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.S. midterm elections. 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.S. midterm elections. 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. Notably, several historically red states that host a vast number of data centers, such as Texas, swung blue.
This has made investors worried. On Thursday, the Nasdaq dropped by 5.52 percent (or roughly $2.5 trillion). The S&P 500 also fell by 4.36 percent, and the Dow Jones declined by 3.44 percent. All three index averages recorded their worst days since April 2025, when U.S. President Donald Trump launched his sweeping global trade war.
Such dips prompted foreign markets to react with matching concern. London’s FTSE 100 index sank by 2.35 percent on Friday, Germany’s Dax index tumbled by 2 percent, France’s Cac 40 decreased by 0.8 percent, and Spain’s Ibex declined by 0.6 percent. In the Indo-Pacific, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped by 6 percent, and South Korea’s Kospi index fell by more than 6.5 percent.
Still, the initial market panic appears to have slowed for now. Wall Street began to recover on Friday from its mass stock sell-off, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both rallying. The rebound may be partly related to a new U.S. Labor Department report on Friday that saw the U.S. economy add 165,000 jobs in October.
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What We’re Following
Leo’s big trip. Pope Leo XIV kicked off a 12-day tour of Latin America on Friday, less than four weeks after undergoing surgery for lung cancer. The trip, which will see Leo deliver nine masses and 36 speeches across three countries, will test the pope’s health and stamina at a time when some observers have wondered whether papal succession talks need to begin sooner than expected. The Vatican, though, has made clear that Leo requires no special accommodations for this visit and will be accompanied by his usual delegation.
Leo will begin his trip in Uruguay before heading to Argentina and Peru. In Uruguay, Leo is expected to appeal to the country’s increasingly secular population; only 1 in 3 Uruguayans identify as Catholic, the lowest rate in Latin America. Leo has a history of prioritizing trips to countries with secular-leaning populations, such as his visit to France in September.
From Uruguay, Leo will head to Argentina, the homeland of his predecessor, Pope Francis. During that visit, the pope will meet with far-right Argentine President Javier Milei, whose policies have often run contradictory to the Vatican’s preachings. That includes Milei’s efforts to transform Argentina into an AI hub; Leo has made consideration of AI’s ethical implications an early focus of his papacy.
Finally, Leo will end his trip in Peru, where he spent a significant portion of his life. The pope is expected to travel to the city of Cusco, which sits at more than 11,000 feet above sea level. Thinner air quality there could be a challenge for the pope’s recovering lungs; however, the Vatican has stressed that Leo is healthy enough to do it.
More bomb threats. Another round of hoax bomb threats targeted Europe on Friday, adding to this week’s onslaught of suspected hybrid attacks on the continent. Newsrooms in Bulgaria and Ireland reportedly received emailed bomb threats from a “Mikhail Andropov” on Friday, forcing the media outlets to suspend programming and evacuate their offices. A British broadcaster also said that it had received a security alert, though it is unclear if that incident was linked to the other two.
Several European planes were also diverted on Friday due to false bomb threats—the third such incident this week. The fake threats have caused massive air traffic disruptions across the continent and upended travel plans for thousands of passengers. Friday’s incidents also came amid a surge in other types of hybrid warfare operations targeting Europe, including recent cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in at least 10 countries.
It remains unclear who is behind these attacks and if they are all related, but security officials suspect that Russia may be responsible, with analysts telling Reuters that the threats could be punishment for countries that have armed or financed Ukraine. Moscow continues to deny any involvement.
Chris vs. Chris. New Zealand voters head to the polls on Saturday for a closely watched general election defined by cost-of-living concerns. Analysts predict that the race will be a tight one. According to local estimates, the incumbent coalition led by the center-right National Party is polling at 26.4 percent, and the opposition left-leaning alliance led by the Labour Party is polling at 30.7 percent.
Whichever coalition wins a majority will likely put a Chris in power. Helming the National Party is Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who has held power since 2023. Luxon is known for inking a free trade deal with India, implementing education reforms, and cracking down on gang violence; he is also known for verbal gaffes and appearing disconnected from ordinary people due to his millionaire status.
Leading Labour is Chris Hipkins. Having helped spearhead the country’s COVID-19 response as a cabinet minister under former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Hipkins has pledged to reduce high prices and bolster healthcare funding. He has also been plagued by verbal gaffes (most notably, when he told people during the pandemic to “get outside and spread their legs”). If the National Party is ousted, it will have led New Zealand’s first one-term government in more than 50 years.
What in the World?
Brazil on Tuesday approved legislation that strengthened the government’s ability to do what?
A. Fight criminal gangs
B. Cut back on deforestation
C. Prosecute Flávio Bolsonaro
D. Overcome presidential vetoes
Odds and Ends
It is perhaps the most divisive issue of our time: Should pineapple go on pizza? In May, Italian chef Davide Tamburella was fired from Australia’s now-shuttered La Costa restaurant for refusing to serve the topping, calling it an “insult to his culture.” This was the third time that Tamburella had refused to put the fruit on pizza in the past four years, among other complaints from management. On Tuesday, though, Australia’s Fair Work Commission dismissed Tamburella’s unfair termination claim on the grounds that his application had been filed too late.
And the Answer Is…
Fight criminal gangs
Although he is fresh off an electoral victory, 81-year-old President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will need to start cultivating a successor as soon as possible, Oliver Stuenkel writes.
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