US Shares Gain Momentum as Midterms Excite Investors
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Wednesday, with stocks likely to see further upside after ending the previous session mostly higher.
The upward momentum on Wall Street comes as the results of the highly anticipated midterm elections on Tuesday came largely in line with expectations.
Democrats are projected to retake control of the House for the first time since 2010, as Democratic candidates managed to flip a number of suburban districts across the country.
Control of the House will give Democrats subpoena power, potentially leading to numerous investigations of President Donald Trump?s administration.
House Democrats will also play a much larger role if Trump hopes to achieve any major legislative accomplishments in the next two years.
Meanwhile, Democrats did not fare as well as in the Senate, as Republicans appear poised to expand their majority in the upper chamber.
Republican candidates won Democratic Senate seats in Indiana, Missouri, and North Dakota and are leading in tight races in Florida, Arizona, and Montana.
The GOP had been seen as likely to maintain control of the Senate due to the tough map faced by Democrats, who were defending 26 of the 35 seats on the ballot.
With Republicans expanding their majority, Trump will likely have an easier time pushing through more controversial judicial nominees.
Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Tuesday but largely maintained a positive bias on the day. The major averages all moved to the upside following the mixed performance seen in the previous session.
Going into the close, the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new highs for the session. The Dow advanced 173.31 points or 0.7 percent to 25,635.01, the Nasdaq climbed 47.11 points or 0.6 percent to 7,375.96 and the S&P 500 rose 17.14 points or 0.6 percent to 2,755.45.
The strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to recover from the sell-off seen in October, which was one of the worst months for the markets in years.
However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves amid uncertainty about the outcome of the highly anticipated midterm elections.
Traders also continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement, with the Fed due to announce is latest decision on Thursday.
The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will keep a close eye on the accompanying statement for clues about an expected rate hike in December.
Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although considerable strength was visible among chemical stocks. Reflecting the strength in the chemical sector, the S&P Chemical Sector Index climbed by 1.5 percent.
Semiconductor stocks also showed a notable move to the upside, resulting in a 1.1 percent advance by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index rebounded after pulling back over the two previous sessions.
Within the semiconductor sector, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) posted a strong gain after announcing its EPYC processors are now available on Amazon Web Services.
On the other hand, gold stocks came under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 1.3 percent.
The weakness among gold stocks came amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery falling $6 to $1,226.30 an ounce.
