Here are the Post-Election Stock-Market Winners in the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq
The three benchmark indices were up over 2% after the midterm elections
Midterm elections historically lead to stock market rallies, regardless of the results. Wednesday was no exception when there was a late-day rally in marijuana stocks adding icing to the cake.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose 545 points, or 2.1%, to close at 26,180.30. The S&P 500 Index SPX was up 2.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP added 2.6%.
A split in party control of the two houses of Congress tends to cheer investors.
The resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions — at President Trump’s request — added fuel to the broad rally and helped stretch a seven-day rally for marijuana stocks. It’s too early, of course, to consider whether Trump’s eventually nominee to replace Sessions will share the outgoing AG’s opinion that legalizing the recreational use of cannabis is a bad idea. The ETFMG Alternative Harvest exchange-traded fund MJ rose 7.1%, while the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF HMMJ was up 8.1%. Shares of Aurora Cannabis ACB ended the day 9% higher, while Tilray TLRY was up 31%, and Cronos Group CRON rose 8.4%.
All stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up on Wednesday, except for Procter & Gamble PG.
| Company | Ticker | Price change – Nov. 7 | Price change – November | Price change – October | Price change – 2018 through Nov. 7 | Price change – 2017 |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT | 4.5% | 11.4% | -20.4% | -14.3% | 69.9% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH | 4.2% | 5.1% | -1.8% | 24.6% | 37.8% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT | 3.9% | 4.8% | -6.6% | 30.9% | 37.7% |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE | 3.2% | 3.1% | -2.3% | 22.6% | 11.5% |
| DowDuPont Inc. | DWDP | 3.1% | 11.0% | -16.2% | -16.0% | 24.5% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC | 3.1% | 3.9% | -0.9% | 5.5% | 27.3% |
| 3M Co. | MMM | 3.1% | 5.8% | -9.7% | -14.5% | 31.8% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL | 3.0% | -4.1% | -3.0% | 24.1% | 46.1% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO | 3.0% | 4.7% | -6.0% | 25.1% | 26.7% |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD | 2.9% | 6.5% | -15.1% | -1.2% | 41.4% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V | 2.8% | 5.0% | -8.2% | 27.0% | 46.1% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK | 2.4% | 2.0% | 3.8% | 33.4% | -4.4% |
| American Express Co. | AXP | 2.2% | 4.5% | -3.5% | 8.1% | 34.1% |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX | 2.0% | 5.1% | -11.2% | 2.3% | 16.4% |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE | 1.8% | 3.9% | -11.4% | 24.7% | 23.1% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | JPM | 1.7% | 2.3% | -3.4% | 4.2% | 23.9% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX | 1.7% | 8.3% | -8.7% | -3.5% | 6.4% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA | 1.6% | 2.7% | 9.4% | 12.8% | -12.3% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | 1.5% | 3.4% | 1.3% | 3.6% | 21.3% |
| Boeing Co. | BA | 1.5% | 4.8% | -4.6% | 26.1% | 89.4% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM | 1.4% | 8.2% | -23.7% | -18.6% | -7.6% |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS | 1.3% | 2.6% | 0.5% | -9.2% | 6.4% |
| Travelers Cos. Inc. | TRV | 1.3% | 4.1% | -3.5% | -4.0% | 10.8% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM | 1.3% | 4.2% | -6.3% | -0.7% | -7.3% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT | 1.0% | 4.0% | 6.8% | 5.6% | 42.9% |
| McDonald’s Corp. | MCD | 0.8% | 4.2% | 5.7% | 7.0% | 41.4% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ | 0.8% | 1.0% | 6.9% | 8.9% | -0.8% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO | 0.5% | 3.1% | 3.7% | 7.6% | 10.7% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS | 0.3% | 1.9% | -1.8% | 8.9% | 3.2% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG | -0.2% | 2.9% | 6.5% | -0.6% | 9.3% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
Here are the day’s 10 best-performing stocks among the S&P 500:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – Nov. 7 | Price change – November | Price change – October | Price change – 2018 through Nov. 7 | Price change – 2017 |
| Cimarex Energy Co. | XEC | 12.1% | 17.3% | -14.5% | -23.6% | -10.2% |
| DaVita Inc. | DVA | 9.9% | 13.0% | -6.0% | 5.3% | 12.5% |
| Centene Corp. | CNC | 9.2% | 9.7% | -10.0% | 41.7% | 78.5% |
| Pioneer Natural Resources Co. | PXD | 8.9% | 9.8% | -15.5% | -6.4% | -4.0% |
| WellCare Health Plans Inc. | WCG | 7.3% | -0.3% | -13.9% | 36.8% | 46.7% |
| Align Technology Inc. | ALGN | 6.9% | 10.9% | -43.5% | 10.4% | 131.1% |
| Amazon.com Inc. | AMZN | 6.9% | 9.9% | -20.2% | 50.1% | 56.0% |
| Humana Inc. | HUM | 6.7% | 10.5% | -5.3% | 42.7% | 21.6% |
| Anthem Inc. | ANTM | 6.6% | 5.2% | 0.6% | 28.9% | 56.5% |
| Illumina Inc. | ILMN | 6.2% | 10.1% | -15.2% | 56.8% | 70.6% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
Here are the top 10 performers on Wednesday in the Nasdaq 100 NDX:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – Nov. 7 | Price change – November | Price change – October | Price change – 2018 through Nov. 7 | Price change – 2017 |
| Align Technology Inc. | ALGN | 6.9% | 10.9% | -43.5% | 10.4% | 131.1% |
| Workday Inc. Class A | WDAY | 6.9% | 8.4% | -8.9% | 41.8% | 53.9% |
| Amazon.com Inc. | AMZN | 6.9% | 9.9% | -20.2% | 50.1% | 56.0% |
| Illumina Inc. | ILMN | 6.2% | 10.1% | -15.2% | 56.8% | 70.6% |
| Netflix Inc. | NFLX | 5.4% | 8.5% | -19.3% | 70.6% | 55.1% |
| Adobe Inc. | ADBE | 5.4% | 3.1% | -9.0% | 44.6% | 70.2% |
| American Airlines Group Inc. | AAL | 5.1% | 5.4% | -15.1% | -28.9% | 11.4% |
| Intuitive Surgical Inc. | ISRG | 5.0% | 4.7% | -9.2% | 49.5% | 72.6% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | VRTX | 4.9% | 8.5% | -12.1% | 22.7% | 103.4% |
| Henry Schein Inc. | HSIC | 4.6% | 5.2% | -2.4% | 25.0% | -7.9% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||||
Article was originally published by Philip van Doorn at marketwatch.com