FirstFT: US voters cast midterm verdict on Trump

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Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:

• Americans cast their verdict on Trump
• Binance lays out findings from $6.3bn heist
• Will young people lose out from Japan’s rising interest rates?
• How GTA became a $10bn behemoth

Americans cast their verdict on Trump

Binance lays out findings from $6.3bn heist

Will young people lose out from Japan’s rising interest rates?

How GTA became a $10bn behemoth

Voting in the US midterm elections is nearing an end as millions of Americans have cast their ballots in a referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency that will determine control of Congress.

Republicans face an uphill battle to retain their Congressional majorities in both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections, with polls showing public anger over the economy after the Iran war stoked a drastic increase in fuel prices and raised the cost of living.

Most polls predict Democrats will win a majority in the House of Representatives, while others have shown the party could also gain control of the Senate.

Investors are closely monitoring three dozen gubernatorial elections given that many of the hottest issues in markets, permitting for data centres in particular, are heavily influenced by decisions at the state and local levels. Two big data centre hubs — Ohio and Texas — face close races, with victories by Democrats in either race likely to prompt worries about the fate of data centre construction in those states.

“Gubernatorial races — and the race in Texas in particular — are being taken as a proxy for the AI trade . . . If [Texas Republican] Greg Abbott loses, that is a real problem for the AI trade at this point,” said Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research.

Polls will begin to close from 6pm Eastern Time, with first results expected shortly after. Follow our live blog for news and analysis as the returns come in.

• FT election guide: From key races to the money and issues at stake, here’s everything you need to know ahead of the results.
• Trump’s turbulent 21 months: From “liberation day” and bond market turmoil to Nicolás Maduro’s capture, the goading of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and war in Iran, it has been a head-spinning period in US politics.
• Battleground dispatch: The FT’s Guy Chazan reports from Pennsylvania’s “swingiest” district, where voters could help tip the balance of power in Washington.

FT election guide: From key races to the money and issues at stake, here’s everything you need to know ahead of the results.

Trump’s turbulent 21 months: From “liberation day” and bond market turmoil to Nicolás Maduro’s capture, the goading of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and war in Iran, it has been a head-spinning period in US politics.

Battleground dispatch: The FT’s Guy Chazan reports from Pennsylvania’s “swingiest” district, where voters could help tip the balance of power in Washington.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: PMI readings are due for China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.
• Results: Toyota, Mitsubishi Corp, Novo Nordisk and Uber report earnings.

Economic data: PMI readings are due for China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

Results: Toyota, Mitsubishi Corp, Novo Nordisk and Uber report earnings.

Join Rana Foroohar, Edward Luce and special guests Oren Cass and Kori Schake for an FT subscriber-only webinar on Tuesday November 10 on what the midterm results mean for America and the world.

Five more top stories

1. Binance said the attackers who stole $6.3bn from the crypto exchange last week set up fake job interviews to trick a software engineer at the company into installing malicious code, as it laid out findings from an investigation into the heist. The FBI on Saturday blamed TraderTraitor, a group of hackers linked to North Korea, for the record-breaking heist.

• Related news: North Korean hackers are expected to take months to launder the billions of dollars of tokens they stole, analysts say, despite using sophisticated automation to try and hide their tracks.

Related news: North Korean hackers are expected to take months to launder the billions of dollars of tokens they stole, analysts say, despite using sophisticated automation to try and hide their tracks.

2. Nvidia is ordering its data centre partners to reduce exposure to Chinese customers in a move that further restrains China’s ability to keep up with US rivals. In recent months, Nvidia has told cloud computing clients that they must now sell at least 51 per cent of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.

• More China news: Chinese regulators have told banks to hold fire on company listings and large share sales in an effort to bolster the country’s struggling stock markets.

More China news: Chinese regulators have told banks to hold fire on company listings and large share sales in an effort to bolster the country’s struggling stock markets.

3. Mark Walter has explored a sale of $71bn-in-assets insurer Delaware Life following a federal investigation into the billionaire financier’s investment empire. Walter has weighed selling the insurer in a deal that could form part of a broader restructuring of his holding company TWG Global, according to three people familiar with the matter.

4. American, Chinese and Russian officials are discussing a possible summit between Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin this month when the leaders attend the Apec summit in Shenzhen. Here are more details.

5. Former Weil Gotshal partners have hired legal counsel to represent them in the law firm’s impending wind-down amid a rush by the current and past practitioners to recover part of the value of their stakes in the business. The move is an early indication of the legal battles likely to flow from the demise of the prestigious US law firm.

Power problems holding back America’s AI ambitions

Washington’s battle with China for global supremacy in AI will require unprecedented expenditure on data centres, which in turn will necessitate a vast expansion of electricity generation and transmission. But the same bottlenecks that have held up construction of new US infrastructure for decades are now threatening the AI rollout.

We’re also reading . . .

• Australia’s invasive toad: Rio Tinto is joining the battle against a marauding cane toad that is threatening to encroach on the iron ore-rich Pilbara region and wreak havoc on the area’s wildlife and economy.
• Social media: The mass digital mobilisation that helped re-elect Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is inspiring leftwing activists in other countries.
• AI job erosion: Lay-offs are low by historical standards but young people may still need help finding a foothold in the labour market, writes Sarah O’Connor.

Australia’s invasive toad: Rio Tinto is joining the battle against a marauding cane toad that is threatening to encroach on the iron ore-rich Pilbara region and wreak havoc on the area’s wildlife and economy.

Social media: The mass digital mobilisation that helped re-elect Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is inspiring leftwing activists in other countries.

AI job erosion: Lay-offs are low by historical standards but young people may still need help finding a foothold in the labour market, writes Sarah O’Connor.

Chart of the day

Japan may still have some of the lowest interest rates in the world, but the rapid increase expected by economists will have far-reaching implications for a population still coming to terms with the end of an era of deflation. Substantial rate increases could end the erosion of the value of bank savings, mostly held by older Japanese, while making it harder for younger people to buy homes and consumer goods.

Take a break from the news . . .

Grand Theft Auto V is, by some estimates, the most lucrative entertainment product of all time, selling 230mn copies and generating more than $10bn in revenue. The launch of the next iteration of the franchise provides a rare monocultural moment in our asynchronous TV age of streaming and algorithmically personalised playlists, writes Tom Faber.

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