Global stocks plunge amid AI slowdown fears after Democrats’ midterm triumph

European stock markets have fallen sharply as a rout in US tech stocks spread across the Atlantic, after the Democrats’ midterms victory sparked fears of a slowdown in the AI industry.

A sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday was followed by sharp falls in Asian stocks markets on Friday morning. The investor sentiment then reached London, with the FTSE 100 index, which tracks blue-chip shares listed in London, down 1.5%, or 166 points, at the start of trading to 10,615.

The pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca opened down 2.8%, the biggest faller on the FTSE 100. Other big fallers included IAG, the owner of British Airways and Iberia, which fell 1.5%, after it missed profit forecasts in a trading update, and the miners Antofagasta and Anglo American.

Germany’s Dax index opened down 1.5%, France’s Cac 40 has dropped by 1.2% and Spain’s Ibex is down 1.1%.

Susannah Streeter, the chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: “The tech sell-off has intensified, with the pain of the brutal sell-off on Wall Street carried straight through to Asia and knocking sentiment in Europe.

“Big worries are colliding – the build-out of datacentres looks set to slow, which risks shredding the spending spree underpinning the boom, right at the time that investors have become super nervous about returns on this massive investment.”

On Thursday the Nasdaq share index had its worst day in 19 months after slumping 5.5%.

Chip stocks led the slump, with the memory maker SanDisk tumbling by 22% and the hard drive maker Western Digital falling by 17%. Wall Street’s “fear index”, the Vix, jumped by 61% to its highest levels since the early weeks of the Iran war, in a sign of rising market volatility.

The heavy falls continued in Asia on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index sinking 6% and South Korea’s Kospi index tumbling more than 8% in early trading.

Despite the sharp losses suffered on global stock markets around the world, most indices are still up for the year.

The Nasdaq Composite index, for example, is still up 4.6% since the start of January – even though it is more than 10% below its peak.

The FTSE 100 has gained almost 6.9% in 2026 – but it is now more than 300 points below the record high set in July.