Market Movers

Crude prices dropped sharply in the first days of November. Oil fell more than 7% on Monday, November 2, after Washington and Tehran signaled openness to a settlement, and fell again Tuesday, with Brent settling at $103.60 and WTI at $96.09, CNBC reports. CNBC also cites a Wall Street Journal report that the US struck Iran's Qeshm Island on Monday as part of 'limited strikes' in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, after Democrats swept Congress, Vice President JD Vance posted 'The reason we lost is the war.' WTI fell 8.3% to $88.12 and Brent 8.7% to $94.62, leaving oil down more than 14% for the week. Analysts told CNBC the market now expects Trump to have a bigger incentive to make a deal; Trump told the Financial Times he had no immediate plans to strike Iran. Others warned the selloff may be overdone and that escalation risk remains, with ship attacks continuing in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

US stocks had their steepest one-day drop since April 2025 on Thursday, November 5. The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% and closed more than 11% below its October record, which puts it in correction territory; the S&P 500 lost about 4.4% and the Dow about 1,833 points, or 3.4%, according to CNBC.

AI-linked stocks led the decline as investors weighed whether Democratic wins in Tuesday's midterms, including a Texas governor-elect who campaigned on a data center moratorium, could slow data center construction. The tech sector fell 7.3%, its worst day since March 2020; the iShares Semiconductor ETF dropped 12%. The 'Magnificent Seven' lost more than $1 trillion in market value, with Nvidia down more than 9% and now negative for the year. The VIX volatility index posted its biggest point gain since April 2025.

CNBC notes that across 10 Nasdaq corrections in the past decade, the index averaged a 9.41% gain over the three months after the bottom, with 2022 the main exception.

SpaceX shares fell about 9% and Tesla about 11% on Thursday afternoon, November 5, and by the close the two companies had lost about $456 billion in combined market value since Tuesday's election, CNBC reports. The drop came alongside a broad tech selloff.

Elon Musk was the biggest donor to Republican candidates and causes in the midterms, with more than $470 million, according to the Financial Times, and most of the candidates he backed lost. In Texas, where both companies are headquartered, Democrats won the Senate and governor races; Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on a moratorium on new data center approvals. Deutsche Bank analysts wrote that SpaceX could face 'incremental headwinds' and that its Texas compute capacity, including the planned Terafab chip and data center site in Grimes County, could be delayed.

CNBC also reports that, citing CNN, Musk and SpaceX have been told to preserve records on Starlink restrictions in Ukraine, and that regulatory scrutiny could complicate Musk's idea of merging the two companies.

Anthropic filed an amended Form S-1 with the SEC on Monday, November 2, adding third-quarter financials to the IPO prospectus it published the week before, CNBC reports. Revenue for the nine months to September 30 was $33.24 billion, up roughly 1,200% from a year earlier. Third-quarter revenue was about $17 billion, but growth slowed quarter over quarter: about 47%, down from 144% in the second quarter and 132% in the first.

The company reported a $104 billion net loss for the nine months, mostly from changes in the fair value of convertible notes and derivative liabilities; the third-quarter loss was $23.29 billion. Anthropic disclosed purchase commitments and leases totaling about $895.4 billion, almost all for compute and infrastructure, and said compute and infrastructure expenses rose 329%.

A separate CNBC piece notes the filing landed in a rough week: Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon results added to worries about AI spending and the borrowing costs of the data center companies Anthropic relies on. No pricing or listing date was announced in the window.

US stocks rallied on Wednesday, November 4, after Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections. The S&P 500 gained more than 1%. CNBC reports that strategists credited President Trump's statement overnight, to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, that he accepted the results and would work with Democrats, which eased fears of a drawn-out fight over the outcome.

The biggest tech companies led: during the session Amazon rose 8%, Alphabet more than 6%, Apple nearly 7%, Microsoft 4% and Meta 3%. JPMorgan Asset Management's David Kelly said divided government means 'moderation in growth, moderation in inflation, less uncertainty.' Stocks tied to the AI data center buildout and to Elon Musk fell: CoreWeave dropped 10%, after voters sided against data centers in 40 of 41 local ballot measures, according to CNBC.

