Finance, in brief

Japan's main share index, the Nikkei 225, fell as much as 4.5% on Wednesday, to its lowest level since May. [1]

By the midday break in Tokyo it was down 3.56%, at 60,835.36. [2]

Traders were selling as the AP projected that Democrats will win both houses of the US Congress. [3]

Pepperstone's Dilin Wu said AI rules, chip export limits and data-centre energy policy could all change after the vote. [5]

Governors control zoning and building permits, so a governor can pause new data centres in a state. [1]

Economists call this irreversible investment: a build that cannot be undone waits for its rules, as Texas's may. [1]

A family waits to buy a house near a school until it knows the new catchment map.

The AP's calls are projections, and two Democratic-held Senate seats were still being counted. [7]

The US Treasury sets out on Wednesday how it will sell its debt in the coming months. [8]

Traders sold AI shares because they expect Democrats in the US Congress, and new governors in Texas and Ohio, to slow the building of data centres. [1]

Several analysts said AI shares were already falling for weeks, so the vote added to a fall that had started before it. [4]

They sell into the US data-centre build, so a slower build delays their orders. [5]

How much of the fall was the vote, and how much was AI doubts already there.

Tai Hui and Jesper Koll told Reuters the AI worries began weeks earlier. [4] ING had said a Democratic win was already expected by markets. [8]

Whether Texas will actually pause new data centres.

Hinojosa pledged a pause, but no plan, date or law has been set out. [3]

The dollar fell 0.5% against its trading partners' currencies, to its lowest in more than a month. [1]

The dollar index weighs the dollar against six other currencies. [22] Reuters had it 0.32% lower at 101.39. [23]

The euro rose 0.4% to $1.1239, and the pound rose to $1.3464. [23]

The Japanese yen strengthened to 158.30 per dollar in early trading. [22]

Carol Kong of Commonwealth Bank of Australia said a Democratic US Congress would limit government spending. [22]

MUFG, a Japanese bank, said less US spending would weigh on US interest rates and the dollar. [9]

Currency economists call this the interest-rate link: lower US rates weigh on the dollar, as MUFG expects. [9]

Savers move money to the bank that pays more interest, and away from the one that pays less.

MUFG said tariffs and trade stay mostly under the president's control, which limits what the US Congress changes. [9]

The rate on 10-year US government bonds fell nearly 5 basis points to 4.902%. [24]

That is its lowest level in nearly two months. [9]

The 2-year rate fell 6 basis points to 4.55%. [24] A basis point is one hundredth of one percent. [24]

Investors bought US government bonds for safety as share prices fell overnight. [24]

ANZ, an Australian bank, said a Democratic US Congress makes US budget plans harder to change. [9] The budget gap may stop growing but stay large. [9]

Bond traders call a bond's return its yield. [24] A bond's yield and its price move in opposite directions. [24]

So the rush to buy bonds pushed their prices up, and the 10-year yield fell to 4.902%. [24]

A sought-after concert ticket sells for more, so each pound spent buys a smaller share of the show.

When bond yields fall, bond prices rise, so bonds bought before Tuesday are worth more. [24]

Whether the fall in US bond rates lasts.

ANZ said strong US data still support more rate rises. [9]

Solar company shares rose in late trading on Tuesday as most tech shares fell. [3]

The Invesco Solar fund, which holds shares in solar firms, was up 3% on the Robinhood app. [3]

In South Korea, shares of solar companies also rose on Wednesday. [5]

President Trump's government has taken steps against the solar industry. [3]

Traders bet a Democratic US Congress would halt those policies, CNBC reported. [3]

Analyst Ed Yardeni noted that Trump has made many policies by his own orders. [21] The US Congress cannot easily block those. [21]

Shares of SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket company, fell more than 6% in overnight trading. [3]

Tesla, his electric-car company, was down more than 4%. [3]

Musk said in 2024 he would move both companies' headquarters from California to Texas. [3]

Musk spent $212 million backing Ken Paxton for a Texas Senate seat. [7] The AP projected Democrat James Talarico won it. [7]

Jay Woods, a market strategist, said firms that moved to Texas to escape California now face the same risk. [3]

Those overnight prices come from the Robinhood app, before the main New York market opens. [3]

AMD, a US chip maker, said its sales rose 45% to $13.38 billion in July to September. [25]

Sales in its data-centre business nearly doubled. [25] That business is now 64% of AMD's sales, up from 47% a year ago. [25]

AMD expects about $17 billion of sales in the last three months of the year. [6]

Its shares rose 8% in trading after the New York market closed on Tuesday. [25]

Chief executive Lisa Su said she expects AMD's server sales to double in 2027. [25]

Intel's shares fell 29% last Friday over a weak forecast. [25]

Asian chip shares still fell on Wednesday, despite AMD's strong numbers. [6]

Analysts judge results against the consensus, the average forecast: AMD made $2.09 a share against $1.95 expected. [25]

