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Benchmark US equity indices booked their worst single-session performance since 10 October, 2000 amid rising uncertainty about Federal Reserve interest rate cuts - Dow fell -798-points or -1.65% to 47,457.22 after settling above 48,000 for the first time a day earlier. Investment banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc (down -3.99%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (-3.41%), Caterpillar Inc (-3.4%) and International Business Machines (IBM) Corp (-3.21%) all fell over >3%, as did Nvidia Corp (-3.58%), with the chipmaker slated to report its third quarter result on Wednesday next week (19 November). Infrastructure provider Cisco Systems Inc (up +4.62%) bucked the weaker trend posting better-than-expected earnings per share (EPS) and revenue of US$14.88B for its fiscal first quarter after the close of the previous session. Verizon Communications Inc +0.76% The Wall Street Journal reported that the company plans to eliminate about 15,000 jobs, mostly through layoffs. It would represent the largest cuts in the company's history, the newspaper added, noting the firm "also plans to transition about 200 stores into franchised operations, which will shift employees off its payroll.

US equity markets rallied amid signs that a historic U.S. government shutdown could be nearing its end - Dow rose +382-points or +0.81%

Nvidia Corp (up +5.79%) was the clear outperformer in the 30-stock index.
Late Sunday (9 November), the Senate advanced a procedural measure to allow other votes today on an agreement to end the US government shutdown, now at 41-days. Eight Democrats joined Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance the measure.
The broader S&P500 gained +104-points or +1.54%, logged its largest single-day point gain since 27 May, and its largest single-day percentage gain since 3 October.

US equity markets settled narrowly mixed on Friday (7 November), recovering from steeper declines earlier in the session to cap a volatile week  - Dow added +75-points or +0.16%, recovering from an earlier slide of ~400-points or -0.9%. Coca-Cola Co (up +2.16%) and Sherwin-Williams Co (+1.95%) were the leading performers in the stock index.

Technology stocks led a rebound for US equity markets - Dow rose +226-points or +0.48% Amgen Inc (up +7.81%) was the leading performer in the 30-stock index after the pharmaceutical company posted a better-than-expected third quarter result and raised its full-year sales outlook after the close of the previous session Economic bellwether Caterpillar Inc gained +3.94%. Home Depot (down -2.41%) was the worst performing Dow component overnight.


The US government shutdown reached 36-days, surpassing the previous record of 35-days that ran from 22 December 2018 to 25 January, 2019. Investors are also eying the US Supreme Court as it determines whether President Trump has the authority to impose tariffs without Congress's approval under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

A mixed start to November for US equity markets ahead of another busy week of quarterly earnings releases - Dow fell -226-points or -0.48%, with Merck & Co Inc (down -4.06%) the worst performer in the 30-stock index.

3M Co (down -2.59%), UnitedHealth Group Inc (-2.27%) and Chevron Corp (-2.33%) all declined over >2%.  

Microsoft Corp (down -0.15%) announced it has secured export licenses to ship Nvidia Corp (+2.23%) chips to the United Arab Emirates amid Gulf’s ambitions to become an AI leader.

Amazon.com Inc rallied +4.03% to be the leading Dow component overnight, hitting a fresh record high (US$258.60) after signing a multi-year US$38B deal to supply cloud computing services to OpenAI, affording the ChatGPT maker access to Nvidia's graphics processors. Amazon soared +9.58% in the previous session after releasing stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings after the close last Thursday’s (30 October), underpinned by a sharp acceleration in cloud revenue.

US equity markets advanced on Friday (31 October) after a choppy session to cap a solid week and month for the benchmark indices  - Dow edged +41-points or +0.09% higher Apple Inc settled -0.38% lower at US$270.37, unwinding an gain that saw the mega-capitalisation technology stock touch a fresh record intraday high of US$277.32 after reporting better-than-expected third quarter earnings after the close of last Thursday’s (30 October) session and forecast holiday-quarter iPhone sales and overall revenue that surpassed Wall Street expectations thanks to strong demand for its iPhone 17 models. Nvidia Corp slipped -0.20% following news it is partnering with Samsung and other South Korean firms to deploy 250,000 of its chips across the Asian country.

US equity markets retreated a day after logging record intra-day highs for a third straight session, with investors continuing to assess earnings from mega-capitalisation technology names and yesterday’s (30 October) meeting between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping  - Dow fell -110-points or -0.23%, sliding in the closing hour of trading . Boeing Co dropped -6.32% to be the worst performer in the 30-stock index a day after the aircraft manufacturer posted a weaker-than-expected third quarter profit and flagged a US$4.9B charge "associated with updated 777X certification timing." Microsoft Corp -2.92% despite posting better-than-expected third quarter EPS and revenue (US$77.7B versus consensus US$75.5B) after the close of the previous session, underpinned by Microsoft Cloud and AI strength. UnitedHealth Group Inc shed -2.96%, while Nvidia Corp lost -2%) a day after becoming the first company to close with a US$5 trillion market capitalisation

US equity markets rebounded, with the S&P500 and Nasdaq booking fresh record intra-day and closing highs  - Dow flat at 46,601.78. Caterpillar Inc (up +3.17%) was the leading performer in the 30-stock index. Nvidia Corp rose +2.20% after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang said that demand has risen in recent months, telling CNBC that “this year, particularly the last six months, demand of computing has gone up substantially.” Mr Huang also confirmed the company’s involvement in funding Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup, xAI, and said that he’s “super excited about the financing opportunity they’re doing.” Investment banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc (-1.66%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (-1.19%) fell over >1%.

US equity markets retreated overnight as the US government shutdown entered its second week  but not before the S&P500 and Nasdaq scaled fresh record intra-day highs - Dow eased -92-points or -0.20%, with Nike Inc (down -3.18%) the worst performer in the 30-stock index, while Salesforce Inc fell -2.46% after the company said it won’t pay a ransom demand from a hacker who claimed to have stolen a large amount of client data and threatened to publish it, according to an email seen by Bloomberg. International Business Machines (IBM) Corp rose +1.54% following news it was partnering with Anthropic to integrate the artificial intelligence (AI) firm's Claude large language model into its enterprise software. Amazon.com Inc added +0.4% as the e-commerce giant began its two-day Prime Big Deal Days.