Election Day in the US dominated the hour, and the sharpest thread was the fight over federal involvement at the polls. The Justice Department has sent monitors to all 50 states for the first time, a record 1,000 observers ^1,2. A federal judge declined the NAACP's request to block them but ordered that they be unarmed, out of uniform and not sworn officers ³. On the eve of the vote the Supreme Court, with no dissents, rejected the administration's request that California sequester mail ballots tied to 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters ^4,5. Separately, Judge Tanya Chutkan barred DOJ and DHS from sending further alleged-noncitizen voter lists to states ⁴. DOJ said 63 people have been charged with illegal voting or fraudulent registration ⁶. The stakes are large: spending is projected near $12 billion, a record, with a record 57.5 million early or mail votes ⁷. Harvard polling gives Democrats a 96% chance of taking the House . Goldman expects Trump to raise tariffs if Democrats gain leverage, and federal funding lapses December 11 ⁸. Overhanging the vote is the Iran war. US forces struck Iranian targets on Qeshm Island after Iran fired on a US aircraft ⁹, even as Trump pushed for an off-ramp ¹⁰. Qatar says both sides are reviewing a draft proposal to end the war ¹¹. Iran's IRGC says three tankers hit mines and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz ¹². A nearly 40% surge in US gasoline prices, driven by the Middle East conflict, is pressuring Republicans ¹³. Oil climbed premarket as traders weighed doubts about a peace deal ¹⁴, with Brent at $110.45 versus $65.41 a year earlier ¹⁵. Markets were also shaky on AI. The Nasdaq 100 has entered a technical correction , and hedge funds were hit in October's AI rout ¹⁶. Copper fell below $14,000 amid a tech selloff ¹⁷, and Palantir's outlook signals slowing growth ¹⁸. Memory chip prices have doubled in a year as makers prioritize data centers ¹⁹, and Apple's margin forecast disappointed amid a global memory crisis ²⁰. Meanwhile Apollo lent a record $114 billion, partly into AI financing ²¹. Elsewhere, Russian attacks across Ukraine killed 38 and wounded 158, including strikes on Dnipro hospitals ²². The toll from a guided bomb on Komyshuvakha reached 31 ²³. A child's death in New York was the state's first measles death in more than three decades ²⁴.