Before the Bell
Stock futures are pointing to a strong open after Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections. As of about 6:45 a.m. Eastern, S&P 500 futures were up +1.2%, Dow futures +1.6% and Nasdaq 100 futures +1.0%. That is a reversal: Nasdaq 100 futures had hit their lowest since late July overnight. Markets have often read divided government as gridlock rather than upheaval, and the VIX (the CBOE Volatility Index, often called the market's fear gauge) has dropped about 12% to near 18. Gold jumped almost 3% to above $4,000 an ounce as the dollar weakened, and the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to about 4.93%.
On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 7,568.92, ending a three-session losing streak, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8% to 25,372.01. The Dow fell 0.4% to 51,786.72, held back by Apple, which dropped nearly 2% after its quarterly results raised concerns about services growth and margins. AMD rose about 5% after the close on stronger-than-expected results. Overnight, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% on tech selling, while China's markets rallied and the Shanghai Composite gained 2.2%. European stocks opened higher, led by renewable energy shares.