Dow Rises 3.1% as Neocloud and Optical Shares Slide After Democrats’ Sweep

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.10% Wednesday as neocloud and optical-communications stocks posted steep losses, creating a sharp split between broad U.S. indexes and shares tied to AI infrastructure.

The S&P 500 added 1.65%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.97%. The VIX fell 20.26% to 16.61.

Cipher Digital sank 19.95%, IREN lost 11.24%, CoreWeave dropped 9.90% and Nebius fell 6.67%. Optical names also slid: Credo lost 9.55%, Ciena 9.28%, Lumentum 7.85%, Applied Optoelectronics 7.35% and Coherent 5.98%.

The session coincided with Democrats sweeping both chambers in the U.S. midterm elections. Crypto-linked stocks moved in mixed directions: BitMine climbed 5.85%, Strategy rose 5.09%, Coinbase gained 4.16% and Robinhood added 2.02%, while MARA fell 4.05%.

The Dow posted the largest gain among the three major indexes, even as several AI-related infrastructure shares fell sharply.