Dow Jones, S&P 500 rise to record highs despite election unrest

Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared more than 400 points on Wednesday despite unrest in Washington, D.C. as pro-Trump protesters breached the Capitol building.

The blue-chip index rose 437.8 points, or 1.44%, closing the day at an all-time high after having risen as much as 600 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 also hit a record high, rising 0.57%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.61%.

Bank of America stock rose 6.23% and JP Morgan Chase gained 4.65% as the 10-year Treasury note yield topped 1% for the first time since March.

Stocks fell from their highs and the CBOE Volatility Index rose in the afternoon as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol where lawmakers were holding a joint session to certify the results of the presidential election and declare President-elect Joe Biden the winner amid challenges from Republicans.

Early gains in the market came after Democrat Raphael Warnock was projected to defeat Republican appointee, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, in one of the two senate runoff races in the state. Later in the day, Democrat Jon Ossoff was called the winner over incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue, giving Democrats control of the Senate.

Traders responded to the prospect of Democrats effectively gaining control of the Senate and increasing government spending.

"The Democrats have made it perfectly clear that they want to spend more money. They wanted to do a $2 trillion or $3 trillion dollar stimulus and we only did $900 billion, so it's pretty likely we're going to get another trillion or two trillion of spending," Mike Wilson, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, told The New York Times. "And that could be pretty quick."