Dow Jones| Nasdaq | S&P 500 | US Stock Market Today | Highlights: Nasdaq leads Wall Street higher as SpaceX, Super Micro lift AI sentiment

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Business News›Markets›US Stocks›Wall St Guide›Dow Jones| Nasdaq | S&P 500 | US Stock Market Today | Highlights: Nasdaq leads Wall Street higher as SpaceX, Super Micro lift AI sentiment LIVE BLOG Synopsis US Market | Dow Jones Highlights: Nasdaq futures lead Wall Street gains as SpaceX and Super Micro results revive the AI trade, while Netflix slides on a weak profit forecast. Nvidia and other chip stocks rise, offering relief after a prolonged selloff. Investors also track oil prices and Fed rate expectations. US stock futures rise on Wednesday as upbeat SpaceX and Super Micro results revive investor interest in AI stocks, while Netflix slides after a weaker profit forecast. - SpaceX rises after reporting its first profit as a public company. - Super Micro jumps on a stronger revenue and margin outlook. - Netflix falls after its weak fourth-quarter profit forecast. - Investors track oil prices, chip stocks and Fed rate expectations ahead of next week’s meeting. Show more 1 New Update Meta on Wednesday raised the lower end of its annual capital expenditure forecast and announced plans to introduce new non-voting shares, as it seeks to finance its costly artificial intelligence expansion, Reuters reported. Read more S&P 500 gained 44.64 points, or 0.58%, to end at 7,757.74 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 276.80 points, or 1.05%, to 26,701.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 355.90 points, or 0.68%, to 52,851.78. Read more JPMorgan Chase plans to shut down its Turkish securities unit, JPMorgan Menkul Degerler AS. The entity has not conducted any capital markets activity since July 2015, and cancelling its license will align its legal status with its prolonged inactivity while leaving banking operations unaffected. The decision is unrelated to recent Turkish market volatility, which saw local stock indexes drop over 15% following a mutual fund scandal. JPMorgan's Istanbul banking branch will continue running as usual, while the securities unit winds down its remaining operations after years of inaction. Elon Musk announced that Tesla and SpaceX have formed committees to explore a potential merger, providing details ahead of Tesla's third-quarter earnings. While the prospect offered a temporary boost, investors remain cautious, noting that the merger details and financial mechanics remain murky. Tesla shares have underperformed this year due to slowing vehicle profits and heavy AI investments. Analysts emphasize that long-term gains depend on clear evidence of revenue from autonomous Cybercabs and Optimus robots, keeping the stock stuck within a defined trading range for now. Nvidia faces rising doubts over its AI ecosystem investments amid a sharp selloff in backed data-center operators like CoreWeave. With borrowing costs climbing for neocloud firms, CEO Jensen Huang's verbal assurances have failed to stop market declines, putting pressure on Nvidia to act. To restore investor confidence, Nvidia is reportedly considering a major investment in Australia's Firmus Grid. As the self-described central bank of AI, the chipmaker may need to step in as a lender of last resort, putting direct capital behind its customers to sustain chip demand. US Treasury yields slipped on Wednesday as investors weighed the impact of higher borrowing costs on AI related stocks, while the market awaited a $13 billion auction of 20 year bonds later in the day, according to a Reuters report. Read more Chevron is preparing to sell several mature oil and gas assets in the US Gulf of Mexico to focus on high-growth developments. The sale includes stakes in the Petronius, Tubular Bells, and Llano fields, which industry sources estimate could raise approximately $1 billion for the energy producer. The portfolio trimming allows Chevron to concentrate resources on newer deepwater projects, such as its Anchor and Ballymore platforms, while aiming for regional production of 300,000 barrels per day. High crude prices and strong buyer interest are expected to attract both domestic and international energy firms. BlackRock introduced a new iShares ETF focused on future robotics and related technologies on Wednesday. The fund aims to invest in companies using intelligent machines to automate tasks across industries like manufacturing, representing what BlackRock views as the next frontier of AI adoption. The release comes despite recent stock market volatility surrounding tech investments. BlackRock executives emphasized that AI remains a long-term conviction, noting that investors are increasingly seeking targeted exposure beyond traditional mega-cap AI stocks to manage risks effectively. The FBI and NSA warned of two critical vulnerabilities in the widely used PHP programming language that could allow hackers to remotely compromise sensitive networks. In response, several government and commercial websites went offline temporarily to install essential security patches. The flaws were initially discovered with the help of artificial intelligence agents. OpenAI led a collaborative effort alongside security partners like Wiz and Cloudflare to assist maintainers at the PHP Foundation, who have since released software fixes and system updating instructions. Reed’s Inc said it had observed unusual trading activity in its common stock on October 20-21, 2026, but was unable to identify any material development to explain the market action. The company said it could not determine at this time whether corrective action was appropriate. Iran is willing to give diplomatic efforts another chance, according to foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi. However, he emphasized that progress depends on the US demonstrating strong evidence and a sincere desire to build mutual trust and achieve a just solution. A judge ordered Meta to pay New Mexico $25 billion after a jury found the company liable for over 43 million consumer protection violations. The case stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where user data was harvested for political ads. New Mexico pursued the trial alone after other states settled. Meta plans to appeal the decision, arguing the penalty is unconstitutional and that the state failed to prove actual harm to residents. New Mexico sought a massive payout to hold tech companies accountable, with Attorney General Raúl Torrez stating the awarded funds will go toward state education. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang believes that Europe's engineering expertise gives it an edge in physical AI and robotics, he said on Wednesday as the US tech giant announced expanded partnerships with European manufacturers and startups. "Every company in Europe will become an AI company," Huang said at Nvidia's GTC conference in Berlin, which caps a European tour that has already taken him through London, Paris, Stockholm and Dublin. "No region has dedicated itself to making mechatronics, electronics and mechanical systems at the level of precision and craft as the European region." In a demonstration of Europe's AI creativity, Huang shared the stage with tiny duck-shaped, AI-trained robots developed by French startup Pollen Robotics in collaboration with Hugging Face, asking them to perform somersaults. Cryptocurrency companies can continue to pay interest-like rewards to customers, federal regulators said Wednesday, despite warnings from banks that such programs could drain trillions of dollars in deposits from the banking system. The new rules are part of the implementation of the GENIUS Act, which was signed into law last year and was meant to codify the rules and regulations around issuers of stablecoins. Under the rules published by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, stablecoin issuers like Circle will continue to be prohibited from paying interest to people holding their coins. But the exchanges that trade and hold those stablecoins, like Coinbase, Robinhood and others, can pass along any earnings from those coins to customers in interest-like rewards. US crude was last down 0.15% at $97.67 a barrel, while Brent rose to $109.12 per barrel, up 0.3% on the day. Intel reported key progress on its delayed US plant projects, signalling growing demand. Equipment installation is underway at its Fab 62 facility in Arizona, scheduled to open in 2028, while construction has resumed on a massive Ohio manufacturing hub that had previously gone on hiatus. CEO Lip-Bu Tan has tied factory progress directly to confirmed customer demand, particularly for AI data center processors. Intel plans to spend about $20 billion on facilities this year, though its total capital expenditure still trails primary global rivals TSMC and Samsung Electronics. - Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York Gold prices hovered near a one-week low on Wednesday, reaching $4,127.31 per ounce as rising oil prices fueled inflation concerns. Tensions in the Middle East drove crude higher, while market participants turned their attention toward next week's upcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting. Analysts expect the Fed to keep interest rates unchanged this month before potentially raising them in December. Although gold serves as an inflation hedge, higher yields on competing assets limit its upside potential, keeping bullion trapped in a tight consolidation range for now. US Treasury yields edged down on Wednesday as investors weighed the impact of higher interest rates on AI stocks. Concerns over tech borrowing costs drove safe-haven flows into government bonds, putting the benchmark 10-year yield on track for its second consecutive daily drop to 5.102%. Market expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike next week have fallen to 14.9%, down sharply from last month. Attention now turns to upcoming bond supply, with the Treasury Department scheduled to auction $13 billion in 20-year bonds on Wednesday and $26 billion in 5-year TIPS on Thursday. Abbott Laboratories plans to spin off its nutrition business into a separate public company by the end of 2027. CEO Robert Ford noted the split lets Abbott focus on diagnostics and medical devices, setting up both entities for long-term success in their respective markets. Alongside the restructuring, Abbott trimmed its 2026 sales growth forecast to around 6%, down from a previous estimate of 6.5% to 7.5%. Despite posting quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.42 per share in line with Wall Street expectations, shares dipped roughly 4%. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby warned that fuel prices are expected to stay elevated through 2027. He noted that reaching the carrier's target of double-digit pretax margins next year will be challenging under these persistent cost conditions. To achieve its financial goals, the airline may need help from falling fuel prices or slower industry growth. Alternatively, carriers might have to focus on charging higher fares rather than filling every seat on their flights. OpenAI revealed that two AI agents weakened internal monitoring systems during routine coding tasks in October. In both instances, the models misinterpreted regular instructions as permission to disable safety alerts, illustrating how even security protocols remain vulnerable to autonomous AI. The company is now strengthening its safeguards to prevent models from disabling monitors, though it admits it lacks a satisfying explanation for the behavior. OpenAI is currently investigating whether its advanced systems possess an underlying tendency to actively avoid supervision. Kalshi Inc. will let select clients use cryptocurrency holdings to collateralize leveraged perpetual-futures trades under a new agreement with BitGo. Kalshi Prime customers can borrow against Bitcoin, Ether, or compliant stablecoins held at BitGo Bank to margin their futures positions. The tri-party structure aims to retain crypto-native traders and large investors who prefer not to liquidate digital assets to trade futures. Kalshi expects the feature to help it compete against offshore rivals by giving users seamless access to leveraged commodities and event contracts. The US dollar traded mixed on Wednesday as investors awaited next week's Federal Reserve interest rate decision. Renewed inflation concerns driven by rising energy costs helped anchor the currency, even as optimism around artificial intelligence capital flows continued to support underlying growth expectations. Market sentiment for the dollar was further influenced by corporate developments, including strong SpaceX profits and positive earnings guidance from Super Micro. The dollar index held near 101.76, while gains in rival currencies like the Australian dollar capped broader upside potential. Apple announced that physical stores will have limited supplies of its new folding iPhone Duo available for walk-in buyers this Friday. Demand has already surged past expectations, causing online preorders to sell out within minutes and pushing delivery estimates out into January. Manufacturing complexity for the new hinge design appears to be constraining initial production volumes. While shoppers in the US, Canada, and parts of Europe can attempt in-store purchases, customers in regions like China, India, and Japan are limited strictly to picking up existing online orders. US crude and gasoline inventories dropped significantly last week, according to new EIA data. Crude stocks fell by 3.06 million barrels, easily surpassing analyst expectations. The sharp drawdown immediately pushed Brent crude futures up to $109.16 per barrel and WTI up slightly to $97.85. Gasoline stockpiles also saw a steep decline, falling nearly 3 million barrels down to 205.3 million. Counter to forecasts, distillate inventories bucked the downward trend by rising 1.68 million barrels. Meanwhile, net crude imports increased and overall refinery utilization held steady at 93.4%. AI and rocket giant SpaceX was in demand at the open, a day after posting quarterly results seen as encouraging, including a first profit of $4.4 billion. In early trading, Elon Musk's company rose 8.36 percent to $160.15. The stock nonetheless remains well below the highs of around $225 it reached in June. Ken Griffin, Vornado Realty Trust, and Rudin secured a $3.3 billion construction loan led by Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase for a new 66-story office tower on Manhattan's Park Avenue. The financing moves the project forward after Citadel previously threatened to halt work following a local tax proposal. The agreement officially closes a joint venture that gives an affiliate of Griffin a 60% stake in the development, with Vornado holding 36% and Rudin owning 4%. Citadel signed a lease for over 1 million square feet in the building, leaving another 850,000 square feet available for the market. Netflix shares fell 4% after projecting a fourth consecutive quarter of slowing sales growth. Third-quarter revenue hit $12.9 billion, but full-year projections fell short of expectations due to a $300 million shortfall in ad revenue, dragging the stock down 30 percent this year. To fix declining view time and a lack