The rally did not last: the next day the market gave back those gains and more.

Chipmaker Marvell Technology agreed on Monday, November 2, to buy optical components maker Lumentum in an all-stock deal. Lumentum shareholders will get 4.5 Marvell shares for each share they own; Marvell put the implied enterprise value at $115 billion, though the final value depends on Marvell's share price. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2028.

Marvell CEO Matt Murphy told CNBC the combination will create 'a new category of company' by making semiconductors and optical connections work together for AI systems, which increasingly use light to link chips. Investors were not convinced on day one: Marvell fell 13% and Lumentum nearly 19%. CNBC notes both had been big AI winners, with Marvell more than doubling over the past year and Lumentum quadrupling before Monday.

Wendy's said on Thursday, November 5, that it rejected a $1.4 billion offer from an investor group led by Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management, which on October 28 offered $7.35 a share in cash to take the chain private. The group also included BlueFive Capital, Sixth Street Partners and Flynn Group, one of Wendy's largest franchisees. A committee of independent directors found the bid 'substantially undervalues' the company and ignores its turnaround plan under CEO Bob Wright. Trian declined to comment.

Wendy's adopted a one-year shareholder rights plan, or poison pill, after the group turned down a standstill agreement. CNBC recounts that a Peltz company owned Wendy's from 2008, and that Trian's Peter May and Peltz's son Bradley still sit on its board. Wendy's also reported a seventh straight quarter of falling same-store sales, though earnings and revenue beat estimates. The shares moved less than 1%.

CVS Health said on Wednesday, November 4, that it plans to split into two publicly traded companies by the first half of 2028, separating its roughly 9,000 retail pharmacies from its Aetna insurance business and its Caremark pharmacy benefit manager. It reverses the $78 billion Aetna deal of 2018 and, CNBC notes, would be one of the largest corporate breakups on record.

The insurer and PBM company would keep the CVS Health name under CEO David Joyner, who told CNBC the move comes 'out of a position of strength.' The drugstore company would be called CVS Pharmacy, led by Prem Shah. Shareholders would own stock in both. CVS also beat third-quarter estimates, with sales of $108.40 billion.

Shares closed more than 12% lower. CNBC reports that PBMs face bipartisan scrutiny, and that Tennessee and Arkansas have passed laws banning co-ownership of PBMs and pharmacies, which CVS and others are challenging in court.

Oracle filed with the SEC on Monday, November 2, to sell $10 billion in common stock and $10 billion in senior notes to help pay for its AI buildout. The plan had been outlined at its investor day the week before, but the shares still fell 8.8%. Oracle has said this $20 billion is all the new capital-market funding it plans for its fiscal 2027 to 2030 investment cycle, leaning instead on vendor financing, customer-provided hardware and prepayments.

On Tuesday, Meta sought to raise $20 billion to $25 billion in a bond sale, about two-thirds in dollars and one-third in euros, according to people familiar with the matter cited by CNBC. The sale came days after S&P Global Ratings revised Meta's AA- outlook to negative, citing its heavy capital spending and negative free cash flow. Meta has said it plans to raise $95 billion in total, including $35 billion in public stock offerings. Its shares rose 2.7% on Tuesday after a losing October.

Apple reported fiscal fourth-quarter results on Monday, November 2: earnings of $2.10 a share against $1.99 expected by analysts polled by LSEG, and revenue of $114.48 billion against $113.39 billion expected. iPhone sales of $57.58 billion beat the $56.54 billion consensus, while iPad and other product sales fell short.

Apple forecast a gross margin of 45% to 46% for the current quarter, below the average analyst estimate of 46.3%, and the shares slid about 4% in premarket trading on Tuesday. CNBC notes the stock was up about 24% for the year and reports that analysts, including at Goldman Sachs, still see the results as a temporary blip.

