) |
| DAX | 26,437.67 | +2.22% (Capp Notes; matches Tuesday close of 25,864.62 plus 2.22%) |
| FTSE 100 | 10,829.21 | +1.79% (single source, rallies.ai; matches Tuesday close of 10,638.43 plus 1.79%) |
| CAC 40, Euro Stoxx 50 | Not confirmed | Closes not found in two sources, so not shown |
| Nikkei 225 (Thursday, November 5) | 61,077.90 | -1,110.73 points (-1.79%) |
| Kospi (Thursday, November 5) | 5,383.65 | -300.15 points (-5.28%) |
Sources: the S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 closes agree across Stock Titan (last updated 01:15 UTC, November 5), TheStreet, The Market Breakdown (modified 01:23 UTC) and Capp Notes (last modified 22:28 UTC, November 4); the Russell 2000 is 2,856.96 at TheStreet and 2,856.95 elsewhere. Capp Notes is also the source for the Nasdaq 100, STOXX 600 and DAX. The FTSE 100 comes from rallies.ai (date shown, no time). The Asian closes come from Tokenpost (published 01:47 ET) and TradingKey. TradingKey prints the Kospi close as 5,683.67, but that equals the previous close; the 300.15-point fall and the 5.28% change match a close of 5,383.65. Market-data summaries, not exchange files, so the last decimal may differ.
Rates, oil, gold and currencies
| Market | Tuesday close (previous edition) | Wednesday close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| US 10-year Treasury yield | 4.95% | 4.89% | About -6 bp (Capp Notes) |
| US 2-year Treasury yield | 4.61% | 4.58% | About -3 bp |
| US 30-year Treasury yield | 5.32% | 5.28% | About -4 bp |
| WTI crude (December) | $96.09 | $88.12 | -$7.97 (-8.3%) |
| Brent crude (January) | $103.60 | $94.62 | -$8.98 (-8.7%); lowest since August 31 |
| Gold (futures) | $3,931.90 | $4,070.20 | +3.29% per Capp Notes; Tuesday level was in the previous edition and may use another contract |
| Dollar index (DXY) | 101.87 | 101.53 | -0.34% |
| EUR/USD | n/a | About 1.1235 | +0.39% (Capp Notes) |
| VIX | 20.83 | 16.61 | -20.26% |
| Bitcoin | n/a | About $80,230 | About +3.7% over 24 hours (Capp Notes) |
| Bund and gilt yields | n/a | Not confirmed | No reliable Wednesday close found |
Treasury yields, gold, the dollar, VIX and bitcoin are from Capp Notes; oil settlements are the same in Reuters via Investing.com and The Market Breakdown. Quote widgets on Investing.com showed the 10-year yield at 4.877% on Thursday morning, but the page does not state the time of the widget, so no morning column is shown.
What moved markets on Wednesday
Democratic win and falling oil. According to Reuters via Investing.com, Democrats will control both chambers of Congress from January, and some analysts expect gridlock with the White House, which lowers policy-surprise risk. Reuters via The Irish Times reports that President Trump acknowledged defeat and that investors hope a Democratic Congress could limit fiscal spending and policies targeting European banks and clean energy. Oil fell to its lowest settlement since August 31 on hopes that the result could push toward an end to the Iran war; The Market Breakdown adds that a senior Iranian official said the sides remained far from an agreement. The rally was broad: nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, consumer discretionary gained about 4.3% and energy fell about 4.8% (The Market Breakdown), and TheStreet also reports energy as the weakest group. The VIX volatility index fell 20.26% to 16.61 (Capp Notes).
The AI trade split. Buyers of AI capacity rose: Microsoft gained about 6.7% and Amazon 6.1% (The Market Breakdown), and Apple rose 5.31% (Stock Titan). The semiconductor index fell about 3.1% and Nvidia fell 3.17%, while data-center operators dropped: Hut 8 about -23%, IREN -11%, Core Scientific -10% and Applied Digital -6.7% (The Market Breakdown). Reuters, as relayed by The Market Breakdown, said investors were weighing tighter limits on AI infrastructure expansion; Capp Notes reports that the Texas governor-elect pledged a moratorium on new data-center approvals. We treat these as reports; we have not seen the underlying statements.
Jobs data in, yields lower. According to Capp Notes (a single source), ADP private payrolls rose by 86,000 in October against 75,000 expected, and the ISM services index was 54.5 against 54.8 expected, with new orders at 55.9 from 59.8. Treasury yields still fell on the day (table above). The same source cites CME FedWatch pricing about a 76.9% chance of a 25 bp rate hike at the December 8-9 Fed meeting; we have not verified that figure.
Single-stock moves. Per Stock Titan (regular session): CVS -12.53%, Fidelity National Information Services -23.67%, Amdocs -30.07%, Datadog -14.42% and Trump Media -24.54%. AMD, which reported record revenue on Tuesday after the close, rose 1.01%.
Europe closed sharply higher. The STOXX 600 rose 1.82% to 657.40 and the DAX 2.22% to 26,437.67 (Capp Notes). The FTSE 100 gained 1.79% to 10,829.21, its biggest one-day gain since early May according to rallies.ai: banks rose 4.48% on expectations of a Bank of England hike, precious-metal miners about 6.51% as gold gained about 3%, and energy shares fell 2.15%. Marks & Spencer rose after stronger first-half results and Weir fell after flagging short-term headwinds.
