Oil prices steady on possible war pullback after midterms

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are mixed following the midterm elections that saw Democrats take control of Congress. A Democratic-led Congress could push President Donald Trump to pull back on the Iran war, and that hurt stocks of companies that make weapons and other equipment for the U.S. military. Lockheed Martin sank 6.9%; Northrop Grumman fell 4.5% and General Dynamics lost 2.6%. The possibility of pressure to pull back on the war also sent the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, plunging 8.7% to $94.62. Early Thursday, Brent crude rebounded, gaining 0.4% to $95.04 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude fell 0.3% to $87.86 per barrel. AI chip companies fall again while AppLovin and Tapestry rally after reporting stronger profits than analysts expected. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% on Nov. 5, coming off its best day in three months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 265 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.1%. AI-related stocks worldwide felt pressure from worries that the Nov. 3 U.S. elections could mean moratoriums for data centers in some areas, and South Korea’s Kopi index tumbled 5.3%. In other markets, though, the initial knee-jerk reaction to the midterms faded. In early European trading, the German DAX rose 0.6% to 26,598.03, while the CAC 40 in Paris surged 1.2% to 8,276.55. The United Kingdom's FTSE 100 gained 1% to 10,935.08. U.S. stocks usually climb following midterms, regardless of who wins. But technology shares have taken a hit as investors mull the potential impact on the boom in AI from a Congress…

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