AMD reported third-quarter results on Tuesday, November 3, with adjusted earnings of $2.09 a share against $1.95 expected by analysts polled by LSEG, and revenue of $13.38 billion against $13.09 billion expected. CEO Lisa Su said server revenue is expected to double in 2027 and that data center AI growth should accelerate faster than AMD forecast three months earlier. Analysts said stronger AI revenue could offset softness in PCs, and the stock rose about 4% in premarket trading on Wednesday after falling roughly 24% over the prior month.

The bounce did not last. In Thursday's AI and chip selloff after the midterms, AMD fell about 14%, CNBC reports, as investors worried that Democratic wins could slow data center construction.

Job openings rose by 333,000 in September to 7.52 million, well above the 7.15 million economists expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday, November 3. Quits rose to 3.36 million, the most since March 2025, and there were about 1.05 openings for every unemployed worker.

On Wednesday, payroll processor ADP said private employers added 86,000 jobs in October, the same as September's revised figure and above the 75,000 expected. Professional and business services lost 27,000 jobs; people who changed jobs saw 4.8% annual pay gains.

On Thursday, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin told CNBC he expects the Fed will need to raise rates further, at a gradual pace, saying inflation is 'the most important risk right now' and that AI is pushing some prices up. The Fed held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% at its last meeting after a hike in September. The official October payrolls report is due Friday, after this issue's window.

The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate in a 3.75% to 4% range on October 28, after raising it a quarter point in September. Its statement said "Inflation remains elevated" and that more information will help it decide its next step. Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented in favor of a quarter-point hike; CNBC reports it was Cook's first dissent since joining the Fed in 2022. Futures pricing points to a strong possibility of a hike in December.

On October 29 the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that real GDP grew at a 3.4% annual rate in the third quarter, up from 2.2% in the second, driven by investment, consumer spending and government spending. The PCE price index rose 0.5% in September, for 3.6% annual inflation; core PCE was 3.1%. Weekly jobless claims fell to 194,000.

Two software companies fell sharply on October 29 after reporting late on October 28. ServiceNow dropped 26% after adjusted profit of $1 a share missed the $1.02 consensus, while its fourth-quarter subscription revenue guidance of $4.245 billion to $4.255 billion straddled the $4.25 billion estimate. Fortinet fell 21% after its non-GAAP gross margin came in at 79.6% against 80.1% expected, even though revenue and profit beat estimates.

CNBC's Jim Cramer said Fortinet's results pulled down Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, and ServiceNow's weighed on Workday and Salesforce. He argued Fortinet, which is more hardware-focused, has been losing share to those rivals, so its weakness is company-specific rather than a sign of slowing demand for cybersecurity.

Alphabet reported third-quarter revenue of $127.58 billion, up 25% but short of the $128.22 billion analysts expected, and adjusted earnings of $2.67 a share against $3.02 expected. CNBC calls it the company's first top-and-bottom-line miss in nearly four years. Free cash flow was negative $9.07 billion, far below the negative $2.70 billion analysts expected, and long-term debt rose to $125.1 billion from $21.6 billion a year earlier.

Search revenue grew 12% to $63.35 billion, missing estimates; Alphabet's business chief said lower monetization in AI Mode was part of the reason. Google Cloud revenue more than doubled to $30.7 billion, ahead of forecasts. Alphabet kept its 2026 capital spending forecast at $195 billion to $205 billion and said spending will rise significantly in 2027.

The shares fell about 9% after hours on October 28 and closed down nearly 13% on October 29, which CNBC reports is the stock's worst day since Google went public in 2004, erasing roughly $500 billion in market value.

On October 26, Microsoft's chief people officer, Amy Coleman, announced a voluntary exit offer for about 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of the global workforce, in the US, UK, Canada and India, the AP reports. Microsoft had about 223,000 full-time employees at the end of June and cut 4,800 jobs in July.

