Stocks rallied higher Wednesday, with all three major stock averages reaching record highs, as former President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped over 1,500 points to a record close of 43,729.93 -- the last time the index rose more than 1,000 points in a single day was in November 2022. The S&P 500 also rose over 2.5% to a all-time high of 5,929.04, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed nearly 3% to its own record of 18,983.47.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +2.53% or +146.28 points to 5,929.04
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +3.57% or +1,508.05 points to 43,729.93
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +2.95% or +544.29 points to 18,983.47
In Focus:
President Donald Trump is projected to win the 2024 election on Wednesday, defeating Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris after securing at least 291 Electoral College votes. Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT) shares rose nearly 6% on the news, while Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock popped nearly 15%, as investors bet the Republican victory would benefit CEO Elon Musk.
Broader sector gains were seen in both financials and semiconductors, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLF) and VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NYSE: SMH) each climbing higher. Crypto stocks including Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) and MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) popped higher on bets that a Trump presidency would create a more supportive regulatory environment. Bitcoin also rose about 7% to an all-time high above $75,000.
"We expect the entire crypto sector to benefit from the Trump win, but the largest positive impact on COIN & HOOD," Needham analyst John Todaro said in a note Wednesday. "On the back of this, we expect HOOD in the medium term to launch more crypto products as well as COIN and would expect more favorable outcomes on the SEC cases."
On the decline, shares of Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) and Five Below (NASDAQ: FIVE) fell on concerns over Trump's proposed universal tariffs on all imports and a 60% tariff on imports from China, which are likely to cause prices for consumer goods to increase.
Likewise, renewable energy and solar companies saw declines on Wednesday on bets that Trump's second term could impact the Inflation Reduction Act, which funds clean energy manufacturing. The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (NASDAQ: ICLN) fell to a 52 week low on Wednesday, as shares of Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG), SunRun (NASDAQ: RUN), First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and Enphase Energy (NASDAQ: ENPH) also declined.
On the Earnings Front:
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) cut its full-year profit outlook for the third consecutive quarter on Wednesday despite its fiscal second-quarter coming mostly in-line with estimates. The pharmaceutical chain expected 2024 adjusted earnings of $6.40 to $6.65 per share, compared with previous guidance of at least $7 per share. CVS also reduced its unadjusted earnings outlook to a range of $4.95 to $5.20 per share, below its prior guidance of at least $5.64 per share.
The company also announced a new plan to cut $2 billion in expenses over the next few years in effort to streamline operations in response to higher medical costs.
"We are disappointed by the current performance and outlook for the health-case benefit segment, and I have decided to make leadership changes effective immediately," CEO Karen Lynch told analysts during the company's earnings call on Wednesday," added that CVS is "committed to returning health-care benefits to its rightful place, and will drive execution and address the challenges facing this business."
For Thursday:
Market participants will react to the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision on Thursday, alongside remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell in the afternoon. Earnings reports on deck also include Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) and Kenvue (NYSE: KVUE).