The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,078 points, or 2.1%, to 52,364 in afternoon trading on Monday as a drop in oil prices helped the S&P 500 bounce off its biggest weekly drop since April 2025.
Markets rallied broadly on November 9, 2026, even as artificial intelligence heavyweight Nvidia slumped following an internal investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
Equities Plummeted Following US Midterm Elections and Nvidia Controversy
Equities plummeted last week after a decisive Democratic win in the US midterm elections ignited fears that potential new rules might threaten the long-term viability of the AI sector. Shares of Nvidia tumbled more than 5% on Monday, hitting their lowest intraday level since March 31, as controversy swirled around CEO Huang.
Futures were sold off during the night as vote counting progressed, and the Nikkei Average fell by over 3,000 yen at one point in the Tokyo market before closing down 893 yen at 62,188 yen after a holiday, driven by heavy selling in artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related stocks. When the official results of the midterm elections emerged, Democrats won a majority in both houses of Congress.
The political shift brought contrasting fortunes across sectors; hospital operators and health insurers rallied strongly, while artificial intelligence data center-related names saw sharp plunges, including notable drops for Comfort Systems and Vistra. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated incumbent Governor Abbott after campaigning to temporarily halt new data centers, while in Georgia, Democrats gained control of the Public Service Commission, which determines electricity rates.
The AI story is not going away if people are worried about that, the Democrats are not going to destroy AI. They can’t. It’s got a life of its own. They can put regulation around it, but they’re certainly not stopping it,
said Ken Polcari, partner and chief market strategist at SlateStone Wealth in Jupiter, Florida.
Some analysts on Wall Street viewed last week’s decline as an overreaction. According to UBS and Morgan Stanley, the probability of severe restrictions being imposed on data center expansion under a Congress controlled by Democrats appeared minimal.
Meanwhile, corporate earnings reports continued to roll in across the broader market. Tajinder Dhillon, the lead for earnings and equity research at LSEG Data and Analytics, reported that 82.4% of the 335 S&P 500 companies that had released their earnings by Thursday surpassed market expectations.
Crude Oil Prices Fell as Inflationary Fears Eased
Crude oil prices fell, boosting market momentum as inflationary fears eased after US President Donald Trump downplayed the possibility of further attacks on Iran. A Democratic-led Congress could push Trump to pull back on the conflict, affecting defense contractors that manufacture weapons and equipment for the United States.
Oil prices for sure, if they’re down 4%, that’s certainly adding fuel to the fire,
Polcari stated.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both advanced more than 2% in afternoon trading. Broad market measures reflected widespread gains following the earlier turbulence. Across various sector exchange-traded funds, Consumer Discretionary rose 4.26%, Financials gained 3.51%, Communication Services advanced 3.47%, Consumer Staples climbed 3.36%, and Healthcare moved up 3.06%.
Meanwhile, shares of some other chipmakers moved higher, with Broadcom rising nearly 9% and Advanced Micro Devices surging about 13%. Corporate disclosures moved individual stocks; AppLovin announced its fourth-quarter revenue outlook of $2.365 billion to $2.395 billion, exceeding market expectations of $2.25 billion and causing its shares to jump in regular and after-hours trading.
Upcoming Economic Data
Inflation readings remain on the docket this week as the Labor Department prepares to release its Consumer Price Index report for October on Tuesday, followed by the Producer Price Index on Friday.
Fears of a December rate hike also persisted following October’s stronger-than-expected jobs data.
Earlier coverage: US Tech Stocks Rebound After AI-Fueled Rout
