News

2026-10-18

[n] MACRO JPMorgan: big cloud firms spending about 93% of operating cash flow on AI — Weekend piece notes hyperscaler AI capex at about 93% of operating cash flow, up from 33% in 2023. Alphabet spent more cash than it took in last quarter, a first since its 2004 IPO. source

2026-10-17

[-] MACRO Iran Guards say two tankers hit mines in Hormuz; no independent confirmation — Reuters via IRNA: two tankers carrying about 2m barrels caught fire after hitting mines on an unauthorised route. No confirmation from the US, UKMTO or the owners as of Sunday. Attacks near the strait have risen over two weeks. source
[-] NVDA CoreWeave ends week down 24% on debt fears — CoreWeave, which rents out Nvidia GPU capacity, fell about 24% for the week. Some of its bond yields neared 15% and its credit default swaps spiked. Evercore ISI and JPMorgan still rate it a buy, citing a backlog of more than $100B. source
[n] ANTHROPIC FT: Anthropic offers Blackstone a coupon above 10% on a $9B slice of $60B TPU debt — Broadcom-arranged $60B package: $42B senior bank loan plus an $18B junior tranche, half of which ($9B) Blackstone funds would take. Coupon above 10% vs about 7% for similar-rated public bonds. It funds part of a $125.2B five-year Google TPU lease, 3.5 GW from 2027. The prospectus flags Broadcom's dual role as supplier and lender, and says some defaults could accelerate lease obligations. source
[+] AAPL iPhone Duo US delivery dates slip to late January within 30 minutes of pre-orders — Pre-orders opened Fri Oct 16; US estimates reached late January 2027, about three months out, ahead of the Oct 23 in-store launch. Same recap: HomePod mini 2 ($149) ships Oct 30, Apple TV 4K and HomeView ($299 each) ship Nov 13, and Bloomberg reports a media event on Oct 28 for OLED touchscreen MacBook Pros and M6 Macs. source

