U.S. stocks turned a Democratic sweep into a full-session relief rally Wednesday. Buyers embraced likely gridlock after the new Congress takes office in January, but then the gains broadened as crude and AI infrastructure broke in opposite directions.

The S&P 500 rose 1.85% to 7,708, the Dow jumped 3% and broke 53,000 for its best post-midterm day since 1982, and the Nasdaq added 2.11%. Nine of 11 sectors finished green. Consumer Discretionary led at +4.3%, Energy fell 5.4%, and the VIX sank about 20% to roughly 17.35.

President Donald Trump tied the Republican defeat in part to the Iran war and indicated another immediate strike was not planned. He said he wasn’t on the ballot, though of course, he always will be. Vice President JD Vance wrote that “the reason we lost is the war.”

Brent crude collapsed 8.9% to $94.29, while the 10-year Treasury yield slipped 6 basis points to about 4.90%. Democratic victories in Texas, Ohio, and Georgia also put data-center permits, power, and community support under new scrutiny.

After hours, AppLovin turned 55% revenue growth into the night’s loudest rally, while Snap proved its first real profit was not enough to excuse softer growth. CVS answered a strong quarter by breaking itself apart, Datadog let one customer flatten its outlook, and Dutch Bros learned how expensive a $30M guide gap becomes when the stock already charges for perfection.

Today’s Briefing:

AppLovin reported third-quarter results after the close on Wednesday that sent the stock soaring. The Palo Alto company sells software that matches advertisers with app users, and its AI ad engine keeps taking a bigger cut of mobile advertising.

The RIP: $APP ( ▲ 10.69% ) jumped 22.1% after hours to $331.70 after closing up 10.7% at $271.75. Revenue hit $2.19B, up 55% year over year and ahead of the $2.08B expected, and EPS of $4.30 beat the $4.03 expected by analysts.

Net income reached $1.44B, up 72% from a year ago, and free cash flow hit $1.4B in a single quarter. 66 cents of every revenue dollar became net profit. Almost nobody in software prints that. 💸

$AMC: AMC Entertainment's third quarter set records on Wednesday: revenue hit $1.71B, up 32% from a year ago and the highest in company history, and the theater chain posted net income of $109M after losing $298M a year earlier. The stock closed up 7.3% at $3.52, a 52-week high, then slipped 4.3% after hours. 🍿

$SNAP: Snap posted its first profitable quarter under standard accounting, with net income of $56M and revenue up 14% to $1.72B, but revenue and daily users landed just shy of what Wall Street wanted. The stock fell 9.2% after hours. The profit arrived; the growth story is still on trial. 👻

$UBER: Uber's morning print carried the consumer on Wednesday: adjusted EPS of $0.88 beat the $0.86 expected, revenue rose 10% to $14.8B, and gross bookings jumped 20% to $59.8B. Shares rose 4.9% to $69.87. 🚗

ZenaTech ($ZENA) is targeting adjusted EBITDA breakeven in 2027, backed by rapid top-line momentum.

Management plans to improve efficiency through acquisition integration and cost
discipline, while staying flexible to invest in defense programs, M&A and international expansion.

“Our focus is increasingly on translating revenue growth into improved operating
performance while building a technology platform capable of supporting a significantly larger business,” said Shaun Passley, CEO of ZenaTech.

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

CVS Health reported third-quarter results on Wednesday morning and used the print to announce the biggest restructuring in its history. The company will split into two public companies by the first half of 2028, separating its insurance and pharmacy-benefit businesses from its roughly 9,000 drugstores.

The RIP: $CVS ( ▼ 12.53% ) fell 12.53% to $79.96 on triple its normal volume. Adjusted EPS of $2.09 beat the $1.65 expected, revenue rose 5.4% to $108.4B, and CVS raised its full-year outlook, guiding adjusted EPS to at least $8.20.