Two days later Microsoft reported fiscal first-quarter revenue up 19% and diluted earnings of $4.92 a share, up 32%. Microsoft Cloud revenue was $63.9 billion, up 30%, and commercial remaining performance obligation rose 73% to $677 billion, according to the company. CNBC reports Azure grew 48% and finance chief Amy Hood guided to 49% to 50% growth next quarter.

Capital expenditures and finance leases were $45.2 billion, below the $50.67 billion analysts expected; Hood said some third-party capacity deliveries were delayed. Free cash flow fell 27% to $18.63 billion but stayed positive. The stock rose 2% to 4% after hours but ended the next day roughly flat.

Brazil's Ibovespa index fell 13.88% on Monday, October 26, to 176,608 points, its steepest one-day fall since March 2020, after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the October 25 runoff, according to The Rio Times. A circuit breaker halted trading for 30 minutes after a 10% drop in the morning. The US dollar rose 8.79% against the real, its largest one-day move since at least 2020. Banks and other domestic-focused companies fell hardest, while exporter Vale rose 4%.

MercoPress reports that markets had positioned for a win by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who led the first round, on expectations of tighter fiscal policy. Brazil's Treasury canceled the debt auctions scheduled for October 27 to 29. Bolsonaro has not recognized the result and has said he will seek to annul it. Analysts quoted by MercoPress say investors now want a fiscal plan that stabilizes debt, which exceeds 80% of GDP.

DoorDash agreed on October 29 to acquire Instacart's parent, Maplebear, for $65 a share in cash and stock, about $17 billion. CNBC reports the price is an 11% premium to Instacart's October 28 close and about 26% above its October 22 close, before reports of a possible sale surfaced. The companies expect the deal to close at the end of 2027 or early 2028; DoorDash plans to keep Instacart's brand, app and enterprise technology products, and the two will operate separately until then.

DoorDash also reported third-quarter revenue of $4.62 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.06 a share, both above estimates, with orders up 28% to 993 million. DoorDash shares rose more than 6% in morning trading, while Instacart traded near flat. CNBC notes Instacart agreed in December to pay $60 million to settle FTC allegations about its advertising.

Amazon reported third-quarter results after the close on October 29: earnings of $1.89 a share on revenue of $201.94 billion, short of the $1.96 and $202.31 billion analysts expected, per LSEG. Shares fell more than 6% in extended trading.

Free cash flow was negative $42.4 billion over the trailing twelve months, the second straight negative quarter, which Amazon attributed mainly to AI-related purchases of property and equipment. Capital expenditures were $77.3 billion in the quarter, well above the $58.7 billion analysts estimated; Amazon kept its 2026 capex forecast at $220 billion, and CEO Andy Jassy said it expects to spend "meaningfully more in 2027."

AWS sales rose 39% to $45.98 billion, beating forecasts, and Jassy said he expects AWS growth above 40% next year. Fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $240 billion to $247 billion had a midpoint below expectations.

Intel shares fell more than 20% in extended trading on October 29 after the company forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion and adjusted earnings of 25 cents a share; analysts expected $17.1 billion and 43 cents, per LSEG.

Third-quarter revenue rose 21% from $13.7 billion a year earlier. Data center and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion, while the client computing group fell 5% to $8.1 billion. Finance chief David Zinsner said the PC slowdown should continue at least through the first half of next year. He said an explosion earlier this month at a fab in Israel, which killed two workers, will cost about $600 million in lost revenue over two quarters.

CNBC notes the stock was up about 150% this year before the report, though down roughly 23% in October.

Brent crude rose 3.1% on October 23 to settle at $116.72 a barrel, its highest settlement since April 29, and gained 6.2% for the week, its third straight weekly rise. US West Texas Intermediate settled at $103.27. CNBC reports the move followed a New York Times report, citing US officials, that the US and Israel plan fresh strikes on Iran after the midterm elections, while Iran-allied Houthi militants kept attacking Saudi Arabia.