2026-10-16

[+] BABA Alibaba rises 2.3% in Hong Kong as Hang Seng Tech gains 1.16% — The Hang Seng closed up 0.52% at 24,186 on HK$178.2 billion turnover, led by tech. Kuaishou rose 2.5% after releasing Kling 4.0 and Lenovo rebounded 8%. Alibaba's US ADR later fell 1.8% in the US tech selloff. source
[-] MACRO Nasdaq falls 2.1% to 26,140, its worst week since June, on AI-debt worries; CoreWeave -12% — Friday Oct 16: Nasdaq -573 points (-2.1%) to 26,140, S&P 500 -1.1%, Dow -0.3%. CoreWeave fell nearly 12% (about -24% on the week) on debt worries; AMD -6%, Intel -5.8%, Micron -5.6%, Broadcom -4.5%, Tesla -2.1%. CBS also cited doubts over Anthropic's revenue momentum. 10-year yield about 5.1%; CME odds of a December Fed hike 74.3%, up from 50.2% a month ago. Watchlist on the week: CRDO -21.6%, BE -21.1%, TER -19.3%, SKHY ADR -19.3%, NET -17.9%, ALAB -16.5%, CLS -16.1%. source
[+] AAPL iPhone Duo preorders open at $1,999 and sell out; new orders now ship late January — Apple's first foldable opened for preorder Oct 16 from $1,999 (over $3,000 at 2TB). Within 30 minutes shipping estimates for new orders slipped to late January 2027, more than three months out; 9to5Mac says supply, not demand, is the constraint. Apple rose 0.43% Friday to $343.46 against a 2.1% Nasdaq fall, +2.0% on the week. FQ4 results Nov 2; Duo sales land in the December quarter. source
[+] 1211 BYD picks Sime Darby's Inokom plant for CKD assembly in Malaysia; HK shares +1.1% — BYD will use existing capacity at Inokom for local assembly in Malaysia; models and timing not announced. BYD had 21.09% of China's EV battery installs in September vs CATL 40.92%. Hong Kong closed Friday at HK$73.75 (+1.10%), -2.4% on the week. Second-gen Seagull launches Oct 20, 19:00 Beijing (22:00 AEDT). Weekly China registrations for October still not published by CnEVPost. source
[-] MACRO CoreWeave falls more than 11%, nearly 25% on the week; 2031 bond yield briefly topped 16% — Reuters: CoreWeave's October 2031 bond was set for a fifth weekly fall, down about 3 cents this week, and its CDS passed 1,000bp to a record (S&P Global). Nebius, Applied Digital and IREN fell about 11-12% Friday. ARK bought more than 381,000 shares over two sessions. source
[-] MACRO Chip index falls 3.83%, an eighth straight loss and longest streak since 2008; 23.9% below June record — SOX closed at 11,137.29, down 15.7% since Oct 6. Over that span Nvidia -10.5%, Micron -15.9%, Lam -21.0%, Intel -20.1%; TSMC's ADR fell 2.3% Friday. Yields fell over the period, so rates do not explain it; AI-financing worries are the best-fit reason. source
[-] MACRO Brent touches $110, first time since May, and settles at $109.86 (+3.7%) on Hormuz attacks and Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia — WTI settled at $101.41 (+3.5%). On the week WTI rose more than 10% and Brent nearly 5%. Ukraine also vowed to keep hitting Russian refineries. source
[n] MACRO US September industrial production rises 0.7% (0.4% expected); import prices +1.1% with fuel +4.8% — Utilities output +3.5%, manufacturing +0.3%, capacity use 76.9%; IP +2.2% y/y. Import prices +8.1% y/y, fuel +34.5% y/y; export prices +2.2% m/m. source
[n] MACRO Taiwan shares close up 0.3% at 47,111.26 Friday after Thursday's 3.41% drop — The Taiex gained 141.39 points on turnover of NT$935.96 billion. TSMC's Taipei shares slipped 0.8% on the first full session after its results. source
[-] MACRO Reuters: CoreWeave 2031 bonds yield 15.78%; Oracle, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta CDS at records — CoreWeave carries more than $50B of debt. Oracle, Nvidia and other big-tech credit default swaps rose this week; Amazon, Alphabet and Meta hit records but moved far less than CoreWeave or Oracle. Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid said AI financing costs show worrying signs at the edges. source
[n] SKHY KOSPI +2.05% after Black Thursday; Samsung +2.6%, SK hynix +0.8%; Nikkei +1.4% — Foreigners bought a net 172.1B won, ending an eight-session selling streak, after selling more than 3.6T won on Thursday. SK hynix faded from about +2.9% intraday. KOSPI is still 19.2% below its Oct 2 close; analysts called the buying a pause, not a reversal. source
[n] FED Warsh gives no October signal in Bangkok: 'will make judgements at the October and December meeting' — In his last appearance before the blackout, the Fed Chair said he does not pre-judge meetings and called the investment surge the main upside for the global economy. The dollar index slipped 0.2%. source
[+] MACRO Asia rebounds after the chip rout: Nikkei +1.9%, Hang Seng +1.2%; Jakarta falls over 10% on MSCI warning — After Thursday's US close (Dow +1.1%, S&P +0.3%, Nasdaq +0.1%), the Nikkei rose 1.9%, Hang Seng 1.2%, Shanghai 1% and the ASX 200 1.1%. Indonesia slumped on an MSCI downgrade warning; Brent eased 0.4% to about $105.5 (AP). source

