Deutschlands große KI-Illusion und 4 Favoriten für den Vibe Shift

Democrats win midterms and markets rally

Funding and deals

• Deutsche Telekom. Handelsblatt reports CEO Tim Höttges is lobbying Chancellor Friedrich Merz for a merger with T-Mobile US, worth almost €20bn more than its parent.

News

• Democrats win midterms and markets rally. US markets opened lower on fears for the AI industry, then turned as investors bet Donald Trump cannot pass laws without the Democrats. The DAX gained 2.2 percent to 26,438 points, the Dow about 3 percent.
• Germany builds a fraction of US AI capacity. Bitkom's Ralf Wintergerst calculates the US adds around 10 gigawatts of data center capacity a year against Germany's 0.65, so the US builds in three and a half weeks what Germany adds in a year.
• US AI investment dwarfs Germany's. The US invested $286bn privately in AI in 2025 against Germany's $3.9bn, and Daniel Eckert says the slow progress is above all a matter of money.
• Voters reject data centers in 41 ballots. In 10 states all but one of 41 local ballot measures went against data centers. In Texas Democrat Gina Hinojosa beat governor Greg Abbott and demands a construction stop.
• Novo Nordisk guides to minus 2 to plus 2 percent. The Wegovy maker expects adjusted revenue and operating profit between minus 2 and plus 2 percent this year, lifting the share 5 percent at times. It is down about 14 percent year to date.
• Datadog grows 35 percent but shares fall 14 percent. Datadog, which sells cloud monitoring software, grew 35 percent in the third quarter and raised its annual targets, but a softer final-quarter outlook sent the share down 14 percent.
• FIS cuts forecast and shares plunge 20 percent. The bank software supplier lowered its annual forecast and expects stagnating revenue in 2027, sending the share down more than 20 percent.
• Qualcomm chip revenue falls 26 percent. Smartphone chip revenue fell 26 percent on scarce, expensive memory and a disappointing profit forecast, sending the share down about 5 percent after hours. SpaceX wants Qualcomm components for its own US mobile network.
• Big tech gains on hopes of slower AI buildout. Amazon and Apple rose partly more than 6 percent as investors hope a Democratic Congress slows the expensive data center construction, while Infineon and Siemens Energy lost up to 8 percent.
• Brent drops below 100 dollars as energy slides. Brent became almost 10 percent cheaper and costs less than 100 dollars again. The S&P 500 energy sector lost almost 5 percent as investors bet Trump ends the Iran war faster.