Trump: Midterm election results will "be better than you expect"

Gasoline prices are a key gauge of the cost of living for many Americans, and this year’s election day gas prices have hit a record high. While retail gas prices at the pump have declined in recent days and weeks, data from the American Automobile Association (AAA) shows the national average for regular gasoline stood at $4.15 per gallon as of Tuesday. CNN’s analysis of AAA data dating back to 2000 found this is the highest ever recorded gas price on a U.S. election day, far exceeding the previous record of $3.80 per gallon set in 2022. At that time, U.S. inflation hit a 40-year high during President Joe Biden’s tenure. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump sharply criticized Biden for the record gas prices under his administration, and pledged to bring gas prices down to below $2 per gallon. But in reality, largely due to President Trump’s decision to launch military strikes on Iran, current gas prices are more than $1 per gallon higher than they were on the 2024 election day, when the national average gas price was just $3.10 per gallon. Additionally, the average gas price during Trump’s second term has reached $3.481 per gallon, which is also higher than the $3.471 per gallon average during Biden’s tenure. However, when adjusted for inflation, gas prices do not appear as elevated. After inflation adjustment, the real average U.S. gas price on election day in 2012 exceeded $5 per gallon.

According to data from the BIT Stock Platform, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 4.00% intraday to 10,741.56 points. NVIDIA gained 3.03%, Broadcom 3.90%, Micron 3.62%, Intel 3.28%, AMD 5.81%, Qualcomm 1.28%, TSMC 2.32%, and ASML 2.46%.

Ahead of Election Day, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s core message was: “The polls are wrong.” He maintained the optimistic stance he has held throughout the campaign, stating, “This feels just like 2024 — when we won big, taking the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. That’s exactly the situation now. The polls are wrong.” On Monday evening, Johnson appeared alongside former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin at a campaign rally for Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. He urged voters to cast their ballots, reminding the crowd, “Especially in a competitive race like this, victory often comes down to a razor-thin margin.” Johnson also noted, “In the last election cycle, we won 10 races by margins of 6,000 votes or less.”

Binance co-founder He Yi posted that since the start of 2026, Binance’s security team has detected and blocked a total of 57 suspected North Korea-linked cyber threat incidents. These attacks reflect that state-sponsored attackers continue to target the cryptocurrency industry. The attack methods include fake recruitment interviews, malware disguised as popular development tools, compromised software packages and browser extensions, fake video conferencing applications, and social engineering attacks designed to steal credentials or deploy remote access malware. Binance successfully intercepted many of these attacks, but even a single failure to stop one would have extremely severe consequences, and such incidents should not occur.

Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin has released an update on its security incident, noting that affected assets are currently valued at around $36.3 million, with $12.9 million already frozen and related work ongoing. The platform and its mobile application remain suspended until security is confirmed to be restored. The company stated that customer assets are secure, with balances still recorded in individual accounts. Previously, the exchange had announced it had frozen $11 million in related assets.

According to Iran's Fars News Agency, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Baghaei stated that no new progress has been made in the negotiations. All parties continue to exchange information via mediators as before, while Iran has maintained its highest level of defensive readiness and preparedness to deliver a firm response to any act of aggression. Past experiences have left Iran unable to hold any optimism regarding the sincerity of U.S. diplomatic engagement.