Global AI Stocks React to U.S. Midterm Results

World Brief FP’s flagship daily , catching you up on 24 hours of news in five minutes. Incoming Democrats have pledged to rein in AI and data centers. An illustration of Alexandra Sharp, World Brief writer Alexandra Sharp , the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Nov. 6. Spencer Platt/ November 6, 2026, PM Analysis and arguments. Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at how global AI stocks are reacting to the U. S. midterms, Pope Leo XIV’s tour of Latin America, and more hoax bomb threats across Europe. An AI Reckoning Global stock markets in Europe and Asia plunged on Friday in the wake of big Democratic gains in this week’s U. Their reactions came a day after Wall Street saw massive sell-offs, as investors feared that Washington’s blue wave could bring tighter tech regulations for the artificial intelligence industry. Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at how global AI stocks are reacting to the U. S. midterms, Pope Leo XIV’s tour of Latin America, and more hoax bomb threats across Europe. An AI Reckoning Global stock markets in Europe and Asia plunged on Friday in the wake of big Democratic gains in this week’s U. Their reactions came a day after Wall Street saw massive sell-offs, as investors feared that Washington’s blue wave could bring tighter tech regulations for the artificial intelligence industry. According to NBC exit polls, 57 percent of U. S. voters believed that AI would do more harm than good to society, and 56 percent of individuals characterized the tech’s controversial advancement as “crucial or a major factor” in determining who they voted for. Hoping to capitalize on that hesitance, many Democratic candidates had promised to rein in AI’s development and slow the construction of data centers. Many voters ahead of Tuesday’s election had expressed concerns about data centers’ impact on job creation, water usage, energy bills, and local pollution. Some of Silicon Valley’s most influential executives, from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, collectively spent more than half a billion dollars backing Republican candidates. However, that didn’t appear to be enough to stop the U. S. midterms’ AI reckoning, FP’s Rishi Iyengar and Christina Lu wrote.