A pupil who expected a C and got a B is happier than one who expected an A.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, sought to borrow $20 billion to $25 billion by selling bonds on Tuesday. [10]

People familiar with the sale told CNBC a third would be in euros. [10] Semafor said it is Meta's first euro borrowing. [26]

Meta expects to spend $135 billion to $145 billion on buildings and equipment this year. [10]

Last quarter, $2.12 billion more cash went out of Meta than came in. [10]

Days earlier, S&P Global Ratings changed Meta's outlook to negative, citing that spending. [10]

Tech firms now pay the most extra interest over other big borrowers since 2003, Bloomberg data show. [12]

Credit analysts call this a negative outlook: a warning a grade may fall, as S&P gave Meta's AA- grade. [10]

A friend who keeps borrowing for one big project gets asked more questions each time.

Jon Gray, president of the investment firm Blackstone, said building AI will need more money from shareholders. [11]

He spoke on Tuesday at a summit held by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong's central bank. [11]

Pimco's chief Emmanuel Roman said AI spending could reach about $10 trillion over 5 years. [11]

He compared it with a world market for company bonds of about $20 trillion. [11]

About $550 billion of AI debt has been issued this year, Roman said. [11]

Gray said lenders are now too exposed to the same few companies. [11]

Corporate finance calls lent money debt and owned money equity. [11] Shareholders share growth, but lenders get only interest, Gray said. [11]

A friend who lends to a lemonade stand gets the money back; a part-owner gets part of the profit.

Japan Investment Corp, a state-backed fund, plans to sell JSR to Mitsui Chemicals, two people told Reuters. [17]

The deal could be worth more than 1.3 trillion yen, about $8.2 billion. [17]

JSR makes photoresists, chemicals used to print circuit patterns onto chip wafers. [17]

The fund bought JSR about two years ago for some 900 billion yen. [17]

It had planned to use JSR to merge Japan's chip-materials firms. [17]

A decision could come within the month. [27]

The fund is selling while AI spending has raised what chip firms are worth. [17]

JIC's exit, as fund managers call a sale, could fetch 1.3 trillion yen for a firm bought for 900 billion. [17]

Someone buys a bike, fixes it up, and sells it once bikes are in demand.

Whether the JSR sale goes ahead, and whether it tops 1.3 trillion yen.

It comes from two unnamed people, and none of the three companies replied to Reuters. [17]

Schaeffler, a German maker of car parts, will cut 3,460 jobs and close five sites in Europe. [13]

About 2,660 of the jobs, and four of the sites, are in Germany. [13]

Two of the closing plants, in Dortmund and Morbach, make parts for petrol and diesel engines. [13]

Schaeffler's sales fell 0.2% to 5.8 billion euros in July to September. [13]

New-car sales in the EU fell from 15.3 million in 2019 to 10.8 million in 2025. [13]

Electric cars need fewer parts, so suppliers sell less, said Rico Luman, an ING economist. [13]

The cuts should add about 300 million euros a year to earnings from 2030. [13] They cost about 480 million euros first. [28]

Economists call it overcapacity when factories can make more than buyers want, as Schaeffler says of its plants. [28]

A pizza shop with ten ovens and customers for five turns some ovens off.

About half the jobs cut are in production, where the plant closures fall. [28]

Schaeffler's managers, starting with its board, will take a voluntary pay cut so that fewer of its workers lose their jobs.

Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, made $36.25 billion of net profit in July to September. [29]

That was 34% more than a year earlier, it told the Saudi stock exchange. [29]

Its revenue rose to $140.5 billion, from $111.6 billion. [29]

The average price it got for its oil rose 35%. [30]

It sold less oil and fuel, as attacks hit its plants and Iran disrupted the Strait of Hormuz. [29]

Its board approved a $21.9 billion dividend, a payout to its owners, for the quarter. [29]

Aramco's profits fund Saudi Arabia's government, which still relies on oil sales. [29]

Economists call it a supply shock when war cuts how much oil reaches buyers, as attacks did here. [29]

Aramco sold fewer barrels, but each sold for 35% more, so its profit still rose. [30]

When a storm shuts most bakeries, the one still open sells fewer loaves at a higher price.

It owns most of Aramco, so the war's higher oil price reaches it as dividends. [30]

Which profit figure Aramco's 34% rise refers to.

The National reported net profit up 34% to $36.25 billion. [29] Semafor reported a 9% rise to $31.2 billion, and neither says how the two differ. [30]

Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have risen more than 60% since 14 October. [31]

The two firms buy home loans from banks and bundle them into bonds for investors. [31]

The US government took control of both in September 2008, during the financial crisis. [31]

Investor Bill Ackman, who owns shares in both, wants that government control to end. [31]

He says the shares could rise 10 times from today's prices. [31]

Ackman said the release is held back because of the midterm elections. [31]

The two firms are central to the US housing market, helping banks keep lending for homes. [31]

To leave government control, they would need to raise new money, possibly by selling shares. [31]

Why a company waits for the new rules before it builds something it cannot undo

A data centre costs billions and cannot be undone once built

A new governor may pause new data centres in a state

Builders wait to see the rules before they spend

Orders for chips and machines move later or shrink

Investors pay less for the chip makers' shares today

A vote can cut a chip maker's share price before any law changes.

