Weekly Espresso

For a change, a US election followed the trajectory of the polls when the Democrats swept back control of Congress and the Senate. The initial market response on Wednesday was positive when it became clear that Trump wouldn’t contest the results. But on Thursday we saw the biggest one-day tech sell off since “Liberation Day” after investors remembered that AI was also under proper democratic scrutiny for the first time.

Of the 47 data centre moratoriums or restrictions that were on the ballet, 46 were approved. The only exception came from voters in the small town of Harwood, North Dakota (pop. 940). Voters in California, Ohio and Illinois, (states ranked fourth, fifth and sixth for total number of data centres in the US) voted resoundingly against plans to build more, in some districts by as much as 80%.

Aside from the practical implications of limiting data centre buildouts, prospects for AI and big tech were dealt a blow by the sheer number of young and progressive victorious Democratic candidates…

The final polls suggest Democrats will have enough to comfortably flip control of Congress following Tuesday’s US midterm elections. They also have a narrow lead in many key Senate races. Trump has simply bypassed most checks and balances through executive orders over the last two years, but losing both houses will open a wave of subpoenas and investigative committees, potentially drowning Trump’s next two years in office in litigation and impeachment trials. It may also have repercussions for the AI boom by making it possible for Democrats to pass bills which limit data centre buildouts and impose new regulations on the frontier labs…

Following the previous week’s AI sell off, investors started the week buying the dip on Monday. The positive momentum continued for a few days but was dashed on Thursday when the US’s leading tech index suffered its steepest single day decline since June. The sentiment shifted after Meta posted negative cash flow for the first time since 2012 and announced new non-voting shares to raise more capital for AI spending. Meta were also hit by their largest fine yet. A judge in New Mexico ordered the company to pay $25bn after they were found guilty of lying about how they handled user data.

Reports later Thursday morning suggested OpenAI have cut their latest valuation from $1.4tn to $1.25tn. OpenAI declined to comment on why they’ve lowered their fundraising target, but investor fatigue and the growing scepticism around the AI buildout will have played a role..

A troubling week for AI shares saw the US’s tech index tumble nearly 4.5% when markets closed on Friday.

Rising US inflation numbers helped trigger the Wednesday-to-Friday sell off. The final inflation numbers before the US midterms from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed inflation rose to 3.7% in September. The Producer Price Index (PPI) soared well above expectations to 6.3%, the largest increase since December 2022 and more than triple the Fed’s 2% target. Chances of a rate hike have increased on the back of the readings.

Problems in the neocloud sector (rentiers of GPU computing power and AI infrastructure) exacerbated the sell off at the centre of the AI trade…

On Tuesday, the US’s leading index achieved a record high despite the sell-off in bonds. Markets rallied in response to high earning expectations thanks to the trillions of dollars pouring into AI infrastructure. According to Factset, analysts are expecting Q3 earnings growth of 29.5%. Chipmakers Nvidia and Micron are expected to account for more than a third of that growth. Some of this bullishness was dented on Thursday after OpenAI told investors that revenue for this year will be $50bn, $20bn less than estimated in September.

With AI development and the race for superintelligence showing no signs of slowing down, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman advocated for a light touch regulatory stance in an interview on Monday. He said that the world should just accept “some bad things happening” in exchange for the benefits AI may bring…

In his first conference speech as Labour party leader and Prime Minister, we got several important policy updates from Andy Burnham. From April 2030 the government will finally “rip the plaster off” and amend the pensions triple lock to not necessarily keep pace with workers’ earnings. Electoral reform is back on the agenda, and a new in-out EU referendum could be included in the next Labour election manifesto. Prior to the conference, the reboot of Help to Buy to become the Your First Home Scheme sent housebuilding stocks up on Monday.