U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, with major indexes closing at record highs, following Donald Trump's historic victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential election, four years after he lost the race to the White House.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) jumped 3.6%% or 1,508.05 points, to finish at 43,729.93 points, fueling the biggest post-election surge in 128 years. The last time the blue-chip index gained more than 1,000 points in a single day was in November 2022.
The S&P 500 climbed 2.5% or 146.28 points, to end at 5,929.04 points, hitting an all-time high. Financials, industrials, tech and consumer discretionary stocks were the biggest gainers.
The Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) jumped 6.1%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) gained 2.9%, while the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) rose 3.2% and 3.9%, respectively. Eight of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 3% or 544.29 points to close at a new high of 18,983.47 points.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 20.6% to 16.27. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.51-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.84-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues. A total of 18.68 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 12.16 billion.
Trump's Win Sends Wall Street on a Rally
Americans didn’t have to wait too long for the election results as Trump made a stunning comeback to win the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. Several polls had predicted a close fight between Harris and Trump and that it could take days for the winner to be announced.
However, in the end, it was quite a comfortable win for Trump with the former president sweeping the majority of the swing states. Trump was declared the winner quite early on Wednesday and he even gave his speech before markets opened.
Stocks rallied from the first minute of Wednesday’s trading session. Investments that could benefit under Trump’s leadership soared to new highs, sending the Treasury yields sharply higher.
The benchmark 10-year note yield hit a four-month high of 4.479%, while the 30-year note closed 15.3 basis points higher.
Stocks to Benefit from Trump’s Win Soar
After Trump’s win investors are expecting lower taxes and deregulation as they see the new President as someone who openly comments on issues ranging from the stock market to the dollar.
Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of more than $76,000, while the dollar index rose to its highest level since July.
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA), whose CEO Elon Musk is a prominent supporter of Trump, saw its shares surge over 14%. Tesla sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Financial stocks were the best performers on Wednesday. Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) jumped 11.4%, while Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) soared 13.1%.
The small-cap Russell 2000 surged 5.8%, recording its largest jump since November 2022 and hitting a three-year high on optimism that the domestically focused stocks in this index will gain from lighter regulations, lower taxes, and minimal impact from import tariffs under Trump’s regime.
Investors are now looking forward to the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates which will be out on Thursday at the end of its two-day November policy meeting. A 25-basis point rate cut is being highly expected, which could further fuel the rally.
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