US benchmark equity indexes were on track to close at all-time highs Wednesday after Donald Trump won the presidential election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 3.6% at 43,737.4, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 3% to 18,985.3. The S&P 500 rose 2.6% to 5,931.8. Among sectors, financials saw the biggest gain, up 6%, while real estate saw the steepest decline.
Trump's victory over Kamala Harris, the vice president and the Democratic candidate, in Tuesday's vote has stirred up investor sentiment. Analysts noted that Trump's return to the White House will have investors monitoring the effects of potential new tariffs, changes in the labor market due to immigration policies, and the benefits for leading technology firms.
Wells Fargo Investment Institute commented, "US large-cap equities could benefit from a combination of deregulation and potentially additional tax cuts. Smaller, domestic-oriented companies should find an advantage from tariffs on imports." Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield advanced 14.8 basis points to 4.44%, while the two-year rate gained 7.3 basis points to 4.28%.
The Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting commenced Wednesday, with markets widely anticipating a 25 basis point reduction in interest rates on Thursday, as indicated by the CME FedWatch tool. Companies such as Qualcomm ($QCOM), Arm Holdings ($ARM), and McKesson ($MCK) are set to report their latest quarterly financial results after Wednesday's closing bell.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil was little changed at $71.95 a barrel..