Last Week's Recap
1. U.S. Market - Strong Week Caps a Solid October
Indexes: U.S. stocks extended their rally for a third consecutive week, with all major indexes notching new highs amid upbeat corporate results.
October Recap: Wall Street logged a sixth straight monthly gain, with the $Dow Jones(.DJI)$ posted its longest winning streak since 2018, while the $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ surged ~4.7%, marking seven consecutive monthly advances — its best run since 2018 — powered by Big Tech earnings. The $S&P 500(.SPX)$ also rose about 2.3% for the month.
FOMC: The Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 bps and announced plans to end quantitative tightening by restarting balance-sheet reinvestments on Dec. 1. Chair Jerome Powell emphasized a data-dependent approach, keeping December “live” but non-committal. Roughly $15 billion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities have been rolling off the Fed’s balance sheet monthly.
Earnings Season: Overall results remained robust despite weakness in a few mega-caps such as $Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$ . As of last week, 64% of S&P 500 companies had reported; 83% beat EPS estimates and 79% topped revenue forecasts, producing blended Q3 EPS growth of ~10.7%, according to FactSet.
2. U.S. Sectors & Stocks — AI Drives Diverging Fortunes
$NVIDIA(NVDA)$ : Surged to a $5T market cap after CEO Jensen Huang unveiled new AI partnerships, data center and quantum projects, and stronger-than-expected GPU orders. Huang said AI is in a “virtuous cycle” of reinvestment and innovation.
$Apple(AAPL)$ : Posted a beat-and-raise quarter with record iPhone and services sales. EPS +13%, revenue +8% to $102.5B, and guided +10–12% revenue growth for the holiday quarter. Shares hit new highs before pullback.
$Alphabet(GOOGL)$ : Hit a record high after a strong Q3 beat. EPS +35% to $2.87, revenue +16% to $102.35B with accelerating growth across segments — search ads +14%, YouTube +15%, and cloud +33.5%, while 2025 capex was raised, mostly for AI infrastructure.
$Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$ : Tumbled 11% on fresh capex worries despite record sales. Revenue +26% to $51.24B, EPS $7.25 (ex-tax gain), both beating estimates. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta will “aggressively front-load” AI data center investments, pushing total capex to $71B this year, with even higher spending in 2026.
$Amazon.com(AMZN)$ : Soared after AWS growth reaccelerated >20%, offsetting cloud-share concerns. EPS +33%, revenue +13% to $180.2B, aided by AI infrastructure demand and the Anthropic stake. Capex set to hit $125B in 2025, mostly for cloud and data centers.
$Microsoft(MSFT)$ : Topped fiscal Q1 expectations with EPS +23%, revenue +18% to $77.7B, driven by AI cloud services. It reaffirmed strong AI-related capex and finalized an OpenAI stake valued at $135B.
$Netflix(NFLX)$ : planned a 10-for-1 stock split. The split will bring shares priced around $1,100 to roughly $110.
$Seagate Technology PLC(STX)$ and $Western Digital(WDC)$ : rallied on earnings beats as AI storage demand soared. Seagate EPS +65%, sales +21% to $2.63B; WDC EPS +137%, sales +27% to $2.82B. Both stocks have tripled YTD.
$Qualcomm(QCOM)$ : Jumped after announcing entry into AI data-center chips, launching its first rack system in 2026 with Saudi Humain as an anchor client.
$Roku Inc(ROKU)$ : Gained 6.1% after swinging to a profit in the third quarter on a 17% jump in platform revenue and raising full-year guidance.
$Reddit(RDDT)$ : Rose 7.5% after the social media company topped analysts' expectations for both third-quarter earnings and revenue. Revenue in the period jumped 68% and ad revenue soared 74%.
$Cloudflare, Inc.(NET)$ : Added 14% after the IT security company beat Wall Street's earnings targets, reporting an adjusted profit of 27 cents a share as revenue climbed 31% from a year earlier to $562 million.
$Boeing(BA)$ : Posted a wider-than-expected loss due to a $4.9B 777X charge, pushing the jet’s debut to 2027. The shares tumbled 9%.
