Trump rings in changes while AI giants chase more funding

New Zealand markets start the week with a positive lead from Wall Street as tech stocks perked up on Friday after a brutal week, while US President Donald Trump started making changes with a new chief of staff after the Republicans’ rout in the midterm elections.

Berkshire Hathaway reported a decline in September quarter earnings over the weekend in a US reporting season that’s delivered mixed results relative to hyped expectations, with upcoming reports from neocloud operators CoreWeave and Nebius under the microscope amid the growing focus on artificial intelligence infrastructure.

OpenAI secured US$11 billion in a funding round, while Anthropic is still said to be pressing ahead with its initial public offering this month even after the Democrats secured control of the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

And Australian futures are pointing to a positive start to the trading day across the Tasman, with ANZ Group Holdings due to report its annual result, while New Zealand’s general election over the weekend delivered a finely balanced outcome, leaving special votes later this month to determine whether the National-led coalition holds on to its narrow lead.

Change in the air

US President Trump appointed long-time aide Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles in the first major shake-up since the Democrats won control of Congress in last week’s midterm elections, and offered Ultimate Fighting Championship chief executive Dana White the job of press secretary.

Democrats have said they plan to aggressively investigate Trump’s administration, with war secretary Pete Hegseth an impeachment target.

Stocks on Wall Street bounced on Friday after a savage week for AI-linked companies as the Democrats’ opposition to expansive data centre investment cooled investors’ appetite for the sector. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% on Friday, while the S&P 500 increased 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, with Salesforce, Nike and Cisco Systems at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Berkshire Hathaway reported a decline in third-quarter operating profit, with weaker insurance underwriting results. The investment firm bought back US$9.6 billion of stock in the quarter, adding to its US$4.8 billion of buybacks earlier this year.

About 88% of the S&P 500 have reported quarterly earnings, of which 84% have beaten analysts’ forecasts, according to FactSet analysis. Earnings growth was running above 25% for the third straight quarter.

The reporting season continues this week with local favourite Rocket Lab due after the closing bell on Monday in the US, while neocloud CoreWeave’s Tuesday result and Nebius’s report on Friday key focuses as investors weigh potential regulation for the AI sector.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported OpenAI raised US$11 billion at a valuation of US$1.25 trillion, and could raise a further US$9 billion in the rest of the round. The ChatGPT developer had earlier been reported to be seeking US$30 billion at a US$1.4 trillion valuation.

Still on

The Financial Times reported Anthropic was pushing ahead with plans to go public, targeting a US$1.5 trillion valuation and raising between US$80 billion and US$100 billion. Separately, the FT reported the Claude developer reached a US$3.4 billion deal with OnePWR Solutions for gas-fired engines to power data centres.

US labour data on Friday showed the world’s biggest economy added 165,000 jobs last month, beating economists’ forecasts. Wage growth was more modest, suggesting the strong labour market wasn’t creating significant wage pressure.

“For the Federal Reserve, the data reinforces the view that the economy remains on a solid footing, but we should not conflate a resilient labour market with an overheating one,” Salt Funds Management economist Bevan Graham said in a note. “On balance, the absence of significant wage pressures suggests the Fed can afford to be patient, with the outlook for inflation, rather than the strength of employment alone, determining its next move.”

The kiwi dollar traded at 55.46 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 55.64 cents on Friday, and was at 80.80 Australian cents from 80.67 cents.

Australian futures are pointing to a 0.2% gain for the S&P/ASX 200 index when trading opens across the Tasman, following Wall Street’s subdued recovery on Friday.

Dual-listed lender ANZ is due to report today, following Westpac Banking Corp and National Australia Bank last week, which both showed the impact of Australia’s softening housing market.

No local data are scheduled for today, with local investors digesting the outcome of the general election, which gave the incumbent National-led coalition an easier path to govern after the provisional results. The final results are due on Nov 27.

Salt’s Graham said special votes historically favoured parties on the left, and several closely contested electorate seats could change hands.

“With the current parliamentary arithmetic so finely balanced, even relatively small changes could alter the outcome,” Graham said. “It could therefore be some time before the final shape of New Zealand’s next government becomes clear.”

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Ari Gardinier on Unsplash.