US open: Stocks go green as midterm results continue to stream in
US stocks gained at the open on Wednesday as investors digested an in-line outcome from the mid-term elections.
As of 1540 GMT, the Dow Jones was up 0.66% to 25,803.64, while the S&P 500 had picked up 0.89% to 2,780.00 as the Nasdaq traded 1.36% higher at 7,474.64.
The mid-term election results in the US saw the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives while the Republicans tightened their grip on the Senate.
The result allowed both sides to claim a victory, as Donald Trump did, but there was no doubt that his progress would be less assured for the remainder of the term as the Democrats seek to put the brakes on his agenda.
However, the failure to take the Senate, no matter how unlikely it was in statistical terms, meant that big business and the wealthy could rest easy over fears that handouts under Trump would be rolled back.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "The result leaves us with the prospect of political gridlock in Congress, something that is not as undesirable as you'd think. Much of Trump's pro-growth and pro-market agenda was passed in the first two years of his term so losing control of one isn't the end of the world.
"From a markets perspective, the most important thing is that the blue wave never fully materialised as this could have led to the scaling back of some of those market-friendly policies, including tax reform."
With the mid-terms over and done with, the focus will now shift to the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting that's set to wrap up on Thursday.
While the central bank isn't expected to make any moves on interest rates, traders will still be keeping their eyes peeled for any indications regarding the pace of future interest-rate hikes.
"I don't expect the Fed to do anything different this month and instead, for now, treat it as a blip in an otherwise strong market," said Erlam.
In corporate news, Michael Kors shares tumbled 13.40% in early trade after the fashion brand's quarterly sales missed analysts' estimates.
Humana picked up 3.48% at the bell after the health insurer's third-quarter profit surpassed estimates and the company upped its full-year outlook.
Elsewhere, Office Depot shot up 14.93% at the opening bell as its third-quarter profit and sales topped expectations and the company lifted its guidance.
Facebook shares edged up 1.48% despite chief executive Mark Zuckerberg facing growing demand to appear before the relevant committees of five parliaments for an international joint hearing on disinformation and "fake news".