Daily News
Nasdaq and S&P 500 Slip as Alphabet Tanks and Caterpillar Tumbles; Kospi Sinks 4.7%; Gold Falls Below $4,000; Crude Climbs Above $103 on Iran Strike Fears
30 October 2026
Today in Brief
Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly lower, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipping 2.63%, South Korea’s Kospi falling 4.74% and the small-cap Kosdaq declining 4.08%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.64% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.29%. U.S. stocks were under pressure Thursday as corporate earnings weighed — the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.38% to 26,184.72, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 7,720.39 to snap a three-day advance, and the Dow lost 132.54 points to 52,342.56, with Alphabet and Caterpillar sharply lower. Gold fell below $4,000 an ounce on Friday as persistent U.S. inflation and resilient growth reinforced expectations of a Fed rate hike, while crude oil climbed above $103 per barrel to six-week highs on concerns the U.S. could resume strikes against Iran.
In other news: The Bank of Japan held rates at 1.25% and said underlying inflation is generally consistent with its 2% target for the first time since 2013; the European Central Bank kept its deposit rate on hold at 2.5%; Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said politics played no role in the decision to skip a rate hike; the U.S. economy grew at an annualized 3.4% in the third quarter, exceeding expectations; Binance said a security incident had an estimated impact of $6.3 billion; Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion for the quarter; Nvidia pushed back on a New York Times report concerning a person close to CEO Jensen Huang; and Intel shares plunged in extended trading after a weak fourth-quarter forecast.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 2.63% while the Topix dropped 1.35%
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 2.63% while the Topix dropped 1.35%. The Kospi was down 4.74%, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 4.08%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.29% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.64% , while mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.38%. Amazon shares lost 6% in extended trading after the company reported earnings and revenue for the third quarter that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.
Dow loses 100 points, S&P 500 snaps 3-day advance as Alphabet and Caterpillar tank
Stocks were under pressure Thursday, weighed down by the latest batch of corporate earnings. The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.38% to end at 26,184.72, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to close at 7,720.39 and snap a three-day advance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 132.54 points, or 0.25%, to 52,342.56. Alphabet lost 12% after it missed expectations on adjusted earnings per share and revenue in the third quarter. The Google parent posted negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion. The company kept its full-year capital expenditures forecast at $195 billion to $205 billion. Fellow Dow member Caterpillar slid more than 9% for its worst day since March 2020.
Gold prices declined below $4,000 per ounce on Friday, extending losses from the previous session
Gold prices declined below $4,000 per ounce on Friday, extending losses from the previous session as persistent inflation and resilient economic growth in the US reinforced expectations of a potential Federal Reserve rate hike later this year. The US PCE price index increased 0.5% month-on-month in September, marking its biggest rise since March, while annual inflation accelerated to 3.6%. Core PCE inflation also climbed to 3.1% year over year. Meanwhile, US GDP expanded at an annualized rate of 3.4% in the third quarter, exceeding expectations of 3.2%, supported by resilient consumer spending and strong AI-related investment.
Crude oil prices climbed above $103 per barrel on Friday, hitting six-week highs
Crude oil prices climbed above $103 per barrel on Friday, hitting six-week highs amid concerns that the US could resume military strikes against Iran following reports that a senior commander had briefed President Donald Trump on potential military options. Trump has repeatedly warned that airstrikes on Tehran could resume following next week’s midterm elections. Meanwhile, Iranian officials confirmed that US Vice President JD Vance had sent a letter aimed at restarting peace negotiations. The US oil benchmark has gained more than 10% in October as the US-Iran conflict continues, while clashes involving Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi forces have intensified. Threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz also remain high, with tankers continuing to come under attack.
BOJ holds rates as underlying inflation aligns with 2% target for first time since 2013
The Bank of Japan declared that underlying inflation in the country was “generally consistent” with its target of 2%, the first time it has made that assessment since adopting the target in 2013. Before this, the BOJ used to say that underlying inflation has been “approaching 2 percent.” This comes as the central bank expectedly held rates at 1.25%, still at its highest level since 1995. The decision was split 8-1, with board member Hajime Takata dissenting. Takata had wanted the bank to hike its policy rate to 1.5%. The BOJ also upgraded its inflation forecast for its fiscal year 2027 to 2.6% from 2.4%, with the so-called “core-core” inflation forecast also raised to 2.7% from 2.6%. The “core-core” inflation strips out prices of fresh food and energy.
