RB Markets · The desk · Wednesday 4 November 2026

Wall Street marked down data center landlords after Texas elected a moratorium advocate

The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.44% on Wednesday and the S&P 500 gained 1.58%, CNBC reported, after a decisive Democratic win in the midterms. Companies that rent out AI computing capacity went the other way. CoreWeave closed down 9.90% at $48.42, Finviz data show. IREN lost 11.22% and Nebius 6.69%, according to StockAnalysis. Investors feared a big Democratic win could mean more restrictions on data centers nationwide, CNBC reported.

Texas carried the weight. Gina Hinojosa unseated Governor Greg Abbott, The Crypto Basic reported. She had called for a moratorium on new data centers until lawmakers set protections on electricity costs and water supplies. Wells Fargo estimates that Texas holds 27% of planned US data center gigawatts, 24/7 Wall St. reported.

The price counted a slower buildout as a loss to the landlords of compute, while the broad index rose. Until Tuesday it had kept the household side of that bargain off the ledger: the power bills and the water that communities are asked to supply. Local resistance entered the price only when it won a governorship.

Oil moved on politics. Brent crude futures settled down 8.7% at $94.62, CNBC reported. A settlement is the exchange's official end-of-day price. Vice President JD Vance had written that "the reason we lost is the war." On Wednesday morning, before the fall, Mitrade described an effective blockade around the Strait of Hormuz affecting roughly 20% of global oil supply. The fall priced a remark in Washington about the war's political cost.

The tape will watch whether the Texas moratorium becomes law, and whether passage through Hormuz moves with the oil price.

Sources

RB Markets is analysis of how value is being measured and mismeasured. It is not investment advice.