2026-10-15

[n] NFLX Netflix names Peter Rice chief content officer from Oct 26; Bela Bajaria leaves — Rice, former chairman of Walt Disney Television and president of 21st Century Fox, will run global series, film and live content. Bajaria leaves after nearly ten years. The change follows the confirmed 6% job cuts and comes days before Q3 results on Wed Oct 21 07:00 AEDT. source
[n] MU Taiwan's president urges Micron and unions to negotiate; COO says Taichung 2027 capacity sold out — Lai Ching-te spoke at the opening of Micron's new Taichung assembly and test plant. Unions want a concrete profit-sharing plan and are urging members to take Oct 19 off for a Taipei rally, which they say is not a strike. COO Manish Bhatia said the plant's 2027 capacity is sold out and HBM should outgrow the rest of DRAM through 2028. Micron has about 15,000 staff in Taiwan. source
[-] ANTHROPIC Reuters: some Anthropic investors now discuss a ~$1.5T IPO valuation, down from ~$2T — Per four people familiar, attendees at Anthropic's investor day in San Francisco (with CEO Dario Amodei and CFO Krishna Rao) discussed about $1.5T for the November IPO after Q3 revenue growth slowed to 45% q/q ($16.8B) from more than doubling in Q2 ($11.6B). Anthropic has committed to at least $518B of cloud and compute spending over a decade. No exchange or banks named; Anthropic did not comment. Cited by CBS as one reason for Friday's tech selloff. source
[n] TSLA Tesla shows a 'flying' Roadster at SpaceX's Texas site; production 2028; stock reverses to -2.1% — Unveiled Thursday evening at SpaceX's McGregor test facility: compressed-air thrusters for short-burst flight over cars, claimed 0-60 mph in 0.81 s, target top speed Mach 0.5, no price given. Musk said production starts 2028. Friday the stock opened $369.15, hit $385.51, then closed -2.13% at $354.72 in the tech selloff. Q3 results Oct 21 after close (08:30 AEDT Thu Oct 22). source
[+] TSM TSMC raises 2026 sales growth forecast to about 44% in US dollars, keeps capex at $60-64B — Up from slightly over 40% in July. CFO Wendell Huang kept 2026 capex at $60-64 billion and said 2026-2028 spending will exceed the prior three years. 2nm was 8% of Q3 sales, up from 3% in Q2. CoWoS remains customers' top choice and TSMC will add capacity to meet demand. source
[n] TSM TSMC call: AI accelerator growth 'probably will be higher' than mid-to-high 50s%; 'prudent' on 2027 — Management did not formally lift the 2024-2029 AI accelerator CAGR but said it will probably be higher. Consumer and price-sensitive segments are being challenged by rising component prices. Overseas-fab margin dilution to widen to 3-4 points later in the five-year period. N2 capacity to more than double in 2027; A14 risk production 2027. source
[n] TSM TSMC weighing Texas production and cooperation with Musk's Terafab; Arizona second fab in Q3 2027 — C.C. Wei said talks are at the discussion stage and TSMC would need to run any fab it works on. He said US expansion is driven by requests from major American customers. Arizona's second fab is slated for volume production in Q3 2027. source
[n] NVDA Huang says CoreWeave needs no backstop as its credit swaps hit a record 1,194.5bp — Speaking in Stockholm, Huang said CoreWeave's cost of capital is decreasing. The CDS level implies over 60% default odds within five years. Nvidia owns about 10% of CoreWeave. Separately reported, unconfirmed: talks to backstop $250 billion of OpenAI data-centre financing. source
[n] NVDA Nvidia and Volvo Cars expand partnership on automated driving safety — One of two Nvidia partnership releases Thursday; the other expands work with Adobe on agentic creation tools. source
[+] META Meta launches Muse Spark Open, an 816B-parameter open-weight model that runs on Mac Studio — Natively multimodal with a 1 million-token context window, aimed at coding and agentic work; Meta calls it the most capable US open-weight model. Built with Apple to run locally; needs about 1TB of RAM. Available now through several API platforms. source
[+] BABA Tim Cook: Apple Intelligence with Alibaba's Qwen approved in China; beta due later in October — Speaking in Shanghai, Cook said the first batch of core features can now be rolled out gradually: live translation, writing tools and photo cleanup. The upgraded Siri is not included. source