Read left to right: a pledged pause makes builders wait, and the chip orders move later. Shares fell before any rule was written.

Ackman says freeing them from government control, a step hard to reverse, was held back until the election was over.

nothing can be dug until three judges rule on the court order, so the project waits on a rule, not on its gold.

Waiting costs something too. A rival that builds first can win the customers, so some firms keep building, as Meta is still borrowing to do.

The vote was in Texas, but the waiting reaches chip makers in Japan and Korea and the people who work for them.

It owns shares in both firms, so a release from government control would lift what it holds. [31]

Funds backed by China's government put 76.7 billion yuan into nine share funds on Tuesday. [15]

These state-backed buyers are known as China's national team. [15]

It was the second-biggest day on record, and the most since April 2025. [15]

China's Star 50 index of tech shares steadied on Wednesday, after falling nearly 4% the day before. [15]

Companies are buying back their own shares too. [15] CXMT, a chip maker, plans to spend 2.5 to 5 billion yuan. [15]

Homin Lee of Lombard Odier said China's government sees that more support is needed. [15]

Economists call a big buyer that steps in when others sell a backstop, as these state funds did on Tuesday. [15]

A parent buys the last cakes at a school sale, so the stall is not left with them.

Indian companies' forward dollar buying fell 35% in October, to $49.5 billion. [16]

A forward is a promise to buy dollars later at a price set today. [16]

It was the lowest since February, clearinghouse data showed. [16]

Last month India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, made such bets dearer to defend the rupee. [16]

Foreign investors sold about $590 million of Indian government bonds in October. [16]

Economists call it hedging when a firm locks in a price so a swing cannot hurt it. [16]

An importer that must pay in dollars later buys them forward, so a weaker rupee cannot raise its bill. [16]

A family books a holiday at today's price, so the price cannot go up before they go.

Madhavi Arora, an Emkay economist, called the steps "tactical fixes rather than structural solutions". [16]

Insuring against a weaker rupee now costs more, after India's central bank's curbs pushed the price to multi-year highs. [16]

India's rupee has risen about 2% against the dollar since its central bank acted to defend it last month.

India's National Stock Exchange made Rs 2,578 crore of profit in July to September. [32] That is 25.78 billion rupees, up 23%. [32]

They are its first results since its own shares started trading. [32]

The NSE is the world's largest exchange for derivatives, contracts whose price follows something else. [32]

Its fees from trades rose 9%, as more shares and options changed hands. [32]

Traders who trade their own money got round new Reserve Bank of India curbs on bank loans, the NSE said. [33]

The rule, due on 1 April, started on 1 July. [33] Traders used the gap to extend their bank guarantees. [33]

Shares in MCX, India's commodity exchange, fell 7% on Wednesday. [34]

Its profit more than doubled, from Rs 197.47 crore to Rs 455 crore, in July to September. [34]

A commodity exchange is where traders buy and sell gold, silver and metals. [34]

MCX shares had risen 50% this year. [34]

Analysts called it profit booking: holders sell a share that has risen to keep the gain. [34]

A collector sells cards that have doubled in price, even if they might rise further.

The fall hits investors who bought MCX shares during this year's 50% rise. [34]

Shares of Fractal Analytics, an Indian AI company, rose as much as 12% on Wednesday. [35]

Its profit jumped 139% to Rs 79.2 crore in July to September. [35]

Its sales in one quarter passed $100 million for the first time. [35]

Its health and life sciences business grew 79%. [35]

It sells AI tools to big companies, including banks and insurers. [35]

It rose on a day when AI-linked shares fell across most of Asia. [6]

Copper fell 2.2% on the London Metal Exchange on Tuesday, to $14,036 a tonne. [36]

That was its lowest since 14 September. [36]

Tin, used to solder electric circuits, fell 4.5% to its lowest since April. [36]

Copper is still up about 13% this year. [36]

Its rise came mostly from expected US taxes on imports of refined metal. [36]

Traders had bet copper would gain from building AI data centres, which use a lot of it. [36]

RBC analysts said the AI sell-off has put that bet under renewed scrutiny. [36]

Primark, the cut-price clothing chain, will start home deliveries in the UK by December next year. [37]

That is about two years sooner than planned, after its profits slid. [37]

It bought a robot-assisted warehouse in Sheffield from Debenhams to do it. [37]

Sales in Primark's stores in mainland Europe fell 4.7% this financial year. [20]

Primark used to say it could not make money from home delivery. [37] Delivery and return charges now cover most of the cost, said its owner's boss. [37]

George Weston runs Associated British Foods, Primark's owner. [37] Primark makes about two-thirds of its profit. [20]