Update: Equities Rally, Oil Plunges Intraday Following Democrats' Election Win

02:05 PM EST, 11/04/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with latest market prices and developments.) US stocks rallied and crude oil prices tumbled intraday as traders assessed the implications of the Democrats' sweeping victory in Tuesday's midterm elections. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 3% at 53,312.9 after midday Wednesday, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.8% to 25,840.1. The S&P 500 rose 1.7% to 7,699.4. Except energy and industrials, all sectors were in the green, led by consumer discretionary. The Democratic Party secured 54 seats in the 100-member Senate and 234 seats in the 435-member House of Representatives, ending Republican majorities in both chambers, preliminary election results by the Associated Press showed Wednesday. The AP had yet to call 2 Senate and 62 House races as of Wednesday afternoon. President Donald Trump said he was "absolutely willing" to accept the election results and that looked forward to working with the Democrats, The New York Times reported. "The sizable swing in the political pendulum is being touted as a pushback against primarily tariffs, the Iranian conflict, and elevated -- energy -- prices," Stifel said in a note Wednesday. "Regardless of the particular motivation, the Democratic majority raises the odds of gridlock as well as a government shutdown in December." US Vice President JD Vance blamed the Iran war for the Republicans' election defeat, according to his post on social media platform X. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 7.8% at $88.63 a barrel intraday, while Brent slid 8.1% to $95.20 a barrel. A US-Iran peace deal looks more likely following the Democratic Party's decisive election victory, potentially helping end the conflict that has disrupted global energy markets this year, Rystad Energy said Wednesday. "With war funding and appointees now subject to a hostile majority, the administration faces greater institutional pressure to pursue a Hormuz deal rather than a further round of strikes," Rystad Chief Economist Claudio Galimberti said in remarks e-mailed to MT Newswires. "A restoration of flows through the Strait of Hormuz is the prerequisite for Middle East crude supply and refined product inventories to normalize." A Democratic Congress is likely to bring greater scrutiny on technology and artificial intelligence spending, Saxo Bank Investment and Options Strategist Koen Hoorelbeke said in a note. Shares of SpaceX (SPCX), Tesla (TSLA) and CoreWeave (CRWV) were all down intraday. The Democratic Party's decisive victory could weigh on broad artificial intelligence sentiment amid expectations for increased restrictions on data center buildouts, Morgan Stanley said in a Wednesday client note. In company news, McDonald's (MCD) reported third-quarter earnings and comparable sales growth above market expectations on Wednesday, while its US same-store sales turned positive in September amid the fast-food giant's focus on value-driven initiatives. The stock was up 6% intraday. Datadog (DDOG) shares slid nearly 15%, among the worst performers on the S&P 500, after the cloud monitoring and security platform issued a soft fourth-quarter revenue forecast, signaling a growth deceleration despite third-quarter results topping Wall Street's estimates. Treasury yields were lower, with the two-year rate falling 3.1 basis points to 4.58% while the 10-year rate declining five basis points to 4.9%. Spot gold gained 3.3% to $4,061.02 per troy ounce, while silver jumped 5% to $52.24 per ounce.