Global markets came under selling pressure due to artificial intelligence concerns

While the midterm election results in the USA continue to have an impact on asset prices, it is discussed that the Democrats, who gained the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, may implement regulations that could limit artificial intelligence investments in the country.

Concerns that the progress in artificial intelligence technologies, which has become one of the important driving forces of global economic growth in recent years, may slow down and existing investments may be disrupted, led to an acceleration of sales in the markets, led by technology stocks. The sales pressure that started in the USA soon spread throughout the world.

The support of other members to the messages of Yassamin Ansari, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from the state of Arizona, advocating stricter regulations for the artificial intelligence sector and a temporary pause on the development of advanced artificial intelligence technologies, increased the regulatory risks in this field.

The stagnation of data center investments due to the limitation of the development of artificial intelligence has caused existing question marks regarding the profitability and continuity of demand in the semiconductor industry to become evident. In the USA, the New York Stock Exchange came under sales pressure led by technology and exhibited its worst daily performance since April 2025. The selling pressure, especially concentrated in the shares of chip manufacturers and data center companies, deepened. As a result, the total market value of global stock markets melted by approximately 4 trillion dollars in one day.

Shares of chip manufacturers Marvell Technology lost 16.43 percent, Broadcom's shares lost 10.43 percent, Intel's shares lost 10.33 percent and Nvidia's shares lost 9.26 percent.

Qualcomm's shares also fell by 9.49 percent, as the company's financial results exceeded market expectations, but its profit outlook for the next period was below expectations. The shares of Applied Digital, one of the data center operators, fell by 14.69 percent and the shares of Core Scientific fell by 10.82 percent.

On the other hand, while the risks of conflict on the US-Iran line caused geopolitical concerns to rise again, oil prices approached the 100 dollar level. The barrel price of January delivery Brent oil is at 99.9 dollars, with an increase of 1.7 percent.

The rise in oil prices was driven by ongoing uncertainties regarding the conflicts between Iran and the USA and the risks to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hawkish attitude from Fed officials

While the increase in energy costs fueled ongoing inflation fears, statements from US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials indicated that the bank was closer to an interest rate increase.

In an interview with CNBC, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin stated that he thinks the Fed will need to raise interest rates further, but he is not yet sure about the size of the increase and at what pace.

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack also said interest rates should be at a restrictive level to reduce inflation to the bank's target. "I think monetary policy will need to take a tight stance to bring inflation back to 2 percent in a timely manner," Hammack said. he said.

On the macroeconomic data side, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time in the USA decreased by 6 thousand people compared to the previous week, falling to 189 thousand in the week ending October 31, and was below market expectations. Non-agricultural labor productivity in the USA increased by 3.6 percent in the third quarter of the year, above expectations.

Analysts stated that the non-agricultural employment data to be announced today in the country will provide clearer information about the labor market, and noted that the forecasts for the Fed may change depending on the data.

In light of these developments, the selling pressure in the stock markets increased the tendency towards bonds. While the bond markets in the USA followed a buying-oriented trend, yesterday the US 10-year bond interest rate decreased by 5 basis points to 4.84 percent. The US 10-year bond yield is currently flat.

While the dollar index increased by 0.2 percent to 101.7, the increasing need for liquidity in the markets due to declines in stock markets suppressed the ounce price of gold. An ounce of gold is trading at $4,046, down 1.3 percent.

With these developments, the S&P 500 index in the New York Stock Exchange fell by 4.36 percent, the Nasdaq index by 5.52 percent and the Dow Jones index by 3.44 percent. All three major indexes recorded their worst daily performance since April 2025, when US President Donald Trump announced "Liberation Day" tariffs.

Index futures contracts in the USA started the day mixed.

Artificial intelligence-induced selling pressure was effective in European stock markets

European stock markets were closed, except for France, due to technology and artificial intelligence concerns. Uncertainties after the US midterm elections weakened the risk appetite in the regional markets.

Accordingly, while the leading technology stocks in the region fell sharply, the shares of ASML, which has an important role in the production of high-tech chips, lost 6.6 percent of their value.

On the other hand, the Bank of England (BoE) increased the policy rate by 25 basis points to 4 percent, in line with market expectations. In the statement made by the BoE, it was stated that the war in the Middle East is in its ninth month and that global energy prices continue to remain high.

In the statement, it was stated that the increase in energy prices has direct effects and this increase will continue to be reflected in the energy bills of companies and households.

In his remarks after the decision, BoE Governor Andrew Bailey noted that it seems that this will not be the last interest rate increase unless the US/Israel-Iran War ends.

With these developments, the FTSE 100 index in England decreased by 0.43 percent, the DAX 40 index in Germany decreased by 0.43 percent and the FTSE MIB 30 index in Italy decreased by 1.03 percent, while the CAC 40 index in France increased by 0.34 percent.

Asian stock markets remain negative with current risks

The selling pressure led by the technology and semiconductor sectors in the USA and Europe also moved to the Asian side on the new trading day. While a sales-oriented trend was observed in Asian stock markets, losses in the semiconductor-dominated Kospi index in South Korea reached 8 percent.

While investors were worried about artificial intelligence regulations after the Democrats' election victory, China's 10-year bond interest fell to 1.58 percent, approaching historical lows.

Analysts noted that the perception of risk in the already shaky AI sector has increased due to political turmoil in the United States and concerns about the return on companies' huge investments in AI-related infrastructure.

With these developments, near the closing, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan decreased by 6.2 percent, the Kospi index in South Korea decreased by 5.2 percent, the Shanghai composite index in China decreased by 1.1 percent and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased by 1.3 percent.

Şimşek: "179 thousand 449 people received the full net investment amount"

BIST 100 index at Borsa Istanbul, which followed a sales-oriented trend yesterday, finished the day at 11,333.27 points, losing 1.26 percent of its value.

The December futures contract based on the BIST 30 index in the Borsa Istanbul Futures and Options Market (VIOP) fell by 0.95 percent in the evening session last night compared to the normal session closing.

On the other hand, Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek made a presentation about the 2027 budgets of his Ministry and its affiliated organizations at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Planning and Budget Commission. Şimşek stated that 130.2 billion lira has been paid to 614 thousand 874 accounts in 108 funds and 420 thousand 31 unique people to date, and said, "179 thousand 449 people have received the entire net investment amount." he said.

Dollar/TL ends yesterday at 50.0480, and today, at the opening of the interbank market, it is traded at 50.1560, 0.2 percent above the previous closing.

Analysts stated that today the treasury cash balance will be followed domestically, and abroad, an intense data agenda will be followed, especially industrial production in Germany, retail sales in the Eurozone and non-agricultural employment data in the USA, and noted that technically, 11,200 and 11,100 points in the BIST 100 index are support and 11,500 and 11,600 points are resistance.

The data to follow in the markets today are as follows:

10.00 Germany, September industrial production

13.00 Eurozone, September retail sales

16.30 USA, October non-farm employment

16.30 USA, October unemployment rate

16.30 USA, October annual average hourly earnings

17.30 Türkiye, October treasury cash balance

18.00 USA, University of Michigan consumer confidence index for November

18.00 USA, Michigan inflation expectation for November