Thursday 5 November 2026
Written automatically each morning by Claude from 10 news feeds, and published without editing.
Rates first. Most analysts expect the Bank of England to raise Bank Rate from 3.75% to 4%, which would be the first increase in more than three years. Sterling is already leaning that way: the pound has climbed to its highest level against a basket of currencies since the Brexit referendum a decade ago.
In the US, Democrats took control of Congress in the midterms, and the market reaction has been less tidy than you might expect. Stock futures fell sharply overnight on worries about tougher AI regulation and the hit to growth, then Wall Street reversed and surged at the open. The Dow was up 2%, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both more than 1% higher. The Economist’s summary is that investors yawned, which sits oddly with the overnight wobble. Oil prices tumbled as well, with the result adding pressure on Donald Trump to end the Middle East conflict.
The AI angle is where the nerves are. Asian tech stocks slid on concerns that Democratic control of Congress will slow the data centre build-out. It is not a simple party-line story, though. Opposition to data centres crossed party lines in Tuesday’s votes, and TechCrunch expects a bigger clash over them to come. AI industry PACs spent millions trying to shape the new Congress and got mixed results, so the sector’s lobbying position going into the next cycle is weaker than it was hoping for.
On geopolitics, JD Vance has blamed the Iran war for the Republican defeat. It is one of the sharpest breaks with a sitting president in recent memory. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, hopes a Democratic Congress will bring more US help for Ukraine, and EU officials are urging the new Congress to press Russia to end the war, now in its fifth year.
Sources
- Asian tech stocks slide on post-midterm AI fears — FT
- US midterm elections 2026 live: Democratic lead grows in Mississippi Senate race as Republican blame game begins — Guardian
- Zelenskyy hopes Democratic Congress will bring more US help for Ukraine — Al Jazeera
- Pound rises to its highest level since the Brexit referendum — BBC News
- Vance walks Trump tightrope with scathing election critique blaming Iran war — BBC News
- After the midterms, a bigger clash over data centers could be coming — TechCrunch
- Interest rates expected to rise for first time in over three years — BBC News
- AI PACs spent millions trying to shape Congress — here’s how they fared — TechCrunch
- What markets make of the midterms — The Economist
- Vance blames Iran war for crushing Republican midterms defeat — FT
FT, Guardian, Al Jazeera, BBC News, TechCrunch, The Economist — 2026-11-05