The quarter underneath the headline was strong. The insurance arm's adjusted operating income nearly tripled to $912M, and CVS gave its first look at 2027, guiding adjusted EPS to at least $8.65 against $8.53 expected. A beat, a raise, and the stock still lost an eighth of its value. 💊

Datadog reported third-quarter results on Wednesday morning, and the numbers beat Wall Street's expectations. The stock still fell hard, because the company's outlook pointed to a slowdown driven by its single largest customer.

The RIP: $DDOG ( ▼ 14.42% ) fell 14.42% to $188.72. Revenue rose 35% to $1.20B and adjusted EPS hit $0.81, but the fourth-quarter revenue guide of $1.19B to $1.20B landed flat against the quarter Datadog just printed.

Dow Jones Newswires reported the largest customer, an undisclosed AI company, is scaling back its usage, and the pullback weighed on growth in the third quarter and on the outlook. Datadog still raised its full-year guide to revenue of $4.515B to $4.525B. The raise did not matter; the flat fourth quarter did. 🐶

$DDOG ticker talk is split over whether one customer can dent the growth story ->

Democrats won the House and the Senate in Tuesday's midterms, and investors spent Wednesday buying almost everything except oil and AI hardware. The Dems won about 228 House seats at last count, more than enough to take control, and an insane 54 seats in the Senate.

Texas went blue in both the Senate with James Talarico and the governor's seat; Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the Senate, KANSAS went blue for the first time in nearly a century, and voters everywhere basically said gas is too damn high.

So much for $5,000 checks, as if those were ever coming in the mail. 😆

Chip stocks fell as traders weighed what Democratic wins in data-center states mean for the construction boom behind AI. Barron's reported Democrats captured the governorships of Texas, Ohio, and Georgia, three states central to data-center development, putting new projects under greater scrutiny.

Micron $MU ( ▼ 7.0% ) took the worst of it. Barron's framed the drop as a memory price conundrum: politics landed on a stock that had already fallen 19% in five sessions after nearly tripling this year. Bulls say AI memory demand is still outrunning supply. The politics gave sellers a reason; the run gave them room. 🧠

Nvidia held up better and ticked up 0.6% after hours. Barron's argued a data-center crackdown hits Nvidia's customers harder than Nvidia itself, since the company sells the chips whether they end up in a warehouse or a server hall. AMD's strong quarter, good for a 0.6% gain, was not enough to lift the group. 🏭

Trimble grew revenue 7% to $966.8M, but net income fell 47% to $59.1M as lower-margin hardware mix squeezed profits and a $562M goodwill impairment hung over the year. Community is bearish.

Moderna's experimental Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine, mRNA-1469, was recommended to advance into a Phase 2/3 trial in Congo, pending regulatory approval, giving the pipeline a rare non-Covid headline. Community is neutral.

Stanley Black & Decker's net income jumped more than fivefold to $272.1M, with EPS of $1.83, as strong product demand carried a quarter where revenue barely budged at $3.73B. Community is bullish.

Joby reported $55M in third-quarter revenue, mostly from Blade, and raised its 2026 outlook 15% to a range of $135M to $140M, while FAA certification remains the hurdle that decides everything. Community is bearish.

AustiniConnections, Atreides and Valor are bringing together the CEOs, investors and operators driving TMT for two days at the Moody Center.

Main stage keynotes span public and private markets — Nvidia, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Databricks, Arm, Cerebras, Crusoe, Vercel, DoorDash, 8VC and more — with breakout tracks across labs, silicon, power and capital. 

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

📰 Stocks Loved the Blue Sweep. The Dollar Did Not.

💰 Qualcomm's Memory Problem Just Cost It 6%

🤖 A Bitcoin Miner Just Signed Its Biggest-Ever AI Lease

💾 AMD's Data Center Revenue Nearly Doubled. Su Wants More.

📊 A $10B AstraZeneca Report Gave Rhythm Its Best Day in 16 Months

🪙 ZachXBT Named the Bank. Then It Confirmed the $133M Theft.

💱 The FX newsletter keeping score on the calls everyone else forgets

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