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Investing.com — U.S stock markets surged at the open again on Thursday, shrugging off another gloomy set of weekly jobless claims data and concentrating on the prospect of a new post-election world without either the extremes of either Donald Trump or Nancy Pelosi.
The race for the White House has still not been decided, although Joe Biden has strengthened his position with narrow wins in Michigan and Wisconsin. President Donald Trump meanwhile, has already launched multiple legal actions to stop the counting of votes he considers illegal, and has demanded a formal recount in Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, The Hill reported earlier that House Democrats are considering a new leader after their surprising losses in the House on Tuesday and their failure to achieve a clear victory in the Senate. Those results have been interpreted by many as a rejection of the party’s more left-wing ideas.
By 9:35 AM ET (1335 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 357 points, or 1.3%, while the S&P 500 was up 1.7% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 2.2%.
All three indexes had risen sharply on Wednesday in the aftermath of the election as it became apparent that the Democratic Party’s showing in Congressional elections was likely to restrict its ability to push through radical progressive reforms.
