Tonight’s Highlights | U.S. Stocks Surge Pre-Market, Fully Pricing Fed Cuts in October and December
On Friday pre-market, buoyed by the only official U.S. economic data released in October delivering positive stimulus, the three major U.S. index futures surged in early trading.
As of this report, Nasdaq 100 futures (2512 contract) rose 0.90%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.62%, and Dow futures climbed 0.47%. Spot gold continued its tug-of-war between bulls and bears, briefly dipping to $4,043 per ounce intraday but rebounding slightly after the U.S. CPI data. Even so, spot gold is still down nearly 4% this week.
(Spot Gold Weekly Chart, Source: TradingView)
Data released just before this report showed U.S. September core CPI rose 3.0% YoY, below the expected 3.1%; MoM growth was 0.2%, under the forecast of 0.3%. Many pre-release analyses noted that regardless of the outcome, this inflation data would not alter next week’s Fed rate cut. However, the lower-than-expected figures were enough to spark a wave of bullish sentiment.
According to the CME “FedWatch” tool, traders have not only fully priced in a Fed rate cut next week but also a 25-basis-point cut in December.
(Market fully expects 50bps of Fed cuts across year-end meetings, Source: CME)
The impact of the latest U.S.-EU sanctions on Russian oil continues, with Brent crude oscillating around $66 per barrel intraday.
During the U.S. economic data vacuum, earnings season has played a key role in supporting market sentiment. Barclays noted that with nearly a quarter of reports out, year-over-year EPS growth stands at 4% in Europe and 14% in the U.S.—both beating expectations.
Barclays also warned that the real test comes next week with earnings from mega-cap tech firms. Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta will all report next week.
Other Market News
U.S. Earnings Season Updates
Intel up over 5% pre-market after Q3 results and guidance beat Wall Street expectations. The company also gained $5.2 billion from completing the Altera deal and selling Mobileye shares.
Ford Motor up 3% pre-market as investors shift focus from the Novelis aluminum plant fire and 2025 profit guidance cut to a beat on Q3 results. Ford lowered its 2025 adjusted EBIT guidance to $6-6.5 billion (from $6.5-7.5 billion), reflecting $1.5-2 billion in fire-related headwinds and $1 billion in tariff impacts.
Newmont down nearly 6% pre-market. Despite record gold prices, the miner failed to fully capitalize due to lower output and continued gold price pullback on Friday.
Procter & Gamble up over 3% pre-market on strong beauty product demand and better-than-expected organic sales growth.
JPMorgan to Accept Bitcoin, Ethereum as Loan Collateral
Sources say JPMorgan plans to allow institutional clients to use their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings as loan collateral by year-end. The program will be available globally and rely on third-party custodians to hold the tokens.
SpaceX May Provide Satellite Connectivity for Apple iPhones
Reports indicate SpaceX may supply satellite communication services for Apple’s iPhone. To advance the partnership, SpaceX’s Starlink division is incorporating radio spectrum used by existing iPhone satellite features into its new satellite designs.
IBM Says Key Quantum Algorithm Can Run on Standard AMD Chips
Friday’s latest news reveals a paper to be published Monday showing IBM’s error-correction algorithm—designed to run alongside quantum chips—can operate in real time on AMD-manufactured field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). IBM’s VP of quantum computing, Jay Gambetta, said the work proves the algorithm is not only practical in the real world but can run on an off-the-shelf AMD chip that is “not extremely expensive.”