Daily Buzz: 5 November 2026

Democrats Sweep US Midterm Elections, Rebuking Trump Policies

US voters repudiated President Trump, the Iran War, the high cost of living and the expansion of AI data centers as Democrats swept to control of both the House of Representatives and Senate in midterm elections. They also pushed back on big campaign spending by tech companies. Elon Musk pumped US$224 million into Republican races in Texas, a major data-center state, only to have his bet backfire when Democrats unexpectedly seized a Senate seat and the governorship in the traditionally Republican state. Democrats penetrated other Republican strongholds, including Senate victories in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa and Kansas, which elected its first Democratic senator in 94 years. A veteran Republican senator in Maine was ousted, a Democrat won the Ohio Senate seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president, and the first Muslim and gay candidates won Senate seats for Democrats. Final results in several states hang in the balance, including a surprise Democratic performance in the deep red state of Mississippi, where the candidates are tied, pending count of provisional ballots.

Trump said during the campaign that voters should pretend he was on the ballot. They did, rebuking his policies and perhaps even his behavior in office. The president said he would not challenge election results and admitted the Iran war may have been a factor in sweeping Republican losses, though he expressed no regrets over his decision to go to war. He blamed the poor quality of Republican candidates, including several he hand-picked. The outcome will complicate his last two years in office, though he is expected to limit Democratic control by governing with executive orders and using his veto power over legislation.

In global reaction to the election outcome, China signaled business as usual, with foreign minister spokesperson Mao Ning saying the elections are a "domestic affair." Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, no friend of Trump's, said Americans voted against hatred, sexism, climate denial and the privileges of the elites. Iran said Americans voted no against war. Russian said the vote will have no impact on its war with Ukraine.

China Stocks Rally on Tech Surge, Wall Street Welcome Election Outcome

China stock markets rallied on Wednesday, led by tech shares, as investor sentiment was buoyed by state-backed buying, new government support measures and rebounds in global markets. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.2 percent, with the Nasdaq-style STAR Market jumping 10 percent. The Shenzhen Component Index gained 4.2 percent, and the tech-heavy ChiNext Index climbed 6.4 percent. Volume across both Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges reached 2 trillion yuan (US$310 billion), up 334.3 billion yuan from the previous session. More than 4,600 stocks advanced, with over 100 hitting their daily trading limits. Semiconductor stocks led gainers, with Naura Technology and Tongfu Microelectronics among those hitting daily limits. Robotics, AI hardware, gold and pharmaceutical stocks also rallied.

Chinese chip giants ChangXin Technology (CXMT) and Hygon Information Technologyannounced expanded share buyback plans following the strong market gains. Memory maker CXMT announced it is scaling up its share repurchase budget from an initial range of up to 2 billion yuan to as high as 5 billion yuan. The company's shares surged 13.6 percent. AI chip designer Hygon Information announced plans to repurchase up to 800 million yuan of its shares. Hygon closed 10.3 percent higher.

On Wall Street, investors greeted the Democratic sweep of House and Senate control in mid-term elections with strong rallies, amid hopes that the election's anti-war overtones would lead to an end of the Iran War and hopes that voter pushback against AI data centers would slow massive debt-laden AI investments by the biggest tech companies. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.4 percent, and the broad S&P 500 index closed up 1.6 percent. Oil prices fell below US$100 a barrel, closing New York trading at US$94.60 a barrel.

International Import Expo Opens in Shanghai

The 9th China International Import Expo opens today in Shanghai, with technology a major exhibition focus. Qualcomm is conducting the first public demonstration of a 3GPP-standard 6G terminal prototype developed alongside domestic partners China Mobile and ZTE. Foreign tech firms noted that their presence reflects deep integration with local supply chains despite global geopolitical challenges.

Top Business

Apple Intelligence Officially Available in China, Powered by Alibaba's Qwen

Chinese mainland users can now leverage Qwen's text and image generation directly inside Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence. Initial tests show seamless AI handling on iPhones, with complex queries instantly syncing and continuing in Alibaba's Qwen app. Apple is seeking to catch up with domestic rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi, which have already launched mobile AI services.

US Treasury Shifts Focus to Shorter-Dated Debt Auctions

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday altered its language regarding future debt auction sizes in a shift that analysts expect will pave the way for larger sales of short- and intermediate-dated debt and possible cuts to longer-dated auctions. The move follows a bruising bond selloff last month that pushed Treasury yields to their highest levels since 2002. Auctions of 20- and 30-year bonds, which have struggled at times to attract demand, are candidates for cuts. Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds fell to 4.884 percent, and the yield on the 30-year bond declined to 5.273 percent.

