Global Stock Markets Plunge Amid Investor Fears Over Artificial Intelligence and Midterm Results

Global stock markets suffered steep declines on Friday following a major technology-led sell-off on Wall Street triggered by the Democratic Party securing majorities in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

Investors grew concerned that the new congressional alignment and newly elected governors in states accounting for roughly 40 percent of planned United States data center capacity, including Texas, would slow the pace of artificial intelligence infrastructure development and impose tighter regulations. On Thursday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 5.5 percent in its worst single-day drop in 19 months, erasing trillions of dollars in market value, while the S&P 500 fell 4.4 percent.

Major semiconductor makers experienced severe losses, with Nvidia falling over 9 percent and chipmakers AMD and Micron dropping by more than 17 percent before recovering some ground on Friday. Japanese and European indexes also ended the day lower. The sell-off contrasted with a stronger-than-expected United States employment report showing 165,000 jobs added in October and unemployment falling to 4.1 percent.