Wall Street’s main indexes opened at record highs, while the small-cap Russell 2000 index jumped about 4.8% to its highest in nearly three years.. Donald Trump’s return as U.S. president for the second time on Wednesday boosted equity markets on bets of lower corporate tax, favorable tariffs and deregulation, lifting shares of banks, locally focused small-cap companies and Trump Media.. His promise to make Tesla CEO Elon Musk head of a government efficiency commission after the billionaire backed Trump throughout his electoral campaign led to a 12.5% surge in the shares of the electric automaker.. Wall Street lenders JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs jumped between 6% and 10% on prospects of improving domestic investment, looser regulations and more deals.. “Trump’s win likely means some deregulation, including rolling back banking regulations, though big tech may remain a bipartisan antitrust focus,” strategists at BlackRock Investment Institute said in a note.. Semiconductor stocks advanced, with the Philadelphia chip index rising 1.8% and AI darling Nvidia gaining 2.7% despite Trump’s criticism of the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, which supports domestic chip manufacturing through subsidies.. Trump Media & Technology Group, in which Trump owns a majority stake rose nearly 8% in choppy trading. Investors overlooked the company’s latest quarterly results that showed the Truth Social parent’s revenue was just $1 million.. The shares have more than tripled in value from their all-time lows in late September, and Trump’s stake was worth as much as $5.3 billion, up from $3.9 billion on Tuesday.
