Stock Market Splits Post-Midterms: Dow Up 340, Nasdaq Down 306, Russell 2000 Rises 1.58%

Mumbai, 5 November 2026: US stock market futures split on Thursday, 5 November 2026, as capital rotated out of technology shares for a second consecutive session following the Democratic Party’s midterm election sweep. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 340 points, or 0.6%, S&P 500 futures added 0.1% and Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.8%.

By 9:34 AM EST, the Nasdaq Composite traded at 25,430.18, down 306.34 points, or 1.19%, while the S&P 500 stood at 7,641.89, down 46.73 points, or 0.61%, at 9:36 AM EST. The Russell 2000, tracking roughly 2,000 small-capitalisation American companies, had closed the prior session at 2,856.95, up 44.50 points, or 1.58%, from a previous close of 2,812.45.

Dow Futures Rise 340 Points as S&P 500 Futures Add 0.1% Before Opening

The December Mini Dow contract traded at 53,822.00, up 319.00 points, or 0.60%, at 9:11 AM EST, after opening at 51,808.00 and ranging between 53,518.00 and 53,913.00 on volume of 28.96k. The bid stood at 53,841.00 and the ask at 53,843.00, with a last price of 53,503.00 ahead of a 18 December 2026 settlement. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and American Express each rose more than 1% before the bell, alongside Walmart, Home Depot and Visa, which gained about 1% apiece.

Democratic control of the Senate reclaims the chamber’s ability to approve or deny the President’s nominees to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors should a sitting governor step aside, a shift that neutralises what many viewed as a threat to the central bank’s independence.

The E-mini S&P 500 contract stood at 7,717.75, down 2.75 points, or 0.04%, having opened at 7,610.25 and ranged between 7,691.00 and 7,738.75 on volume of 295.81k, with a bid of 7,729.00, an ask of 7,729.25 and a last price of 7,720.50. The Nasdaq-100 December contract fell to 28,277.75, down 289.00 points, or 1.01%, from an open of 28,410.00, within a range of 28,167.75 to 28,668.50 on volume of 195.94k.

The Dow entered Thursday 1.9% away from its record closing high of 54,349 set in early August, leaving the blue-chip benchmark within striking distance of a fresh peak despite the technology retreat.

Nasdaq Falls 306 Points to 25,430 as Qualcomm Plunges 10.49% and Chip Stocks Slump

The Nasdaq Composite’s previous close was 25,736.51, with an opening print of 25,558.11 and a day’s range of 25,414.24 to 25,559.03. Volume reached 969,513,701 shares against an average of 8,010,241,093, while the 52-week range stands at 20,690.25 to 27,722.75, leaving the index more than 7% below its closing record set on 6 October.

Qualcomm fell 10.49% to $155.01, a loss of $18.18, despite fourth-quarter earnings of $2.17 per share on revenue of $10.32 billion that beat estimates, as the chip designer issued a weaker-than-expected outlook citing an ongoing shortage of memory components for smartphones.

Semiconductor names bore the brunt. AMD lost 8.46%, Micron 5.01%, ASML 3.95%, Applied Materials 6.22%, Lam Research 6.53%, KLA 5.81%, Marvell 6.27%, Seagate 8.92% and Western Digital 7.82%, while Broadcom and Nvidia fell almost 3% and nearly 2% in premarket trading and Oracle declined more than 1%. Intel slipped 3.79%, Cisco 1.82%, Cadence 3.18%, Synopsys 3.24%, Fortinet 3.15%, Microsoft 0.43% and Palantir 4.72%. Apple and Intuit each rose 1.03%, Alphabet climbed 2.27%, Amazon 1.66% and PDD 3.15%. Arm dipped almost 2% despite adjusted earnings of 52 cents against 47 cents.

The cause was investor concern that a Democratic sweep of both chambers, plus victories in key gubernatorial races, could bring tighter regulation of the artificial intelligence buildout, with data centre rules potentially rewarding incumbents holding capacity and squeezing debt-funded challengers. Neocloud companies retreated, with CoreWeave losing almost 4% and Nebius and Iren shedding more than 3%. Tesla fell 4.15% and SpaceX dropped more than 2%. Palo Alto Networks slipped 1.28% on reports it is negotiating the acquisition of an Israeli cybersecurity start-up for about $500 million. A semiconductor exchange-traded fund slid 4% and a memory-chip fund fell 6%.

