U.S. stocks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a healthy rally following former Vice President Joe Biden's victory in a majority of the states holding Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday. Biden's lead in 9 out of 14 states put him ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders, making the moderate and market favorable more likely to be the Democratic presidential nominee.
The Health Care sector led advances, pushed forward by an easing of market fears surrounding Sander's proposed health care policies. For the Dow, UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) outperformed, with the U.S. insurance provider closing over 10% higher.
Here's how the market closed for the mid-week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +4.22% or +126.75 points to 3,130.12
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +4.53% or +1,173.45 points to 27,090.86
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +3.85% or +334.00 points to 9,018.09
In Major Stock News, shares of Anthem (NYSE: ANTM), Centene (NYSE: CNC), Cinga (NYSE: CI) and Humana (NYSE: HUM) were a few of the biggest gainers for the S&P 500 on Wednesday. Health Insurance stocks rose after U.S. primary elections on Tuesday where former Vice President Joe Biden beat out Senator Bernie Sanders. American Express (NYSE: AXP) also posted saw a large performance boost after the company's CFO said that the payments company was not changing its outlook due to the coronavirus outbreak. Shares of Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) also gained Wednesday after JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) noted that the stock was "extremely compelling at current levels."
In Stock Sector News, every sector lead an explosive rally on Wednesday. The performance gains are as follows: Health Care +5.81%, Utilities +5.69%, Consumer Staples +4.92%, Information Technology +4.28%, Industrials +4.19%, Materials +4.01%, Real Estate +3.99%, Communication Services +3.58%, Consumer Discretionary +3.41%, Financials +3.29% and Energy +2.22%.
Lastly, in Commodity and Currency News, crude oil prices increased slightly Wednesday, although their future is still uncertain. West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) gained +0.21% and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) bumped up almost +0.15%. Gold (NYSE: GLD) lost some of its gain from yesterday's market tumble, with the yellow metal's price declining -0.25%. Gold's price still rests around $1,600 per ounce. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) saw a slight performance uptake Wednesday, with the DXY Index increasing +0.24%.