It has been one of the most consequential weeks of the year for global politics and markets. A decisive result in the United States has rippled out to energy prices, the war in the Gulf and the technology sector, while the war in Ukraine grinds on through the approach of winter. Here is what is making waves around the world, based on the wire services and news outlets listed in the sources below.
Democrats win Congress in a sharp rebuke of Trump
Voters handed control of Congress to the Democratic Party in Tuesday's US midterm elections. According to projections from NBC News, CNN and the Associated Press, Democrats won the House and flipped the Senate, ending the Republican hold on the presidency, the House and the Senate that began after the 2024 election. NBC's tracker showed Democrats on 54 Senate seats, a gain of seven, while CNN projected more than 250 House seats, with over 30 Republican incumbents ousted. Some races were still being finalised earlier in the week, so final tallies may shift slightly.
Among the headline results, Jon Ossoff held his Georgia Senate seat, Roy Cooper flipped North Carolina from the Republicans, and James Talarico was projected to flip a Senate seat in Texas, according to CNBC's live coverage. President Donald Trump said he would accept the results and was prepared to work with Democrats, the Irish Times reported. The new Congress is expected to take office in early January, handing Democrats the power to block many nominees and to open investigations into the administration.
Oil posts its steepest weekly drop in decades
The biggest immediate market reaction came in energy. Oil prices that had been surging for weeks reversed sharply after the election. Reuters reported that Brent crude fell 8 percent on Wednesday alone to settle at two-month lows, and on Friday January Brent futures traded near $98.55 a barrel, with US West Texas Intermediate around $91. Brent was on course for a weekly decline of about 16 percent, its steepest percentage drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and, in absolute terms, the biggest in LSEG data going back to 1988. WTI was set for a fall of roughly 13 percent.
Traders are betting that Republican losses will push Washington toward de-escalation with Iran, which could free up more crude from the Gulf. Rystad Energy analyst Janiv Shah said the market is loosening toward oversupply, while spot premiums for Middle Eastern crude have returned to pre-war levels. Even so, Brent remains up almost 70 percent this year according to Bloomberg, and the risk has not gone away: a Greek ship manager said a seafarer was killed in a suspected missile attack on an oil products tanker in the Gulf on 5 November, and UKMTO data shows attacks on oil-carrying ships running at close to record pace. Our oil price surge coverage tracks how the shock has fed through to fuel and freight.
| Market | Move | Level / detail |
|---|---|---|
| Brent crude | About -16% on the week | About $98.55 on Friday |
| WTI crude | About -13% on the week | About $91 on Friday |
| Nasdaq Composite | -5.5% on Thursday | Closed at 24,315 |
| S&P 500 | -4.4% on Thursday | Closed at 7,353 |
| Dow Jones | -3.4% on Thursday | Closed at 51,523 |
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Iran: strikes played down, diplomacy back on the table
The war with Iran, which began on 28 February when the United States and Israel attacked Iranian targets, is now in its ninth month. After the vote, Trump told the Financial Times that the US appears to be getting what it wants and that there may be no reason to strike, though he added that American forces remain ready if needed. Bloomberg reported that he has no immediate plans for new attacks, but analysts quoted by the outlet warned that the weeks before the new Congress is sworn in carry a high risk of escalation either way.
Tehran also struck a more flexible tone. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his government has been given wider authority by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to pursue talks, potentially including issues once seen as non-negotiable, while parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a senior negotiator, said Americans had voted against the war. Talks mediated by Qatar and Pakistan have made little progress in recent weeks: Iran wants the US to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Washington is seeking concessions on Iran's nuclear programme. Gulf Arab states, which absorbed thousands of Iranian drone and missile attacks earlier in the war, are urging more time for diplomacy. Rising fuel costs, including record US diesel prices and gasoline above $4 a gallon, are widely seen as having turned many Americans against the conflict. For earlier context, see our world news archive.
More headlines from around the world
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Oil prices surge as Gulf shipping risks deepen
How the Hormuz crisis drove crude higher and what it means for fuel costs.
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Local developments, economy and policy from across the country.
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Technology news
AI, software and devices: the latest from the tech world.
Tech rout: Nasdaq in correction, Nvidia's worst day since DeepSeek
Wall Street suffered a brutal Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5 percent to 24,315, its biggest one-day percentage drop since the April 2025 tariff selloff, leaving it more than 10 percent below its 6 October record and in correction territory, according to Kiplinger. The S&P 500 dropped 4.4 percent, the Dow lost 3.4 percent and the VIX volatility index hit its highest level since March. Nvidia sank 9.3 percent, its worst day since the DeepSeek shock in January 2025, while memory chipmakers Micron and Sandisk fell 17.5 percent and 22.3 percent respectively. Qualcomm dropped 9.5 percent after a cautious outlook, while AppLovin bucked the trend with a 31 percent jump on strong earnings.
Analysts pointed to two drivers: stretched valuations, and worries that Democratic leadership in Washington and in several states could slow the build-out of AI data centres. It comes after the Federal Reserve held interest rates on 28 October with two officials dissenting in favour of a hike, according to Reuters and InvestmentNews, leaving the central bank under pressure on inflation just as growth stocks wobble. Our tech news section follows the AI sector closely.
Ukraine: Russia escalates strikes before new talks
On the battlefield there is no sign of a pause. Zelensky said Russian aerial bombs hit a school used as an aid centre in Komyshuvakha on 2 November, killing at least 26 people, according to a France24-sourced brief. Ukrainian energy firm DTEK said Russia carried out 78 strikes on energy infrastructure in three days, and rolling power cuts were scheduled in some regions on 6 November as winter approaches.
On Saturday, Zelensky accused Russia of ramping up strikes to pressure Ukraine and its allies ahead of US-brokered talks scheduled for next week, Anadolu reported. The Kremlin has said the talks, involving the US, Russia and Ukraine, would take place in Abu Dhabi after 4 November, depending on conditions on the battlefield, while Zelensky has floated 10 November as a possible date. Casualty and strike figures here come from Ukrainian officials and have not been independently verified.
What to watch next
- Iran: whether Qatari and Pakistani mediation produces a deal, and whether Washington resumes strikes before the new Congress takes office in January.
- Oil: whether Brent holds below $100 or tanker attacks in the Gulf push it back up; follow our oil price coverage.
- Markets: whether the tech correction deepens, and what the Fed signals at its next meeting in December.
- Ukraine: the date and venue of the trilateral talks, expected in Abu Dhabi.
- Washington: early signals from the incoming Democratic Congress on oversight and war powers.
Readers in South Africa can follow the local fallout in our South Africa news section.