Good morning and welcome to First FT. In today's newsletter: Voters sour on Trump's economy: FT poll Japanese groups stage $21bn deal spree to secure gas supplies The race to keep AI under control What caused the $6.3bn Binance hack? More than two-thirds of US voters are unhappy with President Donald Trump's handling of inflation and affordability -- a striking condemnation of the White House and Republicans on the eve of Tuesday's midterm elections. Nearly 70 per cent of voters disapprove of how Trump has handled price rises and the cost of living, according to the final nationwide pre-election survey conducted by the FT and Focaldata.
Among independents, the percentage was higher, at 77 per cent. Asked what they most wanted to see after the midterms, most respondents picked 'lower prices and a stronger economy' as their top choice. Skyrocketing fuel prices and inflation linked to Trump's unpopular Iran war are weighing on voters in the final hours before the election, which will determine whether Democrats can wrest control of Congress.
An FT analysis of federal data shows the average price of a gallon of petrol during Trump's second term is set to top $3.46 a gallon, beating the previous average high set under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden. 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. Read more findings from the FT's final midterm survey.
The races to watch: Will a Democratic 'blue wave' sweep Congress away from Republicans -- and render the president a lame duck? Here are the battleground Senate races we're following closely. Trump's imperial presidency faces a reality check: At a time of high living costs, many voters have grown weary of the president's grandiose embellishments of the US capital, American power and his own legacy. The meaning of the midterms: This week will tell us many important things about the future of American politics, writes Rana Foroohar.
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. Here's what else we're keeping tabs on today: Economic data: South Korea and Vietnam report October inflation data. Hong Kong publishes advance third-quarter GDP figures.
Monetary policy: Australia's central bank is expected to raise interest rates for a fifth time this year. (Bloomberg) Five more top stories: 1. Apple reported solid growth in the third quarter dented by weaker than expected sales in China in its first earnings under chief executive John Ternus. The iPhone maker said its revenue rose to $114.5bn for the quarter to the end of September, better than Wall Street expectations of $113.4bn. 2.
Japanese companies have embarked on a $21bn global deal spree to strengthen their grip on gas supplies following the market turmoil triggered by conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. The investments since 2023 have been concentrated on shale resources in the US Gulf Coast, according to energy data analytics firm Enverus. 3. Anthropic's spending on computing power is rising faster than revenues, with the group revealing yesterday that it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure in the coming years in a bid to continue its breakneck growth.
Prospective investors in the group's upcoming IPO are seeking evidence that Anthropic can turn a profit, even as it spends heavily to fend off competition from Open AI and others. More AI news: US semiconductor group Marvell has agreed to buy data centre component maker Lumentum in ...
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing