S&P 500 – 6,840.20 (+0.26%)

Dow Jones – 47,562.87 (+0.09%)

NASDAQ – 23,724.96 (+0.61%)

• Tech Leads S&P 500 Earnings Growth: Large-cap technology companies continue to drive S&P 500 profits this earnings season, with third-quarter earnings growth tracking near 10% year over year.
• Treasury Yields Tick Higher: Yields on the 10-year Treasury edged up to roughly 4.09% after briefly dipping below 4%.
• Strong Earnings Beat Expectations: Roughly 63% of S&P 500 companies have reported, with results surpassing forecasts—earnings growth of about 10% versus expectations closer to 7%.
• Fed Lowers Rates: The Federal Reserve cut the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 3.75–4.00%, though two members dissented from the decision.
• Consumer Confidence Falls: Consumer Confidence declined 1.0 point to 94.6 in October, marking a six-month low and below the expected 95.0.
• Housing Prices Rise: The FHFA Housing Price Index rose 0.4% in August, bringing the year-over-year gain to 2.3%.
• Atlanta Fed Q3 GDPNow Holds Steady: The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow “nowcast” for Q3 GDP remains unchanged at +3.9%.
• China Eases Export Controls: The White House announced that China will suspend additional export controls on rare earth metals and end investigations targeting U.S. companies in the semiconductor supply chain.
• Apple Shares Climb: Apple shares rose after slightly beating EPS expectations, delivering revenue in line with estimates, and offering stronger-than-expected guidance for Q1. iPhone sales were slightly below forecasts but up from last year, with improved margins, boosted by stronger demand and hopes for improved U.S.-China relations.
• Amazon Surges on AWS Growth: Amazon shares jumped as EPS of $1.95 topped $1.58 estimates and revenue of $180.2B beat forecasts. AWS grew 20%, its fastest pace in 11 quarters, easing concerns about competition from Alphabet and Microsoft.
• Nvidia and Chip Stocks React: Nvidia and other semiconductor stocks fell Thursday after trade talks between Trump and China concluded, though Nvidia gained 2% pre-market on a partnership with South Korea to expand AI infrastructure.
• Marvell Technology Rises: Marvell Technology climbed following Amazon’s positive comments about its semiconductors and AI products used in Amazon data centers.
• Western Digital Surges: Western Digital shares jumped after reporting fiscal Q1 profits doubled and revenue rose 27%, fueled by AI-driven data growth.
• Meta Platforms Rebounds: Meta shares rose Friday after an 11% drop Thursday. The prior sell-off reflected concerns overturning heavy AI spending into future profits, with multiple analyst downgrades.
• Reddit Beats Expectations: Reddit shares increased after beating earnings estimates and reporting 19% growth in daily active users, surpassing analyst forecasts.
• Bitcoin and Crypto Stocks Rally: Bitcoin rebounded amid renewed risk-on sentiment, while crypto-linked stocks like Coinbase and MicroStrategy climbed after strong earnings.
• Netflix Gains on Stock Split: Netflix shares rose following the announcement of a 10-for-1 stock split.
• Oil Companies Expand Output: Major oil companies are moving ahead with production expansions, shrugging off oversupply concerns after OPEC+ unwind and disappointing Q3 earnings.

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"SNAP is not charity. It is a tool that helps people put food on the table so they can be productive, healthy, and contribute to the economy." 

- Tom Vilsack

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Notable Stocks

• Coinbase (COIN)
• Amazon (AMZN)
• Apple (AAPL)
• Reddit (RDDT)
• Nvidia (NVDA)

Weekly Notables

Amazon Stock Hits Record High as AWS Growth Fuels Strong Q3 Earnings

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) surged to a record high on Friday after posting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, powered by robust growth in its cloud division, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The tech giant reported earnings per share of $1.95 on revenue of $180.2 billion, surpassing Wall Street estimates of $1.58 per share on $177.8 billion in revenue. AWS delivered $33.01 billion in sales, topping forecasts of $32.4 billion. CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon plans to remain “very aggressive in investing in capacity” to meet strong demand, noting that adoption of its Trainium2 AI chip has ballooned into a multibillion-dollar business, up 150% quarter over quarter. The company also launched its Project Rainier AI cluster, featuring 500,000 Trainium2 chips.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Operating Profit Soars 34% as Buffett Boosts Record Cash Pile to $381 Billion

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a major rebound in third-quarter operating earnings, even as the legendary investor held off on stock buybacks and let the company’s cash reserves climb to an unprecedented $381.6 billion. Operating profit from Berkshire’s core businesses — spanning insurance, railroads, and energy — jumped 34% year-over-year to $13.49 billion, fueled by a more than 200% surge in insurance underwriting income to $2.37 billion.

Earnings Spotlight: Pfizer (PFE)

Wall Street analysts forecast that Pfizer (PFE) will report quarterly earnings of $0.66 per share in its upcoming release, pointing to a year-over-year decline of 37.7%. It is anticipated that revenues will amount to $16.6 billion, exhibiting a decrease of 6.2% compared to the year-ago quarter. Over the past 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been adjusted upward by 0.1% to its current level. This demonstrates the covering analysts' collective reassessment of their initial projections during this period.

What to Watch Ahead:

Economic:

• Monday (Nov. 3): Construction Spending, ISM Manufacturing Index
• Tuesday (Nov. 4): Factory Orders, Trade Balance
• Wednesday (Nov. 5): ADP Employment Change, EIA Crude Oil Inventories, ISM Services, MBA Mortgage Applications Index
• Thursday (Nov. 6): Continuing Claims, EIA Natural Gas Inventories, Initial Claims, Productivity-Preliminary, Unit Labor Costs, Wholesale Inventories
• Friday (Nov. 7): Average Workweek, Average Hourly Earnings, Consumer Credit, Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment

Earnings:

• Monday (Nov. 3): Ares Management Corp. (ARES), BioNTech SE (BNTX), BWX Technologies Inc. (BWXT), Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Williams Companies Inc. (WMB)
• Tuesday (Nov. 4): Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Amgen Inc. (AMGN), Arista Networks Inc. (ANET), Coupang Inc. (CPNG), Eaton Corporation PLC (ETN), Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Shopify Inc. (SHOP), Spotify Technology SA (SPOT), Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER)
• Wednesday (Nov. 5): AppLovin Corp. (APP), Arm Holding PLC (ARM), Cameco Corp. (CCJ), Cencora Inc. (COR), DoorDash Inc. (DASH), Humana Inc. (HUM), Johnson Controls International PLC (JCI), McDonald's Corp. (MCD), Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD)
• Thursday (Nov. 6): Airbnb Inc. (ABNB), AstraZeneca PLC (AZN), ConocoPhillips (COP), Cummins Inc. (CMI), EOG Resources Inc. (EOG), Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE), Trade Desk Inc. (TTD), TransDigm Group Inc. (TDG), Vistra Corp. (VST)
• Friday (Nov. 7): Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG), Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), Enbridge Inc. (ENB), Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN), KKR & Co. (KKR), Ubiquiti Inc. (UI), YPF SA (YPF)