World Stocks Rally, Oil Tumbles as Brent Falls 9% to $94.50 After US Midterm Result
Global stocks rallied on Wednesday after Democrats seized both chambers of Congress, Dawn reported. The Dow rose 2.89%, Brent crude fell 9% to $94.50 a barrel, and spot gold jumped 3.57% to $4,068.62 an ounce.
Global stocks rallied on Wednesday after Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress in the US midterm elections, providing greater political clarity and reducing the uncertainty that has weighed on markets, Dawn, 5 November 2026 reported. Oil moved the other way: Brent crude futures were down 9 per cent at $94.50 a barrel, as investors weighed Washington’s next move in talks to end the wars in Ukraine and Iran against worries that recent attacks in both conflicts could further disrupt supplies.
Highlights
- Brent crude futures fell 9% to $94.50 a barrel.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.89%, the S&P 500 gained 1.85% and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.13%.
- The MSCI All-World index rose 1.56%, while Europe’s STOXX 600 jumped 1.87% to two-month highs.
- Spot gold rose 3.57% to $4,068.62 an ounce as Treasuries also rallied.
- Democrats’ sweep of both Congress chambers was a major setback for President Donald Trump.
Oil’s slide leads the day
Energy shares were the biggest losers on the day, with crude prices down as Trump acknowledged that the Iran war had played a role in his party’s sweeping defeat, Dawn, 5 November 2026 reported. The 9 per cent Brent drop is a sharp reversal of the market’s recent direction of travel: earlier in this cycle, Brent crude fell to $78.92 as the rupee strengthened on US-Iran hopes, and Wednesday’s move shows how quickly the same war headlines can swing the barrel in the opposite direction when the political map changes.
Wall Street and Europe climb
On Wall Street, all three main indexes traded higher, with communication services, consumer discretionary and consumer staples stocks driving gains: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.89pc, the S&P 500 was up 1.85pc, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.13pc. The MSCI All-World index was up 1.56pc, while Europe’s STOXX 600 jumped 1.87pc to two-month highs, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.41pc. The breadth of the Democrats’ success — gains in districts long considered safely conservative — underscored a political shift that may have caught some investors off guard. “Markets hate uncertainty, and even though a lot of what the result was had been priced in ahead of time, getting confirmation of that last night brings certainty to markets,” said Clayton Allison, portfolio manager at Prime Capital Financial. “Now this brings questions as to what actually gets done in Washington over the next two years. But the markets love to see that there is a resolution to a catalyst event.” The risk-on mood fits the recent pattern in Asia too, where the Sensex jumped 1,225 points in a fourth straight session of gains.
Safe havens rally alongside stocks
Unusually, havens climbed with equities. Treasuries rallied as investors expect gridlock in Washington to cut government spending; the yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note fell 5.18 basis points to 4.90pc, which weighed on the dollar. The euro rose 0.38pc to $1.1235 and the pound 0.45pc to $1.3472, while bitcoin gained 3.22pc to $80,316.07. Spot gold rose 3.57pc to $4,068.62 an ounce. Opinion polls have shown Democratic voters favouring more control over AI, and investors expect the Democratic-controlled Congress to apply more scrutiny to the sector — one reason the next two years in Washington now matter to markets well beyond US politics, Dawn, 5 November 2026 reported.