China Firms Push AI Agent Connectivity, Standards

Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi are among 20 entities jointly issuing an industry self-regulatory initiative to promote the development and adoption of AI agents. The initiative calls for building infrastructure to enable agents across different platforms to discover, connect and collaborate with one another. It also calls for ensuring that AI agents operate in compliance with regulations and public norms, while rejecting use of exploitative algorithms and illicit activities. The organizations also pledged to accelerate the deployment of AI agents across industries by developing low-cost tools and applications tailored to real-world business needs.

Economy & Markets

China Central Bank Relending Rate Cut Takes Effect

The People's Bank of China officially lowered the interest rate on its special relending facility for stock buybacks and major shareholder stake increases by 25 basis points to 1 percent, with a 100 percent support ratio. Commercial banks submitted over 200 billion yuan (US$30 billion) in initial relending quota applications. The central bank affirmed it will fully meet ongoing demand to lower corporate financing costs, support capital structure management and promote stability across capital markets.

Hong Kong Financial Summit Highlights Cross-Border Wealth

Speakers at the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit in Hong Kong lauded the city's role in facilitating investment in Chinese technology sectors and cross-border trade infrastructure, which is leading to higher asset allocations. Ben Way, global head of Macquarie Asset Management, said the city's capital markets position serve both as a gateway for equity into funds and a global connector. Jeffrey Perlman, chief executive of Warburg Pincus, said his business continues to find compelling companies headquartered in the region, and Lei Zhang, chairman of Hillhouse Investment, highlighted China's massive advantages in talent and resources.

China Microdrama Industry Gains Global Recognition

China's booming microdrama industry is gaining international recognition, with the Chinese pinyin term duanju increasingly used overseas as a distinctive label for the short-form storytelling format. The term, meaning "microdrama" or "mobile drama," has been added to an overseas online encyclopedia, with page views surging. Chinese companies account for about 90 percent of the international microdrama market outside China, according to industry data. AI is further accelerating the industry's overseas expansion. ByteDance's Seedance video-generation tool, which supports short-drama production, has seen its overseas revenue increase nearly fivefold in the past six months.

Corporate

Semight Taps Securities Firms to Lead Hong Kong IPO

Semight Instruments, a Suzhou-based semiconductor test equipment manufacturer, has selected Citic Securities, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to help prepare a Hong Kong listing next year, seeking to raise over US$1 billion, Bloomberg reported. The company, already listed on Shanghai's STAR Market, said it wants to deepen its global development strategies, enhance its international brand image, strengthen offshore financing, optimize its capital structure and improve its core competency. Its shares have surged about 1,400 percent since they listed in Shanghai.

Oracle Reportedly Cancels Tencent Chip-Leasing Deal

Oracle has canceled a chip leasing contract, reportedly valued at US$7 billion, with China's Tencent under pressure from the Trump administration, the Financial Times reported. US officials approached Oracle to raise concerns about the Tencent deal, the newspaper said, and Tencent also received visits from top officials in Guangdong Province, where the group is based, who asked the company to support domestic Chinese chips instead, the report said.

Carmaker Xiaomi Runs Humanoid Robots Through 8-Hour Factory Shift

Xiaomi ran two of its humanoid robots through a full eight-hour shift at its electric vehicle factory, reporting that they detected and corrected anomalies independently. The carmaker called the test an early validation of factory deployment of robots. It also tested its Xiaomi Robotics-1 vision-language-action model on household chores at an employee residence, which completed more than 50 tasks across three rooms.

BrainCo Researches Non-Drug Approach to Weight Control

Neurotechnology developer BrainCo confirmed early-stage laboratory research into a wearable brain-computer interface aimed at appetite suppression as a non-pharmacological alternative to traditional GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. The company said the development remains in the initial laboratory validation phase, declining to provide detailed timelines or commercialization schedules.

Tianshan Material Under Investigation by China Securities Regulators

Tianshan Material, a leading Chinese building materials and cement manufacturer, said it has been formally placed under investigation by securities regulators amid allegations of disclosure violations related bad debt provisions by a subsidiary. In other enforcement proceedings by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Jiangsu Leili, an automotive electric motor manufacturer, and its subsidiary Dingzhi Technology received notices over suspected violations of information-disclosure and share-reduction rules.

Sony Upgrades China Hero PlayStation Project

Sony announced a major upgrade to its China Hero Project, promising US$1 million in investment for each newly selected game. Originally launched in 2016, the program has selected 19 domestic titles to date for its PlayStation, with 11 successfully reaching commercial launch in global markets. As part of its Phase 4 expansion, Sony is also introducing new partners to broaden its international support network and provide localized technical, publishing, and marketing resources.

Realman Unveils W1 Robot with Fleet Dispatching

Robotics startup Realman debuted its W1 robot, which can autonomously manage the full logistics workflow -from task reception and tote retrieval to AI computer vision recognition and object placement. Its integrated intelligent dispatching system supports coordinated fleet operations of up to 50 units, enabling dynamic task allocation, path planning and autonomous transfer.