[n] ANTHROPIC Anthropic gives six METR researchers employee-level access to assess its models and safety work — METR gets company laptops and internal tools and will publish its own assessments; Anthropic can require redactions only in pre-set categories such as customer data. No IPO, S-1 or revenue update came with it. source
[-] MACRO US PPI jumps 1.3% in September, most in 4-1/2 years; retail sales +0.8% but core sales only +0.1% — Producer prices rose 1.3% (0.5% expected) and 6.3% y/y on energy; retail sales beat at +0.8% (0.3% expected) but the control group rose just 0.1% vs 0.3%. Claims 199K. Reuters cited about 30% odds of an Oct 28 hike, with December the expected move; yields slipped. source
[-] FED Fed's Hammack: inflation-expectation slippage could force a bigger response — The Cleveland Fed president, a voter and early hike supporter, said the Fed 'might need to move even more' if an inflationary mindset sets in and that financial conditions are roughly neutral; no firm call on October (Reuters). source
[-] MACRO WTI rises 2.8% on an 8.5M-barrel US crude draw; Trump weighs easing shadow-fleet tanker sanctions — Largest weekly crude draw since February; total US stocks including the SPR are the lowest since March 1984. Brent held near $105.8 as Hormuz and Houthi-Saudi risks offset IEA stock releases. source
[+] TSM TSMC Q3 beats: revenue $46.72B (+41.2% y/y) vs $44.6-45.8B guide, gross margin 66.4%, EPS NT$29.43 (+68.7%) — Net income NT$763.06B. Gross margin 66.4% sat inside the 65-67% guide, down from 67.7% in Q2 on early 2nm costs; operating margin 58.7%. 2nm was 8% of wafer revenue (3% in Q2), 3nm 33%. HPC rose to 68% of revenue from 66% in Q2 and 57% a year ago. Q3 capex NT$443.2B. EPS is US$4.60 per ADR. source
[+] TSM TSMC guides Q4 revenue to $52.3-54.3B, about 14% above Q3 at the midpoint, with 65-67% gross margin — Operating margin guided to 56.5-58.5% at 31.8 NT$ per US$. CFO Wendell Huang cited continued strong leading-edge demand and the steep 2nm ramp. Good read for Nvidia and custom-chip suppliers like Marvell; it says nothing directly about memory. source
[-] MACRO Taiwan shares close down 3.41% at 46,969.87 before TSMC's results — The Taiex fell 1,655.96 points on turnover of NT$1.32 trillion. TSMC closed down 2.0% in Taipei; results came out after the close. source
[-] BABA Hong Kong opens lower on US rate-hike bets; Alibaba and Tencent down nearly 2% — Hang Seng -0.8% at the open and the tech index -2.21%; Hua Hong -5.6%, SMIC -3.3%. The Hang Seng closed down 1.4%. source
[-] ANTHROPIC Q3 growth slowdown tempers the $2T pitch; SemiAnalysis sees about $74B run rate at year-end — Q3 growth of about 50% compares with roughly 140% in Q2. Some investors had talked of $100B+ annualised revenue by year-end; SemiAnalysis now projects about $74B (from $65B in July). Pressures cited: Meta and Microsoft using own models, cut distillation revenue (5-7% of sales), price war with OpenAI and Chinese labs. Commitments of at least $518B over a decade; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley lead the IPO. source
[+] TSM TSMC guides Q4 revenue $52.3-54.3B vs about $48.8B expected — Q4 gross margin guide 65-67% (expected 66.1%), operating margin 56.5-58.8% (expected 58.0%). Midpoint implies about 14% sequential growth. Read-through for ASML, Teradyne and the AI-connectivity names: accelerator volumes still rising into year-end. source
[-] SKHY KOSPI hits circuit breaker; SK hynix falls 11% and Samsung 10% in Seoul — Kospi was down 8.13% at 13:17 KST after a sell-sidecar at 09:07 and a 20-minute circuit breaker at 12:38; Kosdaq also halted. SK hynix closed at 1,262,000 won (-11.06%), market cap below 1,000 trillion won. Follows Wall Street's CPI-driven tech selloff and the week's CXMT DRAM worries; KOSPI on a seven-session losing streak. source
[-] MACRO KOSPI closes down 7.57% after a circuit breaker; Nikkei -4.9%, Taiex -3.41% in an Asia chip rout — KOSPI 5,554.22, KOSDAQ 760.82; SK hynix and Samsung fell about 10-11%. Nikkei 64,425.95 (SoftBank -9.4%, Kioxia -11.2%); Taiex 46,969.87. Hot US CPI, AI-debt worries (CoreWeave bonds, a Gartner impairment warning) and an IMF warning that an AI correction would hit Asia hardest. source
[n] RBA Australia sheds 39,300 jobs in September; unemployment 4.7% vs 4.6% expected — Economists expected a 19,600 gain; August revised to +29,300 and 4.7%. Participation 66.8%. AUD -0.3%. ANZ still expects a November hike; Oxford Economics says the RBA has room to wait for Q3 CPI on Oct 28. source

