Hour in Review — 2026-11-02 22:00 UTC 26 sources
The eve of the US midterms and a possible Iran settlement dominated the hour. With all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats in play, Republicans defend a 218-214 House majority and a 53-47 Senate majority 1. Trump closed his campaign at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, spending the first 15 minutes of the speech on its renovation 2, unveiling the results of the $14m makeover 3, and calling Democratic candidates the most dangerous ever 4. He also acknowledged that sitting presidents do not usually win midterms 5. The fight over the vote itself sharpened. The administration asked the Supreme Court to sideline 20,000 disputed California mail ballots 6, while Newsom warned the DOJ will try to seize ballots and pledged to prosecute interference 7. Vance claimed without evidence that Somalis were coordinating to flood the polls 8. Separately, former Chicago FBI chief Douglas DePodesta sued the Justice Department, alleging he was pressured to investigate Trump's opponents and forced out after the Broadview Six case collapsed 9,10. On Iran, Tehran offered to open the Strait of Hormuz on conditions including sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets 11, and Vance said the two sides have made progress toward a settlement 12. Oil fell by nearly $10 as Trump signaled a swift deal 13, and Treasury yields extended their slide as the drop eased fears of inflation-driven Fed hikes 14. Equities did not follow. A chip rout offset the oil relief and pushed the S&P 500 lower 15, and US tech stocks entered correction territory on AI concerns and midterm election risks 16. That backdrop frames the hour's biggest corporate disclosure. Anthropic's amended S-1 shows $895.4 billion in spending commitments, mostly for compute, and a $104 billion net loss for nine months, alongside revenue up about 1,200 percent 17. Prospective IPO investors are now pushing for a valuation closer to $1.5 trillion after the tech selloff 18, even as Robinhood describes a 'food fight' among brokers for retail allocations 19. Elsewhere in tech, Palantir's commercial revenue of $984 million edged past its $953 million government revenue 20, and Apple beat revenue expectations in CEO John Ternus' first report 21. Infrastructure attacks formed a second thread. Hackers took more than $6 billion from Binance 22, and North Korea rejected US claims it was responsible 23. The EU called cyberattacks on supermarket freezer systems a deliberate attempt to disrupt the bloc's food supply 24. Also notable: Washington reported a third US human H5 bird flu death since the virus reached dairy cows 25, and Trump is dropping South Africa, AGOA's largest beneficiary, and Rwanda from the program's duty-free eligibility 26.
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