Business & Finance News

Japan's Nikkei slumped almost 6% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 6.7%, while Taiwan's TAIEX dropped 4.5%, as investors dumped tech stocks. The rout followed more than $3.2tn wiped off Wall Street, where the Nasdaq fell 5.5% and the Dow dropped 1,833.06 points, or 3.44%. SanDisk slumped 22%, Micron and AMD each lost 17%, and Nvidia fell over 9%, while CMC Markets' Christopher Forbes called it 'a bit of a disaster'.

Asian stock markets tied to the artificial intelligence boom plunged on Friday, November 6, 2026, after an overnight tech sell-off on Wall Street, Reuters reported from Tokyo. The Korea Exchange imposed a circuit breaker in morning trading after the KOSPI fell 8.7% at one point. Investors fretted about possible delays to data center construction following a sweeping Democratic victory in the U.S. midterm elections.

Anthropic is holding firm on its Super Bowl pledge to keep its chatbot free of ads, and its recent IPO filing did not mention selling ads at all. By contrast, OpenAI has over 100,000 customers advertising in ChatGPT since ads debuted there in February. Koah Labs CEO Nic Baird says AI-composed ads generate double the clicks, though users click on about 3 percent of Koah's ads.

Japan's Nikkei index slumped 6 percent, its deepest one-day drop since April 2025, as selling spread across Asia. Indices in South Korea and Taiwan plunged more than 8 percent after the opening bell before cutting losses, after the Nasdaq had sunk 5.5 percent and wiped $3 trillion off S&P 500 firms. Dong Baozhen of Lingtong Shengtai told Reuters that AI share prices had been built on rosy illusions about the future.

Binance said the record $6.3bn (£4.7bn) theft began when an engineer was lured into bogus job interviews through a legitimate job-hunting platform. Hackers then used his compromised computer and an internal AI tool to take control of two other engineers' laptops. Binance suspended withdrawals globally until Sunday and said 98% of impacted token assets had been replenished as of Saturday.

European markets opened lower on Friday as a rout in US tech shares spread across the Atlantic after the Democrats' midterm victory raised fears of an AI industry slowdown. The FTSE 100 fell 1.5%, or 166 points, to 10,615, while Japan's Nikkei 225 sank 6% and South Korea's Kospi tumbled more than 8%. On Thursday the Nasdaq slumped 5.5% in its worst day in 19 months, led by a 22% drop at SanDisk.

Equinix says its smaller data centers could be less exposed to possible U.S. construction restrictions, according to Asia-Pacific president Cyrus Adaggra. Its facilities typically range from 30 to 60 megawatts, versus the roughly 100-megawatt threshold U.S. proposals generally target. BMI says about 53% of projected U.S. hyperscaler growth sits in states whose newly elected governors could impose limits.

Bob McNally, CEO of Rapidan Energy Group, told CNBC the U.S. is likely to resume military action against Iran in coming days. He put the odds of renewed fighting at 80% and expects Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude futures to rise above $100 a barrel. The benchmarks are currently trading at about $100 and $91, respectively. Oil spiked above $100 before the midterms, when U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal Washington had carried out limited strikes.

India's benchmark Nifty 50 has risen nearly 9% over the last month, outperforming markets with heavy AI exposure such as the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Foreign investors have turned net buyers over the past four days, investing over $2.3 billion, according to NSDL data. JPMorgan's Rajiv Batra said that if foreign long-only investors neutralize their underweight in Indian equities, this could translate into potential net inflows of around $115 billion.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 5.5% on Thursday, losing an estimated $2.5tn (£1.9tn), after US midterm elections raised concerns about slower AI development. Nvidia shares slid more than 9%, AMD and Micron each dropped more than 17%, and SpaceX and Tesla fell 8% and nearly 11%. The sell-off spread to Asia on Friday, when Japan's Nikkei closed down 6% and South Korea's Kospi ended down 6%.

Asian stock markets fell sharply on Tuesday after heavy losses on Wall Street, as investors dumped tech shares on fears about AI investment. Japan's Nikkei slumped almost 6%, South Korea's KOSPI fell 6.7% and Taiwan's TAIEX dropped 4.5%. The Nasdaq tech index slumped 5.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,833.06 points, or 3.44%, on Monday, with more than $3.2tn wiped off the US stock market. Christopher Forbes of CMC Markets called the action 'a bit of a disaster'.

Developing countries' debt rose to a record $9.4tn (£7tn) last year, with the poorest paying the highest interest rates since the late 1980s, according to the World Bank's annual International Debt Report. The 5.5% increase was the fastest in four years, driven by a rapid rise in private sector lending, and the poorest countries faced an average rate of 8.2% on new borrowing. Chief statistician Haishan Fu said access to finance had improved, but its price had not.

Asian markets plunged on Friday, 6 November 2026, tracking a sell-off in Western stocks. Investors feared that Democrats' US midterm victory could bring tighter AI regulation and greater resistance to data centre expansion. Reporting from Beijing, Al Jazeera said investors were reacting to possible tougher scrutiny of data centre construction and the AI industry.

Japanese and South Korean shares tumbled on Friday after a tech selloff on Wall Street, with Seoul's Kospi sliding as much as 8.8% and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 down 5.5% in early trade. The Kospi drop triggered a circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes, while Taiwan's TAIEX fell more than 8%. On Thursday the Nasdaq fell 5.52%, shedding as much as $2.5 trillion (roughly €2.23 trillion), as investors grew anxious about AI spending plans.

Oil prices rose Friday as investors weighed renewed military escalation between the U.S. and Iran after the midterm elections. Brent crude futures climbed 1.67% to $99.90, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate gained 1.43% to $91.69. Rapidan Energy Group's Bob McNally told CNBC he sees an 80% probability of fighting resuming, while Iran reportedly sent a nuclear proposal to Washington through Qatar.

The Tax Justice Network estimates EU countries lose €59.3bn a year in tax revenue as multinational companies shift profits across borders. France (€13.1bn) and Germany (€11.8bn) account for 42% of the total, based on 2022 figures. The network links about €8bn of the losses to the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Welcome back to City AM ‘s FTSE 100 liveblog. It’s Friday morning and London’s blue-chip index is shaping up for another big loss after the tech rout deepened on global markets overnight. South Korea’s Kospi index tumbled more than five per cent and saw a halt in trading on the exchange, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell around six per cent. Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index also dropped just over six per cent. It follows the Nasdaq dropping five per cent led by major sell-offs in AI-related stocks and chipmakers.

Asian stock markets slumped as investors dumped tech shares after more than $3.2tn was wiped off the US market in one session. Japan's Nikkei fell almost 6%, South Korea's KOSPI dropped 6.7% and Taiwan's TAIEX lost 4.5%, while Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.5%. On Wall Street the Nasdaq tech index slumped 5.5%, with SanDisk down 22% and Nvidia down over 9%.

The Nasdaq composite slumped 5.5% on Thursday, its worst day in 19 months, as Wall Street losses deepened on fears of tougher AI regulation after the midterm election results. The index entered correction territory, more than 10% below its recent record high, with over $2tn wiped off its value by the close. Memory maker SanDisk fell 22% and Western Digital dropped 17%, while the VIX jumped 61%. Nikkei 225 sank 6% and Kospi tumbled more than 8% in early trading in Asia on Friday.

Uber reported third-quarter revenue of $14.77 billion, up 10% and above the $14.69 billion analysts expected, according to LSEG data. Its core mobility unit's revenue fell 2% to $7.52 billion, short of the $7.71 billion average estimate, while food delivery rose 23% to $5.49 billion. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi blamed elevated fuel prices and tighter driver availability for weak overseas supply.