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S&P 500 Drops 46 Points to 7,641 as AppLovin Surges 30% Despite Tech Sell-Off

The S&P 500’s previous close was 7,688.62, with an opening print of 7,678.72, a day’s range of 7,641.43 to 7,681.29, volume of 232,523,823 and a 52-week range of 6,316.91 to 7,844.52. The index needs a gain of 1.7% to surpass its closing record of 7,819 hit on 6 October.

AppLovin surged 30.69% to $355.15, a gain of $83.40, after third-quarter revenue of $2.18 billion topped an estimate of $2.07 billion and earnings per share of $4.30 beat $4.04. Fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $2.37 billion to $2.40 billion exceeded the $2.25 billion anticipated, prompting analysts to lift price targets to $450 and $475.

Elsewhere, Expedia tumbled more than 7% after guiding fourth-quarter revenue to $3.69 billion to $3.75 billion against a $3.74 billion estimate, while Coherent gained 7% on adjusted earnings of $2.09 per share against $1.99. Shake Shack rose 3.8% on adjusted earnings of 40 cents against 35 cents, with revenue of $423 million against $426 million, and reaffirmed full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion. Peloton gained 7% after revenue of $559 million beat $554 million, though earnings of 19 cents missed 21 cents. Duke Energy, Airbnb, Lumentum, Cloudflare and Monster Beverage were among companies due to report later.

The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up to 4.91% and the 2-year to 4.58%, with market pricing showing a 79.4% likelihood of a December rate hike. The dollar index held at 101.4824, bitcoin eased to about $79,500 from a high above $81,000 a day earlier, and gold futures rose 1.5% to $4,135 an ounce.

Russell 2000 Jumps 44.50 Points to 2,856.95 as Regional Banks and Sezzle Surge

The small-cap benchmark’s previous close was 2,812.45, with an opening print of 2,856.26 and a day’s range of 2,831.51 to 2,875.14. Its 52-week range is 2,303.46 to 3,069.71, average volume is 5,117,902,031 and the current level sits roughly 7% below the annual peak.

Vertex rose 13.82% to $17.60, adding $1.68, and Sezzle jumped 26.66% to $173.13, up $36.44. Acadia Healthcare gained 21.47% to $39.17, Edgewise Therapeutics 11.54% to $41.39 and LifeStance Health 9.57% to $15.44. Magnite added 19.62%, Warby Parker 20.00%, ADMA Biologics 20.47%, Vericel 19.11%, Encore Capital 19.02%, Progyny 16.88%, EPAM Systems 16.90%, Corpay 12.43%, Unity Software 11.62%, Sunrun 12.97%, Bentley Systems 8.62%, Vontier 10.95%, Tapestry 10.31%, Western Union 11.74% and GigaCloud 11.63%. Toyota Motor rose 9.96% after declaring an interim dividend of $0.32 per share against $0.28 a year earlier.

Regional banks strengthened, with UMB Financial up 2.53%, Home BancShares 2.46%, United Bankshares 2.40%, Axos Financial 2.38%, Glacier Bancorp 2.24%, Associated Banc-Corp 2.23%, Ameris Bancorp 2.21%, Atlantic Union 2.20%, UCB 2.15%, ONB 2.12%, SSB 2.08%, HWC 2.03% and Valley National 2.00%. Radian gained 5.15% and BGC 3.91%, while VCTR fell 4.78%.

Losers included Gildan Activewear, down 25.72% to $32.15, Fastly 22.94% to $16.21, Caris Life Sciences 21.01% to $26.24, Remitly 19.24% to $21.87, Arcutis 16.64% to $28.39, Dutch Bros 15.33% to $37.15, Figma 15.50% to $18.77, Dave 16.14% to $281.97, Power Integrations 14.54% to $39.99, Steven Madden 14.01% to $40.39, AXT 13.64% to $41.05, MaxLinear 13.30% to $49.29, United Microelectronics 12.72% to $14.02, MercadoLibre 12.66% to $1,519.63, Bloom Energy 12.21% to $175.88, GRAIL 12.56% to $125.58, Sandisk 11.23% to $920.89, Astera Labs 11.47% to $197.66, Twist Bioscience 9.34% and 10X Genomics 9.96%.

Russell 2000 Futures Up 3 Points at 2,868.90 as Industrials and Energy Names Diverge

The December E-mini Russell 2000 contract traded at 2,868.90, up 3.00 points, or 0.10%, at 9:13 AM EST, having opened at 2,818.30 and ranged between 2,864.00 and 2,888.30. The bid was 2,869.00, the ask 2,869.10, volume 33.32k and the last price 2,865.90 ahead of a 18 December 2026 settlement.

Industrials produced gains in MATX (6.41%), JOBY (6.93%), GHC (2.15%), EXPO (3.52%), KFY (1.06%), CMC (1.10%), GATX (0.96%) and TEX (1.29%), while STRL fell 4.74%, AEIS 4.98%, IESC 5.38%, ENS 3.18%, DY 3.51%, AVAV 1.91%, MRCY 1.30% and MYRG 2.25%.

Energy names were mixed, with MGY up 2.57%, SM 1.55%, CNX 1.77%, PRMB 4.74%, NE 0.44%, PBF 0.36% and RIG 0.09%. Real estate gained, with SKT up 1.77%, KRG 1.20%, EPRT 0.96%, TRNO 0.93% and JOE 0.96%, while COMP fell 2.44% and MAC 2.12%. Basic materials rose, led by CDE at 3.09%, HL 2.51%, BKH 2.08% and SWX 1.03%.

Consumer names were mixed, with RUSHB up 5.12%, FTDR 3.79%, IPAR 6.42%, EAT 1.58%, LTH 1.43% and CVCO 1.94%, while ANF slipped 0.09%, IBP 0.43% and CVSA 0.06%. Among technology constituents, ACIW gained 5.73%, YOU 1.89%, QTWO 0.64%, BOX 0.41%, SLAB 0.11% and ITRI 0.07%, while VIAV lost 8.10%, VICR 7.33%, FORM 6.78%, TTMI 6.12%, SANM 4.90%, QLYS 4.33%, ZETA 3.99%, PLXS 3.82%, PI 3.66%, CVLT 2.91% and NOVT 2.76%.

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Oil Tops $90 as WTI Gains 2% and Brent Climbs 3% on Iran Deal

West Texas Intermediate futures rose more than 2% to above $90 a barrel, while Brent gained 3% to above $97, reversing the prior decline. In the early New York session, WTI traded 0.57% higher around $88.62 and Brent 1.53% higher around $96.07.

Earlier, Brent had fallen 80 cents, or 0.85%, to $93.82 and WTI $1.20, or 1.36%, to $86.92 by 0426 GMT. Both benchmarks tumbled more than 8% on Wednesday to settle at their lowest since 31 August, as investors anticipated that Democrats may use their new leverage to pressure President Trump into ending the war in Iran.

Vice President JD Vance posted that “the reason we lost [the midterm elections] is the war”, suggesting the party should push for a resolution. Iran’s security chief said Tehran had inflicted a political defeat on Trump, while reports said the US military is wrapping up preparations for a potential return to major combat operations in Iran, including deploying additional assets to the region. Qatar is attempting to secure Washington’s and Tehran’s backing for a draft agreement that could prevent renewed fighting.

A weakened Trump, facing a Congress able to constrain his military options, has greater incentive to seek a deal, according to sources close to Gulf government circles. A full-scale assault on Iran now appears less likely, they said, though the path forward remains uncertain and a resolution would be needed to restore Middle East flows disrupted by the conflict.

Jobless Claims Fall to 189,000 as Productivity Jumps 3.6% and Labour Costs Drop 0.7%

Initial filings for unemployment claims totalled a seasonally adjusted 189,000 for the week ended 31 October, down 6,000 from the prior period and below the consensus estimate of 197,000, the Labor Department reported. The total tied for the lowest since July, which was the bottom going back to September 1969. Continuing claims, which run a week behind, rose 23,000 to 1.72 million.

Nonfarm business sector productivity surged 3.6% in the third quarter, up from 2.1% in the second and ahead of the 2.9% estimate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Unit labour costs contracted 0.7%, and the share of output going to workers in the form of compensation slipped to 53%, the lowest in a series dating to 1947.

Outplacement data showed US employers announced 43,994 job cuts in October, up slightly from September but down 71% year on year, with cuts in the first ten months at their lowest since 2022. An executive at the outplacement firm described a “low-fire environment” in which employers are holding on to workers and adding mainly seasonal staff ahead of the holidays.

