U.S. stocks fall as race for control of Congress still unclear

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling as the outcome of the midterm elections remained unclear, with many races still too close to call.

At 10:51 ET (15:51 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 275 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1.2%.

Officials from both major parties expect the possibility of a divided government next year, with the House tipping in favor of Republican control, though narrowly. That would set up the likelihood of gridlock, which makes the passage of big policy measures more difficult.

In the past, such a situation, with a Democrat in the White House, has been a positive omen for stocks.

The S&P 500 has risen after the midterm vote every year since World War II, Reuters reported, citing Deutsche Bank.

Thursday’s inflation data for October is another catalyst for stocks as investors try to read what the Federal Reserve might do with interest rates after its December meeting. Analysts are expecting the annual pace of increase in the consumer price index for last month to slow, which could give the Fed reason to ease back on the pace of its own interest rate increases.

Data on initial jobless claims also comes out tomorrow amid signs of a still-tight labor market, though companies continue to announce job cuts. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), for example, will cut 13% of its workforce, or 11,000 employees. Shares of the Facebook parent rose 7%.

Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) were down 1% after CEO Elon Musk disclosed the sale of another $3.95 billion of his shares in the electric vehicle maker in the days following his purchase of social media platform Twitter. 

Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shares fell 11.5% after the movie studio and theme park operator disclosed losses from its streaming video operation even as it gained more subscribers than expected. 

Oil fell. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down 2.4% to $86.77 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures was down 2.2% to $93.29 a barrel. Gold Futures was flat at $1,714.