I'll pull today's top business and market headlines for you.
Today's Top Business / Market Headlines — Saturday, October 31, 2026:
1. Wall Street Suffers Sharpest Drop Since June on AI Spending Fears
•US stocks tumbled on Friday, with the Nasdaq suffering its largest one-day percentage drop since June 5. The sell-off that began on Friday, October 24, 2026—amplifying into a historic rout by Friday, October 29—exposed a widening chasm between corporate ambition and investor patience.
•The S&P 500 tumbled 1.8%, the Nasdaq composite fell 2.9%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 572 points (1.1%), marking Wall Street’s steepest single-day decline since June 2026.
•Official close: Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 572.25 points, or 1.09%, to 51,770.31, the S&P 500 lost 140.32 points, or 1.82%, to 7,580.07 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 747.73 points, or 2.86%, to 25,437.00.
•Nasdaq is now down 7.8% from its all-time closing high reached on October 6 and suffered its worst monthly decline since March 2025.
•The S&P 500 tech sector posted its largest monthly percentage loss since March 2025.
Catalyst is massive AI capital expenditure - four major tech giants committing over $700 billion to artificial intelligence infrastructure, valued at over $700 billion this year — comparable to the GDP of Argentina or Belgium.
2. Intel and Amazon Earnings Spark Tech Rout
•The tech rout was sparked by disappointing quarterly results from Intel and Amazon released late on Thursday.
•Intel shares plunged 28.6%, chip stocks veered sharply lower, with Nvidia down 4.2% and AMD sliding 10.9%. The broader chips index shed 7.2%.
•Server makers Dell and HP dropped 10.8% and 9.6%, respectively.
3. Futures Rebound Pre-Market on Apple & Amazon Beats
•On October 31 (Friday), the futures of the three major US stock indexes rose sharply before the US stock market. As of press release, Dow futures were up 0.24%, S&P 500 futures were up 0.87%, and NASDAQ futures were up 1.43%.
•Headline: US stock outlook | Apple and Amazon financial reports ignite the stock market, NASDAQ futures rose more than 1%.
4. Apple Q4 Beats Expectations - Forecasts Double-Digit Holiday Growth
•Apple (AAPL.US) Q4 results and guidance exceeded expectations and predicted double-digit sales growth during the holiday season.
•For the fourth fiscal quarter ending September 27, sales increased 7.9% year over year to US$102.5 billion, slightly higher than the previous average forecast of US$102.2 billion. Earnings per share rose to $1.85, higher than the previous average estimate of $1.77.
5. Amazon AWS Hits Fastest Growth in 3 Years
•Amazon's Q3 net sales increased 13% year over year, sales of the AWS division increased 20% year over year to US$33 billion, the biggest increase since 2022.
•Q3 operating profit was US$17.4 billion; net profit was US$21.2 billion, up 39% year over year; diluted earnings per share were US$1.95, better than analysts' average expectations of US$1.57.
6. Oil Majors Beat on Energy Disruption
•ExxonMobil and Chevron posted blockbuster earnings for the third quarter as the world turned to U.S. refineries for fuel.
•ExxonMobil's adjusted profit for the July-September quarter was 8.1 billion US dollars, or 1.88 US dollars per share, which exceeded analysts' general expectations of 1.82 US dollars per share. Revenue was $85.3 billion, slightly below expectations of $87.7 billion.
•Chevron's Q3 net profit was about 3.6 billion US dollars, down 20% year on year, but adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter were 1.85 US dollars, exceeding the average expectations of Wall Street analysts of 1.66 US dollars.
7. Crypto Shock - Binance Hack Weighs on Markets
•Reports that hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange.
•Cryptocurrency-related firms Coinbase, Strategy , and Robinhood fell between 7.2% and 10.6%, Brent crude oil (BZ) is up 2.5% to $113 per barrel - Brent rose 2.4% to $113.43 per barrel in broader tech rout context.
8. Global Ripple Effects + Nvidia AI Deals
•South Korea's Kospi index fell 3.5%, Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 2.1%.
•Nvidia deepens Korea's AI landscape: will supply more than 260,000 accelerators to help South Korea launch AI projects. Samsung's semiconductor AI factory will be equipped with more than 50,000 Nvidia GPUs.
•Nokia received a $1 billion investment from Nvidia.
Other watch: US Treasury Secretary said that the Sino-US trade agreement will be signed as early as next week, and US stocks will enter winter time starting November 3, delaying trading by one hour.