$Caterpillar(CAT)$ : Rose 10% to new high, after beating on both EPS and revenue (+9.5% to $17.6B) as power-equipment demand from data centers strengthened.
$ServiceNow(NOW)$ : EPS +29%, revenue +22% to $3.4B, both above consensus. Announced 5-for-1 stock split and raised Q4 subscription guidance. The shares swung.
$SoFi Technologies Inc.(SOFI)$ : EPS +120% to $0.11, revenue +38% to $950M; added 905K members to reach 12.6M, and raised FY guidance.
$PayPal(PYPL)$ : EPS +12%, revenue +7% to $8.4B; Announced first-ever dividend and OpenAI e-commerce partnership.
$Eli Lilly(LLY)$ : Delivered a standout print, driven by Mounjaro and Zepbound, which brought in $10.1B combined. Raised FY sales guidance by $2.25B.
3. Hong Kong Market - October Ends in The First Red Since April
$HSI(HSI)$ : The Hang Seng Index fell 0.97% for the week to 25,906.65, pressured by mixed earnings and global uncertainty. Despite a brief midweek rebound, the benchmark logged its first monthly decline since April, sliding 3.53% in October. The Hang Seng Tech Index (HSTECH) dropped 8.6% as tech names faced profit-taking and renewed macro headwinds.
$BYD COMPANY-100(01211)$ : Declined 3.3% amid investor worries over margin compression and cash flow, despite posting record October sales of 441,706 vehicles.
$XIAOMI-W(01810)$ : Fell 5.9% after signaling a weaker third-quarter profit outlook, with softness in both its smartphone and EV businesses weighing on sentiment.
4. Singapore Market - STI Rebounded, Ends Month Higher
$Solidion Technology Inc.(STI)$ : The Straits Times Index edged up this week as sentiment improved on signs of U.S.–China trade de-escalation, closing October with a 3% monthly gain.
Labor Market: Singapore’s employment market expanded by 24,800 jobs (excluding domestic workers) in Q3, though authorities warned wage growth may moderate going forward.
$China Aviation(G92.SI)$ : Soared 13% after announcing its parent company CNAF will undergo a corporate restructuring with another conglomerate, sparking optimism about future strategic synergies.
5. Australian Market - ASX 200 Slipped, Gold Miners Shined
$S&P/ASX 200(XJO.AU)$ : The ASX 200 declined 1.5% for the week but was broadly flat for October, as weak domestic data and global slowdown concerns curbed risk appetite.
Sectors: Gold miners outperformed after bullion prices rebounded, while consumer discretionary names dragged the index lower. Investors remained cautious ahead of key inflation and retail figures.
The Week Ahead
1. Macro Factors - Shutdown Drags, November Optimism Builds
ADP report: The U.S. government shutdown has now stretched into its fifth week, delaying key economic releases including the October jobs report, which was due Friday. The ADP private payrolls report, due Wednesday, will be the week’s main labor-market update.
Shutdown Impact: Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, estimates the shutdown is trimming 0.13 percentage points off GDP per week, implying a roughly 0.5-point drag for a month-long closure. Still, most economists view the disruption as temporary and reversible once operations resume.
Seasonality: Historically, November is the strongest month for the S&P 500, averaging a +1.8% return since 1950, per the Stock Trader’s Almanac. Even in post-election years, it remains a top performer with +1.6% average gains. The index now sits just shy of the 7,000 mark, well above the 6,555 year-end consensus target.
Tariffs: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Nov. 5 regarding President Donald Trump’s tariffs, after lower courts ruled portions of the levies illegal. Trump has said he may attend the session himself.
2. Earnings
Earnings season is more than halfway through now, and the results thus far have been good. The S&P 500 is now expected to post a blended growth rate of more than 10% in the third quarter, according to FactSet. Among the biggest contributors to that have been financials, information technology and utilities.
In the week ahead, more AI companies that could give insight into whether the names deserve their high valuations. $Palantir Technologies Inc.(PLTR)$, $Advanced Micro Devices(AMD)$ , $SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC(SMCI)$ , and $Constellation Energy Corp(CEG)$ all set to report quarterly results. Dozens of other names in the S&P 500 are also expected to report.
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