US stocks drop as Republican wave fails to sweep through midterm elections

• US stocks opened lower Wednesday as midterm election results continued to trickle in.
• Republicans thus far have failed to demonstrate a clear hold on Congress.

US stocks opened lower on Wednesday as midterm election results showed a lackluster Republican performance so far.

Control of Congress remained too close to definitively call, especially in the Senate. Republicans had broadly predicted a sweep of both chambers and a rebuke of the Biden administration. But the so-called "red wave" failed to take hold, although Republicans remain optimistic to at least take control of the House of Representatives.

Elsewhere, major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether were still reeling from news that Binance signed a non-binding letter of intent to purchase crypto exchange FTX on Tuesday.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 3,794.65, down 0.87%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,871.58, down 0.87% (289.25 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 10,535.51, down 0.76%

Here's what else is happening today:

• Shares of Facebook parent company Meta climbed on news of 11,000 layoffs at the company.
• FTX saw roughly $6 billion leave the exchange before the announced deal with Binance.
• Analysts think Tesla stock still has significant downside.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.84% to $87.24 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, slipped 1.57% to $93.86
• Gold ticked down 0.11% to $1,710.71 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield climbed 3.1 basis points to 4.159%.
• Bitcoin gained 0.02% to $17,525,16