Elect

What the Georgia election results could mean for the stock market

Snacks / Wednesday, January 06, 2021

Run it back... In the November elections, the state of Georgia went to Biden. But the Senate race went into overtime: a Georgia candidate needs to win over 50% of votes before advancing (it's a Georgia thing). That didn't happen, so we had runoff elections between the top-voted candidates this week. TLDR: Republicans had to win one seat to control the Senate, and Democrats needed two — the Dems unexpectedly took both.

November feels like eons ago... Back then, we were pretty sure Republicans would end up taking the Senate. That got Wall Street excited about a divided government (round 2).

  • The S&P 500 soared 11% in November on the tech rally, and the decreased chance that Trump's tax cuts would get undone.
  • Tech stocks jumped because a divided Congress makes it harder to pass legislation against Big Tech (or any legislation). Health care stocks shared the joy.
  • Pot stocks fell because a Republican Senate makes legalization at the federal level unlikely.

Yesterday, we saw "The Undoing"... A partial reversal of November's market moves (not the HBO show). The tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped on regulation fears, while pot stocks like Aurora and Canopy surged on legalization hopes. The Dow jumped to a record high, led by banks and industrial companies like Caterpillar — which could benefit from more stimulus and the Dems' $1.5T infrastructure plan. What investors really have their eye on: more stimulus money, which could be a priority for the Dem-controlled Congress.

Get Your News

Subscribe and thrive

Snacks provides fresh takes on the financial news you need to start your day. Chartr provides data visualizations on business, entertainment, and society. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.