📰 Morning Brief: Strong Earnings Fuel AI Rally, Nasdaq Rises 1.05%; Israeli Jets Approach Iran Border, US Expands Sanctions

Key Snapshot

· 📈 Better-than-expected quarterly results reignite AI trading momentum. Nasdaq gains 1.05% for its second straight gain above 1%, S&P 500 rises 0.58% for three consecutive wins to a one-week high, and the Dow climbs 0.69% to its highest level in more than a month.

I. Market Outlook

Core Events:

Strong quarterly earnings lift AI sentiment. Meta and Tesla topped estimates, supporting a rebound across tech names. → Nasdaq +1.05% at 26702.86, second session in a row closing up more than 1%; S&P 500 +0.58% at 7757.17, three-day winning streak to one-week high; Dow +0.69% at 52856.09, fresh one-month plus peak.

Military deterrence escalates. Dozens of Israeli fighter jets approached Iran’s border. The US rolled out additional sanctions and reportedly plans to evacuate some embassy staff across the Middle East. Trump moves to cap oil prices ahead of midterms, with the US set to release one-third of its heating oil reserve. → WTI -0.68% at $97.15/bbl; Brent +0.03 at $108.82/bbl.

Exclusive Insight

Blowout quarterly results reignite enthusiasm for AI trades. Meta raised the lower bound of its AI capex guidance while Tesla’s gross margin recovered, showing both AI infrastructure spending and EV profitability are starting to deliver results. Trump’s heating oil reserve release is a pre-midterm political tool, though its volume remains modest against the global diesel shortage.

II. Overnight Market Action

— US Equities: S&P 500 +0.58% at 7757.17; Dow Jones +0.69% at 52856.09; Nasdaq +1.05% at 26702.86.

— European Equities: STOXX Europe 600 +0.92% at 644.49.

— Bonds: 10-year US Treasury yield +1.68 bps to 5.1253%; 2-year yield +2.77 bps to 4.8038%.

— Commodities: Dec WTI crude -0.68% at $97.15/bbl; Brent crude +0.03 at $108.82/bbl. Spot Gold +0.38% at $4140.82/oz; Silver +0.07% at $57.9753/oz.

— FX: US Dollar Index +0.08% at 101.780.

— Crypto: Bitcoin rises over 2% to $84781; Ethereum gains more than 1.7% to $2496.

III. Macro News

1. ⚠️ Military deterrence ramps up: Israeli fighter jets approach Iran border, US broadens sanctions. Scores of Israeli warplanes neared Iranian territory, while the US expanded sanctions and is said to prepare partial evacuation of Middle East embassy personnel.

Insight: Border flyovers and planned embassy evacuations serve as pre-conflict warning signals. Geopolitical risk has not materially eased despite earlier negotiation chatter.

2. 🛢️ Trump acts again to cool oil prices before midterms: US plans to lend one-third of heating oil reserves. Macron secured diesel supply during his Middle East trip, with France receiving an extra nearly 300,000 tonnes monthly. Saudi Arabia pledged supply for as long as needed.

Insight: The heating oil release is politically motivated ahead of midterm elections and is too small to resolve the global diesel gap. Bilateral supply deals between Saudi Arabia and France show nations are building separate energy safety nets outside open markets.

IV. Global Corporate News

1. 🚗 Tesla Q3 revenue weighed by energy storage, but free cash flow improves, EPS beats estimates and gross margin rebounds. Management targets annual production of 5 million vehicles by 2030 and says nearly all Megapacks through 2027 are already sold.

2. 💾 Meta beats on Q3 revenue and Q4 guidance, lifts the floor for AI capex and proposes non-voting new share issuance. Executives said Muse attracted millions of users, with first-week shopping transaction volumes hitting capacity limits, and cost efficiency set to improve tenfold next year.

3. 🤖 Anthropic launches round-the-clock AI agent Claude Duet, competing against Meta and OpenAI. Competition in autonomous AI agents is accelerating rapidly.

V. Key Events To Watch

· 📊 US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending Oct 17: test of labour market resilience.

· 📊 P&G and Western Digital release earnings. As a major storage player, Western Digital’s results will reveal the true strength of AI storage demand.