01·The Week
Four tech giants report, two sink.
- Alphabet: revenue rose 25% to $127.6bn, but search revenue missed forecasts, CNBC reported.
- Alphabet’s plans: it said 2027 capital spending will “increase significantly”.
- Microsoft: Azure, its cloud business, grew 48%, ahead of the company’s guidance of about 45%.
- Amazon: AWS grew 39%; free cash flow over the past year was an outflow of $42.4bn, which Amazon linked mainly to AI investment.
- Intel: guided fourth-quarter revenue of $15–16bn, below the $16.5bn it made in the third quarter.
02·Markets
Europe up, US tech down.
Week to Fri 30 Oct close. Brent is the January contract.
19.42
VIX
−0.15% wk
+3.25%
Kospi
Week
5.31%
US 30-Yr
−0.6bp wk
$49.10
Silver
−8.59% wk
Equities
| S&P 500 | −0.57% | |
| Nasdaq Composite | −2.00% | |
| Russell 2000 | +1.29% | |
| Stoxx 600 | +1.73% | |
| FTSE 100 | +0.37% | |
| DAX | +2.53% | |
| Nikkei 225 | +0.95% | |
| Hang Seng | +0.87% | |
| TASI (Saudi) | +2.33% | |
| ADX (Abu Dhabi) | −1.27% | |
| DFM (Dubai) | +0.64% |
Commodities
| Brent (Jan) | $113.43 | +1.55% |
| WTI (Dec) | $104.12 | +0.82% |
| Gold | $3,898.90 | −2.72% |
Rates
| US 10-Yr | 4.93% | −5.9bp |
FX
| EUR/USD | 1.1166 | −0.35% |
Digital Assets
| Bitcoin | $77,645 | −3.95% |
03·Chart of the Week
Results week, uneven damage.
Stocks · one week · close Fri 30 Oct
Tech reporters against the indices.
Change over the week to Friday, %.
Stoxx 600+1.73%
Microsoft−0.5%
S&P 500−0.57%
Nasdaq−2%
Amazon−3.08%
Alphabet−12.61%
Intel−24.38%
Source: Yahoo Finance closing prices, Fri 23 Oct to Fri 30 Oct. Alphabet: class A shares.
04·What Else Mattered
Central banks split, oil’s strong month.
Central banks
Three hold, Canada hikes
- The Fed: held its range at 3.75–4% on Wednesday; Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack dissented, wanting a quarter-point rise.
- December: markets price about an 80% chance of a Fed hike, Reuters reported.
- The ECB: held at 2.5%; Christine Lagarde will step down in February, about nine months early.
- Bank of Japan: held at 1.25% and raised its 2027 inflation outlook, Nikkei Asia reported.
- Bank of Canada: raised rates to 2.5%, its first rise since 2023, Dow Jones reported.
Federal Reserve · Reuters · Euronews · Nikkei Asia · Dow Jones
US economy
Growth strong, prices sticky
- GDP: the economy grew at a 3.4% annual rate in the third quarter, the first estimate showed.
- Inflation: the PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred gauge, rose 3.6% in the year to September; 3.1% excluding food and energy.
StockTitan (BEA) · TradingKey · 29 Oct
Commodities
Oil’s month, OPEC+ meets
- October: front-month Brent, the nearest contract, rose 13.6% over the month, Reuters reported, its fourth monthly gain.
- OPEC+: producers agreed in principle to keep December output targets steady at a meeting on Sunday, three sources told Reuters.
Reuters · 30–31 Oct
Companies
A listing and a breach
- Anthropic: filed to list its shares on Monday, reporting first-half revenue of $16.3bn.
- Binance: the crypto exchange estimated a security breach’s impact at about $6.3bn, ABC News reported.
Yahoo Finance · ABC News · 26–30 Oct
05·MENA Focus
Talks move to Doha, strikes still possible.
- Qatar’s draft: a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that the seven-day plan Qatari mediators delivered was “unacceptable”.
- Doha: an Iranian delegation travelled to Qatar for talks, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.
- Araghchi: Iran’s foreign minister called US outreach, made in a letter from JD Vance, “a positive step”.
- Washington: Marco Rubio said Trump had not decided whether to resume strikes.
- Hormuz: a small boat attached explosives to a tanker on Thursday; maritime sources told Reuters it was the war’s first known successful limpet-mine strike in the strait.
- Saudi Arabia: the Houthis said a missile hit the Ras Tanura refinery on Tuesday; Saudi authorities did not confirm it.
- Israel’s election: on a partial count, Netanyahu’s bloc was projected at 53 seats to the opposition’s 48, short of a majority, Al-Monitor reported.
- Dubai Investments: seeks $543m in the UAE’s first IPO this year, pricing on 4 November, The National reported.
Want to discuss what this means for your portfolio?
Book a meeting with a Vault Wealth advisor for personalised guidance.
06·The Week Ahead
Three things to watch.
Three things to watch
- 01Tue 3 NovThe US midterm elections
- 02This weekThe Doha talks on reopening Hormuz
- 03Fri 6 NovThe October US jobs report
If If the vote is settled quickly, Doha produces a Hormuz deal and hiring picks up
Oil eases; shares recover.
If If the results are clear, talks continue without a deal and hiring is modest
Focus stays on earnings.
If If results are disputed, talks stall and strikes resume, and hiring weakens
Oil rises and shares fall.
This week’s calendar
Monday
2 Nov
- DataUS ISM manufacturing survey (Oct)
- EarningsApple, after the US close
Tuesday
3 Nov
- VoteUS midterm elections
- Central bankReserve Bank of Australia decision
- EarningsAMD
Wednesday
4 Nov
- DataUS ISM services survey; eurozone flash inflation (Oct)
- Central bankRiksbank and Brazil’s central bank decide
- EarningsQualcomm and Arm
Thursday
5 Nov
- Central bankBank of England and Norges Bank decisions
Friday
6 Nov
- DataUS jobs report (Oct); University of Michigan sentiment (Nov)