News roundup 13 November 2026: SpaceX–Tesla merger talks, Trump on Iran and Cuba, Nvidia in Congress

A look at the most important political and economic news of the past few hours that could move markets.

Geopolitics

• Trump on Iran: the US president said he may use military force against Iran if necessary. He also said the US has fought Iran at a rapid pace over the past three weeks.
• IRGC claim: Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted a US early-warning radar in Bahrain after an attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, Iran. The claim has not been independently verified.
• Cuba: Trump said he wants to settle the Cuba issue before leaving office and will consider a one-week military operation against the country.
• China espionage: Trump said spying cuts both ways and that the US is also active in this area. US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department has not yet reached a firm conclusion on whether the person at the centre of the case spied for China.

Russia–Ukraine talks

• US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Dublin to meet President Zelensky.
• Kushner said a Russia–Ukraine deal "will take time" and that the US is working towards the largest prisoner exchange of the war. Both sides have agreed that European partners will join the next round of talks, he said.
• Zelensky said more meetings will follow and he hopes to make progress on de-escalation and a ceasefire.

Companies and technology

• SpaceX and Tesla: reports say merger talks between the two companies are progressing, with advisers reviewing the terms. A deal could be announced before December, though it may slip to 2027.
• Nvidia: the chair of the Senate Banking Committee has asked Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify before Congress. Republican lawmakers have again called on Huang to answer questions about the espionage allegations. According to The New York Times, Trump urged Huang to fight to keep his position. Japan's economy minister Akazawa said Nvidia is vital to Japan's AI chip industry.
• Microsoft: the company said part of the servers hit by the recent outage are back in service and the system has remained stable. However, some fixes did not work as expected, and work to restore the remaining servers continues.
• Nscale: the cloud infrastructure company said it signed several multibillion-dollar contracts with AI customers in the second half of 2026. It will need about $19–21 billion of total investment to complete the data centre projects contracted as of 30 September.
• Google in South Korea: the government said it may suspend or revoke Google's map data export licence if serious violations are found.

Crypto

• The US Justice Department announced action to disrupt North Korean crypto theft and plans to seize about $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from the Binance exchange.

Central banks and FX

• Japan: Finance Minister Katayama warned of one-sided, rapid currency moves and said Japan will engage with the US Treasury. Winter utility subsidies will be brought forward.
• Federal Reserve: John Williams said the economy is resilient but inflation is stubbornly high and the Fed still has work to do.

US and Asian politics

• Chuck Schumer said he has the support to stay on as Senate Democratic leader. Meanwhile, Senator Chris Van Hollen announced his bid to lead Senate Democrats.
• According to Xinhua, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the APEC leaders' summit.

Why it matters for markets

Rising geopolitical tension over Iran and Cuba usually lifts demand for safe havens such as gold and can make oil more volatile. Japan's FX warning raises the risk of a sharp reversal in USD/JPY, while the Fed's hawkish tone supports the dollar.

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Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, The New York Times, US Department of Justice, Xinhua, Microsoft