European Central Bank keeps key interest rate on hold at 2.5%
The European Central Bank voted to hold interest rates steady on Thursday, meeting market expectations, despite euro zone inflation rising to a three-year high. It keeps the central bank’s key rate, the deposit facility, at 2.5% following a 25-basis point hike in September. In a statement, the institution’s Governing Council said rising energy prices posed upside risks to the inflation outlook and downside risks to growth, but that underlying inflation and wages were so far broadly stable. “At this point in time we are not seeing second round effects in addition to what is already included in the projections” released in September, ECB President Christine Lagarde told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach during a press conference.
Warsh says politics played no role in Fed’s rate decision by group he is ’honoured’ to lead
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh on Wednesday said he is “honoured” to lead the central bank’s policymakers and said politics played no role in their decision to skip a rate hike, rebutting at least indirectly President Donald Trump’s allegation that the Fed Board is partisan and against him. “We just came out of a heck of a family fight” at the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Warsh told reporters after the Fed ended a two-day meeting with a decision to leave the policy rate in the 3.75%-4.00%range. “I think we came to the right policy decision for this moment, and I’m honoured to be here and honoured to be the chairman of this group,” he said. “Politics played no role in the decision,” Warsh added. “I just spent two days with my colleagues upstairs. I didn’t hear an utterance about politics. I didn’t hear a reference to politics, elections, what’s happening in the next week.”
Robust consumer spending, AI-related investment power US economy in third quarter
The US economy grew at its fastest pace in a year in the third quarter, shrugging off higher oil prices stemming from the conflict in the Middle East as consumers maintained robust spending and businesses doubled down on investment in AI. The better-than-expected increase in gross domestic product last quarter reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday was in stark contrast to households’ downbeat assessment of the economy, reflected in President Donald Trump’s record-low approval ratings and deterioration in consumer sentiment. The advance GDP report was published less than a week before Tuesday’s midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. Economists said the strong growth, together with other data on Thursday showing inflation accelerating and broadening out in September, bolstered the argument for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December.
Biggest-ever crypto hack impacts $6.3 billion as Binance works to contain fallout
Binance said Friday that a security incident had an estimated impact of $6.3 billion, with around $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets frozen so far, and pledged to cover all losses. The world’s largest crypto exchange said an initial investigation suggests “the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions.” Binance co-founder Yi He said deposits remained unaffected and continued to operate normally, while the exchange was working on enhancements to its withdrawal service and related address controls. It expects to begin resuming withdrawal services within the next 48 hours.
Alphabet tanks nearly 13% for worst day ever, losing $500 billion in value
Alphabet shares plunged the most since Google went public in 2004, dropping 13% on Thursday, wiping out roughly $500 billion in market cap. In its earnings announcement late Wednesday, Alphabet reported negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion for the third quarter, compared to the $2.7 billion analysts expected. The Google parent maintained its full year capital expenditure guidance of between $195 billion and $205 billion. Microsoft, meanwhile, traded largely flat as investors focused on the tech giants’ latest spending and free cash flow numbers in the third-quarter earnings report. Microsoft reported $45.2 billion in capital expenditures and finance leases during the quarter, which was 30% higher than a year ago, but below analyst projections of $50.67 billion. Free cash flow fell 27% to $18.63 billion but remained positive.
Nvidia responds to report Jensen Huang was target of Chinese asset, says diversion allegations were ‘investigated and debunked’
An Nvidia spokesperson on Thursday pushed back on a New York Times report that detailed American intelligence agencies surveilling a person close to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang because they thought she could be a Chinese intelligence asset. According to the Times report, which cited people briefed on intelligence surveillance, Alice Huang, who is linked to the Singapore-based cloud Megaspeed, developed a close relationship with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. Intelligence agencies worried that she was a spy, helping the Chinese government gain information from Nvidia and Jensen Huang, and fretted that Nvidia’s CEO had access to President Donald Trump.
Intel stock plunges 23% as chipmaker blames PC slowdown for weak guidance
Intel shares plummeted more than 20% in extended trading on Thursday after the chipmaker issued a weak fourth-quarter forecast, citing continued softness in the global PC market. Revenue climbed 21% from $13.7 billion a year earlier, the company said in a press release. However, revenue in Intel’s client computing and physical AI group fell 5% from the same quarter a year ago to $8.1 billion, missing estimates, even as data centre and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion. For the current quarter, Intel said it expects adjusted earnings per share of 25 cents on revenue between $15 billion and $16 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $17.1 billion and EPS of 43 cents, according to LSEG.