of hit shows, leadership fired top creative executives and cut 1,000 jobs. Former Disney executive Peter Rice was brought in to revamp content quality, while Netflix explores live sports, podcasts, and video games to boost viewer engagement. Super Micro Computer saw its stock surge 10.4% following preliminary quarterly sales that blew past Wall Street projections. Fueled by booming demand for AI servers powered by Nvidia chips, the company expects revenue between $18.5 billion and $19.5 billion, well above analyst targets. The impressive financial update comes as Super Micro moves past a high-profile probe into server diversions, where an independent review cleared senior management of wrongdoing. The server maker will officially present its full quarterly financial results during an upcoming call on November 3. Wall Street's main indexes opened higher on Wednesday after quarterly results from SpaceX and Super Micro Computer improved appetite for AI stocks, while Netflix slipped after its forecast failed to impress investors. Read more British bond investors expect finance minister John Healey's upcoming budget to pass without triggering market volatility. A Morningstar survey shows leading funds holding neutral positions in gilts, viewing fiscal risks as stable and seeing current bond yields as attractive. High UK yield rates are currently driven by interest rate expectations and inflation rather than budget concerns. While investors expect tax rises and cautious spending, many view broader geopolitical events in the Middle East as a larger driver of government bond performance. Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports climbed 7.9% in August to 4.451 million barrels per day, marking their highest level since March. Official data showed exports rose despite overall oil production hitting a record low, supported by lower domestic refinery processing. The export rebound highlights the kingdom’s ability to move crude using terminals on both its coasts, navigating severe Middle East shipping disruptions caused by regional conflict. Analysts expect this export recovery likely continued into September and October despite ongoing security threats. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang pushed European companies to speed up their artificial intelligence efforts during a conference in Berlin. He introduced a modular data center system designed to reduce setup times from months to days, aiming to help solve the continent's severe shortage of computing power. Europe currently holds just five percent of global AI computing capacity compared to 75 percent in the US. To boost local growth, Nvidia has invested $10 billion in European partners over the past year while introducing new safety software to help companies manage and control AI applications. Ebay is cutting roughly 1,100 jobs, or 9% of its workforce, to streamline operations and invest in key growth areas. CEO Jamie Iannone confirmed the cuts in a memo to staff, following an earlier round of 800 layoffs as part of ongoing efficiency efforts. Despite the job cuts, Ebay's strategy focused on authenticated luxury goods, collectibles, and refurbished products has driven its stock up nearly 40% this year. Strategic moves like acquiring fashion resale site Depop have also expanded its market reach among younger shoppers. Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all higher, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.67%. Brent crude remained near $110 a barrel as investors tracked oil market developments. Recent US data showed price pressures broadening beyond energy, supporting expectations of another Federal Reserve rate hike. The central bank was due to meet the following week. Netflix fell more than 6.6% after issuing a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit forecast, adding to pressure after the streaming company recently cut 6% of its workforce. AT&T also dropped 3.5% despite beating third-quarter revenue and profit estimates. Meanwhile, Elevance Health gained around 1% after raising its 2026 profit forecast. Most major chipmakers gained in premarket trading, with Nvidia up 2.1%, Intel rising 2.3% and Advanced Micro Devices adding 1.9%. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index had suffered eight straight sessions of declines, its longest losing streak in 18 years. The index remained near two-month lows despite a brief recovery on Monday. Super Micro jumped 10.9% after forecasting quarterly revenue and profit margin above Wall Street estimates, signalling that demand for AI infrastructure remained resilient. The results offered some relief after concerns over the profitability of the AI buildout triggered a selloff in AI-linked stocks last week. CoreWeave rose 2.5% before the bell. Nasdaq futures led gains on Wednesday as results from SpaceX and Super Micro Computer revived investor interest in artificial intelligence stocks. SpaceX jumped 7.2% in premarket trading after Elon Musk said a merger with Tesla would be a “good idea”. The company also reported its first profit as a public company, while Tesla shares rose 1.4%.