Prices eased early in the week, with Brent settling at $115.81 on October 26, then rose again on October 28 to $115.32 after The Wall Street Journal reported the US had told Gulf Arab countries to be ready for a short, intense campaign after the midterms. CNBC also reports the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve stood at 282.6 million barrels, its lowest since 1982.

Eli Lilly reported third-quarter revenue of $24.4 billion on October 29, above the $22.61 billion analysts expected, and adjusted earnings of $7.48 a share against $6.26 expected, per LSEG. It raised its 2026 revenue forecast to $91 billion to $92 billion, from $85 billion to $87 billion. Its earnings-per-share outlook moved slightly lower to $35 to $36, because $4.57 a share in deal-related charges more than offset a $4.07 increase in underlying guidance.

Mounjaro revenue rose 65% to $10.72 billion, with sales outside the US up 93%, and Zepbound rose 49% to $5.35 billion. Sales of the new obesity pill Foundayo, launched in April, came in below expectations. CEO Dave Ricks pointed to Medicare's pilot coverage of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. The stock rose 6% to 8% during the day, and CNBC reports the healthcare sector hit a record high.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6% to 26,008.86 on October 22, its worst session since June, and the S&P 500 lost 1.21%, its worst since July. The Dow ended slightly higher. CNBC and Yahoo Finance tie the drop to renewed worries about AI spending after Meta's results, and to oil.

AMD fell more than 8%, Micron 6% and Nvidia about 4%. Neocloud CoreWeave dropped 10%. Power and equipment names linked to data centers fell hard: GE Vernova and Bloom Energy each lost more than 11% and Vistra more than 10%, CNBC reports.

Investors moved into bonds: the 10-year Treasury yield fell more than 17 basis points to about 4.97%, CNBC reports; Yahoo Finance said it was on track for the biggest one-day drop in more than two years.

Brent crude rose 4% to settle at $113.17 a barrel on October 22, its highest close since May 4, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate gained 2.4% to $99.47.

CNBC reports the jump followed a New York Times report, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that U.S. and Israeli militaries have drawn up plans for renewed strikes on Iran after next month's midterm elections. President Trump told reporters the U.S. is not negotiating with Iran and that something will happen "fairly soon." The U.S. also ordered non-emergency government staff and families to leave Saudi Arabia, citing rising Houthi attacks; Saudi state media said at least two people were killed in an attack on Dammam's airport.

Yahoo Finance notes Brent is up more than 50% since the Iran war began in late February. One fund manager quoted by CNBC argues households are less exposed to oil shocks than decades ago.

Credit markets stayed nervous about AI borrowers this week even as stocks bounced. On October 19, the yield on CoreWeave's 9.625% bond due 2032 was 14.9%, and the spread on its five-year credit default swaps was about 1,082 basis points; CNBC notes a spread above 1,000 is generally a sign of distress. Oracle's five-year CDS spread widened to 315 basis points.

Economist David Rosenberg called Oracle the "canary in the coal mine," noting that Oracle, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta have issued more than $228 billion of bonds this year. A Janus Henderson credit head said the moves look overdone.

On October 22, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that demand for neoclouds is "off the charts" but "there's a scarcity of capital," adding, "That's going to get solved."

The yield on France's benchmark 10-year bond briefly rose above 5% on October 21, the first time since 2002, before settling just under it, CNBC reports.

The government is trying to pass its 2027 budget through a divided parliament, with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu targeting 54 billion euros in spending cuts, while violent protests demanding more spending on education and cost-of-living relief spread over the weekend. France's deficit was 5.1% of GDP at the end of last year; the EU, which has France under its excessive deficit procedure, wants it closer to 3%.

Finance minister Roland Lescure told RTL the government would use Article 49.3 of the constitution, which lets it adopt a bill without a vote, if lawmakers do not agree. Yahoo Finance noted on October 22 that France's 10-year yield was above the U.S. 10-year for the first time since 2013.

SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) reported third-quarter revenue of $14.6 billion, up 161% from $5.6 billion a year earlier, with net income of $4.4 billion against a $1.1 billion loss, according to its earnings release on October 20.

CNBC reports that the AI unit, which SpaceX calls "Super Intelligence," is now its largest business: revenue rose about ninefold to $7.56 billion, helped by renting computing capacity to Google, Anthropic and others and by the Cursor acquisition. Starlink subscribers reached 13.6 million, and the launch business grew only slightly, to $1.77 billion. CFO Bret Johnsen guided first-quarter 2027 revenue to $33 billion to $37 billion, far above the roughly $22 billion analysts expected, per LSEG.

On the call, Elon Musk said a merger with Tesla would be a "good idea" and that both boards have formed special committees to discuss it. The shares climbed about 8% in extended trading after the release, CNBC reports.

Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.60 billion, up 26% and above the $63.37 billion analysts expected, and guided fourth-quarter revenue to $73 billion to $76 billion. The stock rose after hours on October 21 but fell almost 7% on October 22.

CNBC reports free cash flow was negative $2.12 billion in the quarter, and Meta raised the floor of its full-year capital spending forecast to $135 billion to $145 billion (from a $130 billion bottom). The spread on Meta's five-year credit default swaps hit an all-time high.

Meta also announced a nonvoting Class C stock, to be distributed to all shareholders as a dividend starting January 2027, which CNBC describes as effectively a 2-for-1 split. Meta says it is meant to keep its "founder-led structure" and help finance growth. The SEC filing says Mark Zuckerberg could leave California if the proposed state wealth tax passes, and that he committed to stay for eight years as part of the new stock plan. Meta's workforce shrank 12% in the quarter to 66,000.

Netflix reported third-quarter earnings of 87 cents a share, above the 82 cents analysts expected, on revenue of $12.87 billion, in line, on October 20. Revenue was up almost 12%, which Netflix attributed to membership growth and March price increases.

Netflix narrowed its 2026 revenue forecast to $51.1 billion, the low end of its earlier range and below the $51.2 billion analysts expected, per LSEG, and lowered its 2026 ad-revenue outlook to about $2.7 billion from about $3 billion, citing a slower rollout of some ad products. It expects last week's job cuts to reduce fourth-quarter operating margin by about 120 basis points.

"We know there's some investor concern about our view hours growth," the shareholder letter said, adding that engagement "remains healthy." The stock fell more than 5% on October 21, CNBC reports. Screen Daily notes India view hours rose 24% year over year.

Tesla reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $28.05 billion, both above LSEG estimates, on October 21. Automotive revenue fell 3% to $20.56 billion and energy revenue fell 16%, while services and other revenue rose 33%. Tesla cited lower average prices and trouble securing battery supplies.

Net income attributable to shareholders fell 29% to $787 million. CNBC reports capital spending more than doubled to $3.73 billion, driven by Optimus robots and other AI work, and free cash flow fell 62% to $1.53 billion. Active FSD subscriptions rose 67% to 1.74 million.

Musk said the driverless Robotaxi fleet should start contributing to results in 2027, and declined to add to his SpaceX merger comments from the day before. Shares slid more than 3% after hours and ended about 3% lower on October 22, per Yahoo Finance.

Salesforce announced on October 20 a definitive agreement to acquire Braze, a customer engagement platform, for about $5.66 billion in enterprise value. Braze Class A holders will receive $47.50 per share in cash.

Braze shares had closed at $30.04 the day before; they rose more than 51% to $45.57, CNBC reports. Salesforce says Braze's real-time messaging across apps, websites, email, SMS and WhatsApp will be combined with its Marketing Cloud, CRM and Data 360, and frames the deal as part of a shift to AI agents in marketing. The deal is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal 2028, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

CNBC notes it comes months after Salesforce agreed to buy AI customer-service platform Fin for about $3.6 billion.

