~ FINTECHFRIDAY ~
The Election
That Crashed AI
The Dow's best post-midterm day in 44 years lasted 24 hours. Then Seoul hit the brakes.
Hey guys,
happy Friday.
Hope you're well.
What a week.
Wednesday, Democrats took Congress and the Dow had its best post-midterm day since 1982.
Thursday, the Nasdaq had its worst day in 19 months on fears the new majority will slow the data centers AI runs on.
This morning, Seoul halted all trading three minutes after the open.
The AI bill was already coming due.
Now politics is making it harder to pay.
Grab a coffee, let's get into it.
Our Fav 5 From
this Week
The five stories that moved money this week.
Tap any card for the full story.
#1
Seoul
hits the brakes.
Korea's KOSPI fell as much as 8.78% after the open and triggered a 20-minute trading halt. It closed down 6.02%, and SK Hynix fell 10.4%.
#2
The Nasdaq
cracks.
The Nasdaq fell 5.52% on Thursday, its worst day since April 2025, and slid into a correction. Chip stocks fell 12.2%, and AMD lost 17%.
#3
Democrats vs.
data centers.
Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has promised a temporary ban on all data center approvals. Texas is expected to host about 41% of new US data center capacity by 2028.
#4
Anthropic's IPO
wobbles.
Revenue hit $16.96 billion last quarter, but investors now doubt it can list in November, Reuters reports.
#5
The jobs
blowout.
The economy added 165,000 jobs, more than double forecasts, and unemployment fell to 4.1%. That keeps a December rate hike on the table.
Quick Hits
The rest of the week, one line each.
Tap any tile for the source.
Powerball. One New Jersey ticket won the $847 million Powerball, with a cash option of $363.1 million.
Election night, sports bets. Kalshi traders put $25.3 billion on parlays and $1.1 billion on the election. Kalshi says its midterm volume topped $2.5 billion.
The world keeps hiking. Australia raised rates to 4.85%, the UK to 4%, and the Fed may follow in December.
C-Level Shake Ups
Who's in, who's out, and what it signals.
~ Paraguay's central bank: Governor Carlos Carvallo resigned at the president's request after digital lender ueno, with about 3 million customers, was placed into resolution.
~ Tripadvisor: CEO Matt Goldberg and CFO Michael Noonan are both leaving in the coming months.
~ Natera: CEO Steve Chapman is out, effective immediately, and the stock fell about 14%.
~ FIS: CFO James Kehoe is leaving as the company cuts its 2026 outlook.
~ PNC: CFO Rob Reilly, in the job since 2013, hands it to Alex Overstrom on March 1.
Hot Takes
This Week
TAKE 1
Pushing AI out
makes everyone
poorer.
Ban data centers here, and the build moves there.
3 markets · Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei fell with Wall Street.
All-time high · Berkshire, as money ran to safety on Thursday.
AI just became a bet on geography. Nobody wins that one.
———————————
TAKE 2
The Fed
should wait.
A December hike does more harm than good.
$2.9 trillion · S&P 500 value wiped out Thursday, a record.
Hiking into a sell-off turns a correction into a credit problem. Hold in December.
Everyone saw
the sell-off.
Few knew
who was buying.
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