Taking Stock of a Noisy November

AI-related equities should remain attractive despite political uncertainty because the technology is creating durable demand across power, healthcare, commodities, and manufacturing.

• The Democratic midterm gains triggered a selloff in data-center and infrastructure stocks, but the article argues the reaction is misplaced; the S&P 500’s forward 12-month EPS estimate reached $413 on November 2, 2026.
• U.S. data centers are expected to need 97 GW of additional power by 2028, against 21 GW from projects under construction and 19 GW of available grid capacity, leaving a projected 57 GW shortfall.
• With grid connections taking years, onsite generation is becoming important; a SemiAnalysis estimate suggests that a $5 billion, 1 GW power plant could support roughly $100 billion of annual AI inference revenue, excluding other data-center costs.
• Healthcare could capture AI growth through autonomous laboratories and scientific tools: Danaher plans an AI-powered lab, while the White House announced $2.4 billion of industry commitments, including $1 billion from NVIDIA.
• AI and reshoring should increase demand for copper, steel, energy, equipment, robotics, machine vision, and motion control; energy and materials represented only 5.1% of the S&P 500 at the end of September, while Anthropic estimates physical tasks account for 46% of U.S. working time.

Takeaway: Investors should look beyond hyperscalers toward power infrastructure, healthcare tools, resource producers, and industrial automation, while recognizing that data-center approvals and construction may slow in the near term.