Dow surges 1,500 points as Democrats win, Brent crude drops 9%

Democratic sweep eases political uncertainty

The Democratic Party won control of both the House and the Senate in the elections held on Tuesday. Donald Trump accepted the results, which helped ease market uncertainty.

The election results provide the party with leverage to pressure President Trump to end the war.

The oil market rose by more than 10% in October as it factored in the risk of a major escalation following the elections. Market sentiment was bolstered by a drop in oil prices and eased political uncertainty.

Bob McNally of Rapidan Energy warned that the odds still favor military escalation.

Brent crude oil futures fall below $100 a barrel

Brent crude futures fell 4.4% to $99.06 per barrel on Wednesday.

Crude futures dropped 8.7% to settle at $94.62 on Wednesday, according to CNBC. Brent crude traded at $93.50 during the Asia morning session on November 5.

West Texas Intermediate crude slipped below $90 a barrel on Wednesday, more than $15 lower than the previous Friday's close of $104. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices decreased by 4.2% to $92.07.

Crude oil prices experienced a decline of more than 4% on Wednesday.

Historically, crude oil prices rose about 10% after the 2016 election and 20% after the 2020 election, but fell about 6% after the 2024 election. This week’s decline in Brent crude potentially marks the largest weekly drop since April 2020.

Political pressure mounts to end U.S.-Iran war

Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates said the market now believes President Trump may be inclined to make a deal with Iran. Lipow said Democrats might attempt to restrict war funding.

On Tuesday, President Trump told the Financial Times he does not have immediate plans to strike Iran. Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, said the magnitude of the victory caught markets off guard.

JD Vance blames war for Republican election losses

Vice President JD Vance said the Republican midterm election losses were caused by the war against Iran. In a social media post on Wednesday, Vance wrote, "The reason we lost is the war". He added that the president himself said so the previous night.

Donald Trump said the war with Iran played a role in the Republican defeat.

Crude oil prices fell below $90 a barrel on Wednesday following Vance's comments.

Babin noted that Vance’s commentary and a lack of public backing from key allies challenged the assumption that a Democrat election victory would push President Trump to escalate the conflict with Iran.

Tech sector sees gains while data center stocks decline

Tech stocks led market gains on November 4, 2026. Hyperscale cloud providers rose as Microsoft gained 6.68%, Amazon rose 6.12%, Google-A advanced 3.18%, and Meta rose 1.44%. Solar supply chain stocks also increased in value.

Memory and data center stocks fell after Democratic candidates who campaigned on construction moratoriums won elections in Texas and Georgia. Seagate Technology fell 8.13%, SanDisk dropped 7.91%, Micron Technology declined 7.00%, Western Digital fell 6.77%, and SK Hynix dropped 5.12%. Data center companies and equipment suppliers also saw share prices fall across Asia due to expectations of stricter regulations.

SpaceX shares fell 3.81% and Tesla shares dropped 3.34% amid concerns over the regulatory environment in Texas. Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC, said the market is in a "shoot first, ask questions" later mode and the current sell-off "could be getting a bit overdone".

Qualcomm reported fourth-quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results on November 4, 2026, with revenue and adjusted earnings per share exceeding market expectations. The company’s automotive segment achieved record quarterly revenue, and Qualcomm reaffirmed its $5 billion data center revenue target for fiscal year 2027. Qualcomm and SpaceX signed a multi-year agreement for SpaceX to use Qualcomm's Dragonwing base station hardware and software for the Starlink Mobile 5G network, with deployment of tens of thousands of sites planned to begin in 2027.

Gold and Bitcoin rebound as dollar yields fall

Bond prices rallied on November 5, 2026, lowering yields and pulling the dollar to a one-month low. Gold prices increased 3.31% on November 4, 2026, reclaiming the $4,000 level and peaking at $4,070.62. Gold reached a high of $4,138.06 during the Asian session on November 5, 2026, after rising more than $70 on the day.

Bitcoin rebounded to $80,000 as the resolution of political uncertainty encouraged capital inflows. Meta launched its first euro bond issuance following a $15 billion dollar bond offering, with the new issuance divided into six tranches ranging from over four years to over 38 years.

Asian markets decline following U.S. election results

Asian markets declined following United States election results. South Korea's KOSPI index fell 4% on November 5, 2026, nearing a seven-month low. Taiwan's benchmark index dropped 1.8%, and the Nikkei fell 0.5%.