2026-10-14

[n] VRT Vertiv sets Q3 results for Wed Oct 28 before the US open, call 11am ET — Announced Oct 14: Q3 2026 results Wed Oct 28 before market open; call 11:00 ET (02:00 AEDT Thu Oct 29), with a Q3 presentation on investors.vertiv.com. Company guide is Q3 sales $3.65-3.85B and EPS $1.77-1.83. Not Oct 21 as previously listed. Stock -3.88% Friday to $206.42, a seventh straight fall. source
[-] NVDA Nvidia falls 3.2% on CPI, IDC China share data and Microsoft's Maia 300 plan — IDC said Nvidia's share of China's AI data-centre chip market fell to 34% in H1 2026 as Huawei grew. Microsoft plans to deploy over a million Maia 300 chips from 2027. Huang said he would halt supply to a customer building unsafe AI, calling it hypothetical. source
[n] NFLX Netflix confirms about 6% job cuts, nearly 1,000 roles, its largest since 2022 — Co-CEO memo; product, technology, legal and HR most affected. Netflix had about 16,000 full-time staff at end-2025. Q3 results due Oct 20 US (07:00 AEDT Wed Oct 21). source
[+] ANTHROPIC Anthropic tells investors Q3 revenue was $16.8B, adjusted profitable and cash-flow positive — At its San Francisco investor day (FT, via Investing.com): Q3 revenue $16.8B, up nearly 50% from about $11.5B in Q2; second straight quarter of adjusted profit; $1.70 of revenue per $1 of compute. Growth slowed from earlier in 2026 and annualised revenue is expected to fall short of $100B. Unaudited, from people familiar. source
[-] MACRO Hot US CPI (3.7% vs 3.6%) drives Nasdaq down 1.9%; AI stocks lead losses — September CPI 3.7% y/y vs 3.6% expected (August 3.4%); core 2.6% vs 2.5%. S&P 500 -1.1%, Nasdaq -1.9%, Dow -0.1%; 10-year yield near 5.2-5.3%. Odds of an October Fed hike rose. Watchlist AI-infrastructure names fell 6-10% (Credo, Celestica, Bloom, Astera, GE Vernova, Vertiv). Bank of America fell about 5% after a $1.2B regulatory penalty. source
[-] MACRO CoreWeave falls 15.5% as its 2032 bonds drop below 80c and yield near 15% — The 9.625% notes sold at par in June fell below 78c per Bloomberg, a yield of about 14.8%; CDS imply a better-than-50% five-year default probability. Nebius fell 10.1% and Oracle 8.8%. source
[-] MACRO US September CPI 3.7% y/y and core 2.6%, both above forecasts; gasoline up 34% on the year — Headline +0.6% m/m (3.6% y/y expected, 3.4% in August); core +0.3% m/m vs 0.2% expected. Energy +5.2% m/m, gasoline +9.1% m/m, over half the monthly rise; shelter +0.4%. Last CPI before the Oct 27-28 FOMC. source
[n] MACRO Bank of America EPS $0.91 after $1.2B money-laundering fine; Morgan Stanley EPS $3.03 on 41% equities growth — BofA's non-deductible fine cost about 17 cents a share (about $1.08 before it); revenue $29.96B. Morgan Stanley revenue $20.3B, ROTCE 22.6%, record wealth revenue $9.1B. Shares fell 4.8% and about 3%. source
[n] FED Beige Book: oil prices in every district, price growth picking up in four; firms slow hiring after AI investment — Two districts reported moderate growth, three modest, four slight, three flat; manufacturing led. Three districts called price growth robust; firms expect further increases as contracts reset. Five districts said firms cut staff by attrition or delayed hiring after AI productivity gains. source
[-] ASML ASML shares fall about 4% in first reaction: sales slightly under the EUR 11.72B consensus, profit well above — XTB: revenue EUR 11.66B vs EUR 11.72B expected; net profit EUR 4.96B vs about EUR 4.1B; gross margin 57.5% vs about 56.1%. Amsterdam had already closed down 4.2% Tuesday at EUR 1,509.60. source
[+] ASML ASML Q3 sales EUR 11.66B, a hair under consensus; says 2027-28 supply will not meet AI demand — Net income EUR 4.96B and gross margin 57.5%, above the 55-57% guide. Q4 guided to EUR 14.2-15.2B and 2026 raised to EUR 44-45B from EUR 43-45B. CEO Christophe Fouquet said customers keep raising forecasts on AI investment, some want 2029-30 orders, and ASML is studying capacity beyond its planned 30% increase for 2028. No quarterly bookings are published any more. US-listed shares fell about 3% overnight; Micron, SanDisk and Intel fell 1-2.6%. source
[+] MACRO China's September exports jump 36.3% y/y, imports 31%; surplus $133.5B — Both beat forecasts (Reuters poll 25.5% and 24.5%) and accelerated from August's 25% and 28.2%. Export growth was the fastest since February. The nine-month surplus reached $938B, on track to top last year's $1.2 trillion record. The IMF cut its 2026 China growth forecast 0.1 point to 4.5%. source
[n] MACRO China PPI rises 5.0% y/y in September, fastest since June 2022; CPI 0.9%, just under forecast — Producer prices beat the 4.5% forecast and rose 1.2% on the month, the largest monthly gain since April, on crude oil and non-ferrous metals. Consumer prices rose 0.9% y/y vs 1.0% expected and 0.2% m/m. Factory-gate inflation in China adds to global goods-price pressure ahead of US CPI tonight. source