Shares of South Korean AI services company Elice Group fell about 30% on their first day of trading on October 20, last trading at 63,600 won against an IPO price of 90,500 won, CNBC reports. The IPO raised 201.1 billion won (about $150 million), mostly for portable modular data centers.

Analysts noted the deal was priced on October 6, before the recent sell-off in AI stocks, even though institutional orders were 388.84 times the shares on offer. CNBC lists other AI data-center listings shelved this month: Nvidia-backed Firmus in Australia, a Singapore REIT IPO from Blackstone-backed AirTrunk, and SoftBank's SB Energy.

Elice says first-half revenue tripled to 34 billion won with a 10 billion won operating profit. "Elice's debut shows the AI infrastructure trade has moved from 'build at any cost' to 'who is paying and for how long'," said Shenton Research's Ke Yan.

Trading in blockchain versions of stocks is growing fast outside the U.S. Bitwise Asset Management's quarterly report says tokenized stock volume on Robinhood Chain went from $526 million in July to $11.31 billion in September, CNBC reports.

In the U.S., companies are pushing back. On October 19, OKXICE, the tokenized-securities venue launched by crypto exchange OKX and NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange, disclosed objections from Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Caterpillar, McDonald's, Western Digital and Alphabet, adding to earlier objectors including CoreWeave, UnitedHealth and Broadcom.

CNBC says the SEC's innovation exemption last month created a temporary path for tokenized stocks in the U.S. that requires companies be able to object. The debate centers on whether token holders should get the same rights as shareholders, including voting.

Moderna shares dropped as much as 25% on October 22 after partial data on its melanoma vaccine with Merck leaked; Merck shares also fell, CNBC reports. Yahoo Finance said it put Moderna on pace for its worst day since its 2018 IPO.

The full phase 3 data, released later that day, showed the personalized vaccine, intismeran autogene, plus Merck's Keytruda cut the risk of recurrence or death by 42% versus Keytruda alone in certain high-risk patients. About 82% of patients on the combination were alive without recurrence after two years, versus 70% on Keytruda alone. The companies say it is too early to know whether it extends overall survival.

Analysts at BMO and UBS called the data strong and said the drop likely reflected inflated expectations. Detailed results are due at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting this weekend.

US consumer prices rose 3.7% year over year in September, up from 3.4% in August and above the 3.6% economists expected, the Labor Department said. Markets priced a higher chance of a Fed rate increase later this month: expectations of a quarter-point hike nearly doubled to 44% on the CME FedWatch tool. Treasury yields and the dollar rose, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq opened lower. The day before, tech shares had fallen on worries about Chinese progress in AI chips and a Broadcom executive's comparison of AI buying to gambling.

The National Payments Corporation of India postponed the October 15 start of a 0.4% fee on eligible merchant UPI transactions above ₹2,000 (about $21), citing the festive shopping season; it will now come after Diwali, with no new date. Retailers and petrol pump operators had opposed it, some saying they would stop accepting UPI. The fee would end a policy, in place since January 2020, of keeping UPI free for merchants. UPI processed 24.07 billion transactions worth ₹29.37 trillion (about $305 billion) in September.

Bengaluru-based Scimplify raised $25 million in an all-equity round led by Hitachi Ventures, with customers Henkel and Teknor Apex joining, bringing its total equity funding to $80 million. A person familiar with the deal put the post-money valuation at $250 million. The startup develops manufacturing processes in its labs in Bengaluru and Hyderabad and hands them to partner factories, using its AI platform Scinode to coordinate; co-founder Sachin Santhosh says it has gone from customer requirements to finished material in two months, versus the usual 12 to 18.

Netflix confirmed it is laying off about 6% of staff, close to 1,000 people, mostly in product, tech, legal and HR, while saying it will keep investing "aggressively in high impact areas" and remains on track for its full-year forecast. It had 16,000 full-time employees at the end of last year. The Wall Street Journal first reported the cuts from a memo by co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. The layoffs follow Netflix losing the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming businesses to Paramount Skydance earlier this year.