Goldman Sachs said Democrats’ larger-than-expected midterm election victories could bring significant policy changes for artificial intelligence and data centers, particularly through state and local regulation. Jenny Grimberg said Democrats could use their new House and Senate majorities to seek concessions at upcoming fiscal deadlines, including limits on the Iran war, reversals of select tariffs and recently enacted spending cuts. The bank expects tighter permitting, water and power rules, reduced tax incentives and temporary moratoria to weigh on some U.S. utilities and independent power producers that supply data centers, although it expects the issue to fade and any moratoria to be short-lived. The election also drove weakness in chip, data-center, neocloud, utility, equipment and AI server shares, while large technology companies gained. UBS said pauses could put about 30% of expected 2028 data-center additions at risk. Goldman raised its average 2027 Brent forecast to $88 a barrel from $80 because of Middle East supply risks, and now expects weaker growth and higher inflation in Europe next year. It also expects S&P 500 earnings growth to slow from nearly 30% this year to 18% in 2027.