President-elect Donald Trump's White House victory immediately energized Wall Street.
U.S. stocks enjoyed their fifth best one-day showing, with capitalization rising by $1.62 trillion on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The surge came less than 24 hours after Trump secured a landslide victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
Investors, bankers, and others in finance are hoping the second Trump administration provides four years of tax cuts, deregulation, and economic expansion.
"Investors are celebrating," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital in Chicago, The Journal reported.
Among expected changes is the anticipated departure of Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Lina Khan, who has frustrated executives hoping to work out tech acquisitions.
"A lot of these mergers have been thwarted by the current administration," investor Carl Icahn said, the outlet reported. "That's going to change."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average skyrocketed more than 1,300 points to a record 43,569 by mid-day, and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite also saw strong gains.
The Dow and S&P 500 registered their biggest one-day percentage gains since November 2022.
Truist co-chief investment officer Keith Lerner said simply putting the election in the rear-view mirror was cause for Wall Street to pick up steam.
"I don't know that it's too much, too soon," Lerner said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid podcast. "If you think about it coming into this [election], there was a real contention between the [outcomes]. So once you gain some clarity, and it looks like this won't extend or be a contested election, there's a relief rally."
Trump is expected to implement smaller government, tax cuts, and broad deregulation for corporations and the wealthy. A softer stance on antitrust and less regulation in areas such as banking and cryptocurrencies reportedly could boost corporate profits and spur deal flow.
"He is pro-business and anti-regulation," said Euan Rellie, co-founder and managing partner of investment bank BDA Partners. "His instincts are to cut taxes. All of that will help the M&A [mergers and acquisitions] market."
Prospects that a strong economy, increased dealmaking, and less regulation will spur higher profits helped bank stocks rise on Wednesday.
"It's clear that a new administration will bring policy changes potentially important to our business and clients," Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon told his staff, The Journal reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.