Friday’s payrolls report is expected to show 62,000 jobs added in October, up from 29,000 in September, with unemployment flat at 4.2%. Analysts cautioned that election-driven trading could reverse once the data arrive and that the elections did not upend the business cycle, noting that the S&P 500 has gained an average 15.1% in the 12 months after midterms since 1950, positive in all 19 periods. One economist noted that S&P 500 earnings are up nearly 40% from a year ago against nominal economic growth of about 6%, a pace consistent with 10% nominal GDP growth, or more than $3 trillion added to a $33 trillion economy in a year, the fastest outside 2021-2022 since 1984.

Diageo Sales Rise 1.2% to $4.9 Billion as Maersk Lifts Guidance to $14.5 Billion

Diageo, the British spirits group behind Johnnie Walker scotch, Guinness stout, Smirnoff vodka and Tanqueray gin, reported net sales up 1.2% to $4.9 billion, with organic volume down 0.1% and price/mix up 0.7%. Its chief executive said the market remains challenging and volatility continues given geopolitical uncertainty and the impact of the Middle East conflict on energy, supply and distribution, though the quarter represented a small step in the right direction. The company is pursuing a restructuring programme expected to deliver $1.2 billion in savings across 2027 and 2028.

Maersk, the Danish shipping and logistics group, reported third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $4.7 billion, up from $2.6 billion a year earlier, and raised full-year guidance for a third time to $14 billion to $14.5 billion from $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion.

The company said the Strait of Hormuz closure, adverse weather in East Asia and congestion pushed average freight rates 46% higher. Its chief executive said demand is being driven by consumer spending and by investment in electrification, energy and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure, generating significant flows of industrial cargo.

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Hang Seng Tech Jumps 5% as Asian Chip Stocks Plunge and Kospi Falls 5.28%

South Korea’s Kospi fell 5.28% to 5,383.8 and the Kosdaq dropped 5.11% to 678.41, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.79% to 61,077.9 even as the Topix gained 1.16% to 3,940.39. Mainland China’s CSI 300 added 0.29% to 4,113.41, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 3.61% in its final hour of trade and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 2.61% to 9,065.1.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech index jumped more than 5%, with Alibaba up 6.36%, Tencent 6.42%, Baidu 4.9% and Kingsoft Cloud 6.44%, bucking the regional technology sell-off.

Asian semiconductor stocks tumbled, with Advantest down 11.69%, Lasertec 11.76%, Tokyo Electron 9.89%, Renesas 6.37%, SoftBank Group more than 6%, SK Hynix 9.03% and Samsung Electronics 6.65%, on concern that a Democratic-controlled Congress could tighten restrictions on data centre development and weigh on demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure and chips.

Indonesia’s economy grew 5.47% in the third quarter from a year earlier, beating a 5.18% estimate and faster than the prior 5.29%, on government spending and accommodation and food services, with the benchmark index rising nearly 2%.

NextDC Shares Surge 48% as Wendy’s Rejects $1.4 Billion Takeover Bid from Trian

Shares of Australian data centre operator NextDC surged 48% after Goodman Group and US-listed Digital Realty moved to acquire up to 9.9% of the company. NextDC said in a regulatory filing that the two conducted an aftermarket bookbuild on Wednesday, seeking shares at A$9.50 apiece. The board called the move opportunistic, noting it came two weeks after the company disclosed a power supply delay at its M3 Melbourne data centre and revised its fiscal 2027 guidance.

Wendy’s rejected a $1.4 billion takeover offer from a Trian Fund Management-led group that proposed $7.35 per share in cash, with the board’s independent committee concluding the proposal substantially undervalues the company’s standalone prospects and long-term earnings potential. Wendy’s separately announced a multiyear turnaround plan called Dave’s Way to stem declining sales and franchisee closures, and shares rose 1.5% in premarket trading.

OpenAI reaffirmed a pledge to pay the full cost of powering data centres and said it would halt non-disclosure agreements as part of new data centre policy commitments published two days after voters roundly rejected rapid artificial intelligence expansion.

Attention now turns to Friday’s October payrolls report, with 62,000 jobs expected and unemployment at 4.2%, alongside December rate-hike pricing of 79.4%, WTI crude above $90 a barrel, the Bank of England’s new 4% policy rate and the closing spread between small caps and technology shares after the midterm-driven repositioning.