📈Daily Summary: Falling Oil Prices and Anthropic Prospectus Drive Markets

📈 Stock Market & Companies

• The filing of an IPO prospectus by Anthropic fueled sentiment on Wall Street ahead of its planned stock market debut on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ANT, potentially scheduled for the week starting November 16.
• The prospectus revealed a surge in first-half revenue to $16.3 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, accompanied however by a massive net loss of $80.7 billion.
• The company expects a huge increase in capital expenditure, pledging up to $114.5 billion for cloud infrastructure with Google and $120.5 billion for computing power using Nvidia processors, while simultaneously facing a call from management to provide explanations before the FTC.
• Elon Musk's SpaceX finalized a $40 billion GPU financing deal with Apollo, under which the fund will purchase GPU clusters and lease them to the company with a one-year payback period.
• Elon Musk also warned that smaller neocloud entities could soon go bankrupt due to a lack of liquidity and being cut off from debt financing.
• The billionaire also informed that the deployment of direct-to-cell Starlink network will take two to three years, while US lawmakers investigate the causes of the recent satellite connectivity outage.
• Microsoft announced a voluntary departure program covering nearly 60,000 employees in the United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. The reduction aims to cut costs and reorganize the workforce for AI development, with the program excluding data center staff and select sales departments.
• Tech giant Meta intends to raise up to $95 billion through issuing common and preferred stock as well as an at-the-market equity offering program to fund the tech race. As part of this offering, key infrastructure suppliers including Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom will acquire company shares worth up to $5 billion.
• Telecommunications company Verizon reported solid third-quarter results with earnings per share reaching $1.31 and raised its full-year earnings outlook for the third consecutive time. The company also expanded its partnership worth over $2 billion with Amazon's AWS unit, though its stock faced selling pressure due to lower-than-expected total operating revenues.
• A new smartphone model from Apple triggered a wave of reports regarding internal screen cracking in the iPhone Duo variant, prompting the manufacturer to direct affected customers to replacements under the AppleCare program. Additionally, the Siri AI assistant remains blocked in the European Union due to regulatory hurdles, while the company rolls out support for additional global languages.
• Shares of Portuguese company Galp collapsed after merger talks with Spanish firm Moeve officially fell through. The breakdown of negotiations dashed hopes of creating an integrated Iberian refining giant, disappointing investors who were counting on cost synergies.
• As of 7:44 PM CET, the S&P 500 gains 0.38%, Nasdaq 100 rises 0.74%, CAC 40 advances 0.73%, DOW is up 0.04%, while Apple shares fall 1.34% during the session, Nvidia gains 2.4%, Tesla surges 6.03%, Microsoft rises 1.51%, Amazon gains 0.34%, Meta declines 1.75%, and Alphabet dips 0.83% in session trading.

🌍 Macroeconomics & Global Economy

• The return to power of left-wing President Lula da Silva after a dramatic victory over Flávio Bolsonaro shook the market in Brazil. Tokyo-listed units of a Brazilian ETF plummeted nearly 15%, as investors panicked and sold off assets tied to the Brazilian market over fiscal discipline concerns. Later, the BraComp contract opened down 20%. Sugar and soybeans also suffered steep losses.
• Four-party peace talks began in Iran's capital involving delegations from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan to negotiate de-escalation in the Middle East. Unofficial reports indicate that the Saudi defense minister may have offered $1 billion to Houthi fighters in Yemen in exchange for a permanent halt to strikes on extraction facilities, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian traveled to Moscow for gas talks.
• French government bonds breathed a sigh of relief following the decision by rating agency Moody's to maintain France's credit rating at A3, avoiding a painful debt downgrade. In response, the 10-year bond yield dropped by 7 bps, narrowing the risk premium relative to German debt, despite growing student protests in response to which President Emmanuel Macron pledged firm government action.
• The US Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index saw an unexpected rise in October to 13.40 points, significantly topping expectations of 8.8 points. Meanwhile, credit agency Fitch warned that persistent broad price pressures in the US increase the likelihood of entrenched inflation, placing Federal Reserve policymakers in a tough spot.
• The UK government under John Healey is drafting a plan to raise the minimum wage by 3.9% to around £13.20 per hour, opting to slow the pace of pay increases for younger workers.

🛢️ Commodities & Energy

• Crude oil prices gave back some of their recent gains, responding with declines to diplomatic efforts to defuse the Persian Gulf dispute and reports of a possible deal with the Houthi movement.
• European natural gas prices are rising sharply toward the key psychological threshold of 100 EUR/MWh over supply stability fears ahead of the upcoming heating season.
• Meanwhile in the US, November natural gas futures settled on the NYMEX at $2.6020/MMBtu. The December contract is trading around $3.
• A sharp depreciation of the Brazilian currency following the presidential election led to declines in Arabica coffee, soybean, and sugar futures due to pressure on local producers to boost exports.
• As of 7:44 PM CET, gold rises 0.37%, WTI crude declines 0.17%, Brent crude dips 0.77%, while natural gas gains 1.51%.

💱 Forex & Debt Markets

• The US Department of the Treasury auctioned $69 billion in 2-year notes at a yield of 4.708%, recording steady demand with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.59. Additionally, treasury officials announced a buyback operation of long-term debt worth up to $6 billion to support banking sector liquidity.
• The US dollar strengthened against major currencies, supported by investor caution ahead of upcoming Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan meetings. Market participants are also keeping a close eye on the approaching US midterm elections, which traditionally trigger volatility spikes in dollar pairs.
• As of 7:44 PM, USD/JPY gains 0.34%, while the Dollar Index rises 0.13%.

🪙 Cryptocurrencies

• Sentiment in the digital asset market remains balanced, as indicated by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index holding at a neutral score of 50.
• Payward, owner of the Kraken exchange, has been designated as the first entity regulated by the CFTC to implement the HIP-3 standard on the Hyperliquid platform, paving the way for certified perpetual contracts in the US.
• As of 7:44 PM, Bitcoin trades around 79,972, down 0.37%.