2026-10-13

[-] MU Micron Taiwan workers vote 99% to authorise a strike as CXMT fears extend the memory selloff — Workers at Micron's Taoyuan plant voted 99% to authorise a strike, seeking permanent profit-sharing equal to 15% of quarterly operating profit; no strike date was given. Micron fell 3.6% Tuesday, a third straight loss, alongside CXMT's 4F2 DRAM progress. source
[n] MACRO JPMorgan misses on EPS for the first time in about three years; Goldman profit +29%, Wells and Citi beat — JPMorgan earned $15.3B ($5.57/share) vs about $5.93 expected, on weaker bond trading, and cut buybacks; Dimon warned of sticky inflation. Goldman earned $5.29B, Citi profit rose about 40%, Wells $1.87/share beat. Consumers still paying bills. source
[-] RKT Rocket hits a 52-week low as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley cut targets; loanDepot -4.8% — Rocket fell 0.4% to a new 52-week low on volume 32% above average, down 44% this year, after JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley lowered price targets. loanDepot fell 4.8%; S&P 500 -0.02%, Nasdaq -0.15%. source
[n] LDI Mortgage News Daily 30-year eases to 7.46%, a two-week low — With the bond market reopened after Columbus Day, MND's 30-year fixed slipped 0.02 points to 7.46% Tuesday, a two-week low, ahead of Wednesday's US CPI. source
[n] AAPL Apple launches HomeView hub ($299, ships Nov 13), Apple TV 4K ($299, Nov 13) and HomePod mini 2 ($149, Oct 30) — Pre-orders opened Oct 13. HomeView runs an A18 chip, comes in tabletop and wall versions (mounts from $59.95) and is not sold in the EU. Siri AI on HomePod mini 2 comes in a later update. Third-party Home Collection accessories from December. Apple closed up 0.09% at $341.27 after trading as high as $348.15. source

[+] positive, [-] negative, [n] neutral

Nothing here is financial advice. Holdings and opinions are my own; the "agent" sections are written by an automated research skill and may be wrong. Built 2026-10-18 22:56 UTC.