After the close: AppLovin up, Qualcomm and Snap down
After-hours moves differ by source and time stamp, so ranges are shown. AppLovin rose about 19% (Capp Notes, 17:09 ET) to 22.8% (Stock Titan, 19:59 ET) after adjusted EPS of $4.30 against $4.04 expected and a fourth-quarter revenue guide of $2.37 billion to $2.40 billion against about $2.25 billion expected (Capp Notes). Qualcomm fell between about 6% and 8% (Capp Notes -6.18%, Stock Titan -7.40%, Reuters via Investing.com more than 8%): handset revenue dropped 26% to $5.14 billion against $5.25 billion expected, and the data-center outlook was upbeat, according to Reuters. Snap fell 8.6% to 11.5% after revenue of $1.72 billion, about $10 million short (Capp Notes). Zillow fell 15.27% on an earnings and revenue miss (Capp Notes). Stock Titan lists Arm down 0.58% after its results, with no later figure.
Overnight: Asia sells off, Europe rises
Korea and Japan. The Kospi closed down 5.28% at 5,383.65; the exchange’s sidecar mechanism, which pauses program trading, was triggered. SK Hynix fell 9.45% and Samsung Electronics 7.56% (Tokenpost), with the move attributed to concerns about AI regulation. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.79% to 61,077.90; Kioxia dropped 13.14% and SoftBank Group 6.07% (TradingKey). Foxconn fell more than 3% and TSMC 0.88% (Reuters via Investing.com).
Europe at 09:05 GMT. According to Reuters via The Irish Times, the STOXX 600 was up 0.7% at 661.99, just short of a record, with all major regional benchmarks higher and Spain’s IBEX leading at +1.7%. Basic resources rose 2% as ArcelorMittal gained 5% after beating core profit expectations. Chip stocks fell (ASML -2.4%, Siltronic -7.3%, Soitec -4.8%). Legrand rose 5.5% after raising its 2026 sales growth forecast, Air France-KLM gained more than 11% on third-quarter operating profit, and Orsted and Nordex rose about 4%. Rheinmetall fell 16.5% after cutting its 2026 sales forecast for the second time in three months, and Aker BP fell 11.2% after BP sold a 5% stake.
US futures at 08:03 GMT (Reuters via Investing.com): S&P 500 futures -0.2%, Nasdaq 100 futures -1.0%, Dow futures +0.3%.
Thursday, November 5: what is scheduled
| Time (UTC / Bucharest / ET) | Event | Consensus | Previous / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 / 14:00 / 07:00 | Bank of England rate decision and Monetary Policy Report | A 25 bp hike to 4.00% is widely expected, the first rise in more than three years (Reuters via Investing.com; 4.00% also in a calendar aggregator) | Bank Rate 3.75% (September 17, 2026); UK inflation 3.5% in September (Reuters) |
| 12:00 / 14:00 / 07:00 | US Challenger job cuts, October | n/a | n/a |
| 13:30 / 15:30 / 08:30 | US weekly jobless claims and continuing claims | n/a (not in our sources) | n/a |
| 13:30 / 15:30 / 08:30 | US preliminary Q3 productivity and unit labor costs | n/a | n/a |
| 15:30 / 17:30 / 10:30 | US EIA natural gas storage | n/a | n/a |
| Before the US open | Earnings: ConocoPhillips, Cigna, Kimberly-Clark, Southern Company, Duke Energy, Zoetis, Sempra, Parker-Hannifin, Rockwell Automation and others | EPS and revenue consensus not available in the calendar source | Calendar from Investrade; confirm times with each company |
| After the US close | Earnings: Airbnb, Simon Property, EOG Resources, Consolidated Edison, Cloudflare, Microchip Technology and others | EPS and revenue consensus not available in the calendar source | Calendar from Investrade; confirm times with each company |
Times and company lists come from MarketAlleys, Investrade and ForexFundamentals; none of them gave consensus values for the US releases, so none are shown.
The next trading days
Friday, November 6, brings the US October employment report (nonfarm payrolls, private payrolls, unemployment rate and average hourly earnings) at 13:30 UTC (08:30 ET), followed by the University of Michigan preliminary sentiment and inflation expectations at 15:00 UTC; consensus values were not available in our calendar sources. Enbridge, Humana, Charter Communications, Franklin Resources, PPL and Vistra are among the companies due to report before the US open (Investrade). Check each company’s own investor-relations page for the exact time.
Sources
- Capp Notes, Closing Look, Wednesday, November 4, 2026 (last modified 22:28 UTC, November 4)
- Stock Titan, Stock Market Today, November 4, 2026 (last updated 01:15 UTC, November 5)
- TheStreet, Stock Market Today, November 4, 2026 (4:02 PM ET wrap)
- The Market Breakdown, Wall Street rallies after the midterms (modified 01:23 UTC, November 5)
- Investing.com (Reuters), US midterms fallout in focus; Qualcomm shares slip (published November 5, futures as of 08:03 GMT)
- The Irish Times (Reuters), Europe’s STOXX 600 hovers near all-time high (09:53, November 5)
- Tokenpost, Kospi and Nikkei closes (01:47 ET, November 5) and TradingKey (November 5)
- rallies.ai, FTSE 100 climbs 1.79% (November 4, no time shown)
- MarketAlleys, Investrade weekly calendar and ForexFundamentals for today’s calendar
All market-data summaries and commentary above are from the media and data sites listed and are labelled as such; they are not exchange or company filings. Press reports we could not confirm are described as reports.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Figures come from the sources listed, as of the times stated, and may be revised. Market-data summaries can differ slightly from official exchange figures. Confirm current prices with your broker. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital.
