United States

Bitcoin entered October near $83K and touched roughly $87K within days, retesting an area last seen in late September, with its three-month performance up about 33.23%. Strategy bought 334 BTC for $28.7M in early October while estimating a $20.9B digital-asset gain for the third quarter, and Metaplanet lifted its holdings to 44K BTC after a 1K BTC net increase in the third quarter, targeting 85%-90% of assets in Bitcoin. Coinglass data showed $164.22M of net Bitcoin ETF inflows over one day and $226.41M over seven days. Kalshi's market-implied year-end high rose to $95K, up $6.6K, while CFTC Chairman Selig said the agency is proposing its first crypto market rules. Bitcoin-linked stocks were weaker over the past week, with MARA Holdings down 12%, Cipher Mining down 10%, Robinhood Markets down 8%, Coinbase Global down 6%, Circle Internet Group down 3%, BitMine Immersion Technologies down 3%, and Hut 8 down 2.45%.

A 50/50 joint venture between OKX and ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has filed to launch 24/7 tokenized US stock trading under the SEC's proposed five-year innovation exemption, the first major attempt by anyone to use that exemption. The initial list will have 63 stocks, including Strategy, Apple, Nvidia, Coinbase, Robinhood, Circle and major banks. Trading would run continuously, 24/7 365, through Uniswap liquidity pools on OKX's X layer and in USDC, USDG and USDT pairs, with users holding assets in self-custodial wallets subject to identity verification, AML and KYC. Unlike Robinhood-style representations, the tokens must be backed one for one by an actual share held through a registered broker dealer, and investors would receive dividends and voting rights just like on any stock. Companies have 30 days to object to having their stock tokenized.

Strategy added 334 bitcoin for $28.7 million while spending $176.3 million to buy back its STRC preferred stock, a sum roughly six times larger than its latest bitcoin purchase. The bitcoin purchase was funded with $15.7 million from issuing and selling MSTR shares and $13 million from Strategy's flexible USD cash pool, while the STRC buyback was funded with $154.1 million of its USD cash pile and $22.2 million of interest earned on its dollar holdings. Strategy now holds $4.88 billion in protected USD reserve and $833.4 million of flexible USD cash, and has spent about $64 billion in total on bitcoin at an average cost base of $75,440.70. Separately, a joint venture between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, has filed to offer 24/7 tokenized US stock trading under the SEC's proposed five-year innovation exemption, with an initial list of 63 stocks including Strategy, Apple, Nvidia, Coinbase, Robinhood and Circle. Trading would run continuously through Uniswap liquidity pools on OKX's X Layer in USDC, USDG and USDT pairs, with assets held in self-custodial wallets and backed one-for-one by actual shares held through a registered broker-dealer. Bloomberg Terminal has also begun carrying Hyperliquid data, and the Independent Community Bankers of America is suing the OCC over national trust bank charters granted to crypto companies. Ethereum Layer 2 network Blast will shut down with an October 26 withdrawal deadline, after assets on the network fell from $2.2 billion to $32 million and its token lost 98% of its launch value, while the IMF approved funds for El Salvador after a waiver for its bitcoin breach.

Akamai Technologies announced an approximately $11.6 billion agreement supporting Anthropic's central processing unit workloads, a deal that also provides for a potential additional $9 billion in business beyond the initial commitment. On Mad Money, Jim Cramer said the seven-year contractual commitment works out to $1.66 billion per year, more than a third of what Akamai is expected to bring in this year, though the annual figure is a simple average and Akamai's filing specifies separate seven-year project terms beginning on their respective service start dates, with payments subject to delivery and availability requirements. Akamai estimates approximately $5.5 billion in capital expenditures related to the Anthropic commitment, including an additional approximately $1.7 billion in 2026, and left its 2026 revenue guidance unchanged while issuing an Anthropic warrant covering up to approximately 5% of its outstanding common stock. In the second quarter, Akamai's cloud infrastructure services revenue rose 39% year over year to approximately $99 million and security revenue rose 10% to approximately $604 million, helping total revenue grow 5% to approximately $1.1 billion, while delivery and other cloud applications revenue declined 6% and adjusted earnings per share fell 8% to $1.59. Cramer, who highlighted Akamai's distributed Akamai Inference Cloud initiative and its edge computing approach, said the stock's retreat after the announcement felt like a buying opportunity, noting it trades at approximately 16.6x forward earnings, below Fastly's approximately 48x multiple.

The euro slid Monday to its lowest level against the dollar in 17 months as concerns mounted over France's high debt and deficits, sending French government bond yields soaring. The decline followed an underwhelming 2027 budget plan unveiled last week that fanned fears French government spending will stay high ahead of next year's presidential elections, in which the far-right Marine Le Pen, seen as a fiscal populist, stands a chance of winning. French debt is projected to rise to nearly 122 percent of the country's GDP next year despite billions of euros in planned spending cuts, pushing the 10-year government bond yield to 4.8 percent, the highest since the 2011 eurozone bond crisis. A call for snap elections in Spain by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez added another layer of uncertainty, with Patrick Munnelly of Tickmill Group saying Europe's political risk is weighing on the euro. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.9 percent to 7,824.28, dragged down by bond-yield worries and a nearly 10 percent drop in Schneider Electric shares after the company unveiled a $22.6 billion all-cash deal to buy the US engineering software specialist PTC.

Brazilian assets rallied sharply after first-round election results showed Flávio Bolsonaro advancing to an Oct. 25 run-off against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with a stronger-than-expected showing. Speculators on prediction market platform Kalshi now give Bolsonaro a more than 80% chance of winning the presidency, up from about 60% before Sunday's first round, while on Polymarket his odds jumped to 85% from 63%. Bolsonaro secured more than 47% of the votes and beat Lula's first round total by nearly 2 percentage points, despite pre-election polls that widely expected him to trail the incumbent in that initial tally. The iShares MSCI Brazil ETF was up more than 12% on Monday, U.S.-listed shares of Itau Unibanco gained 15%, Banco Bradesco surged 19%, and Brazil's local Bovespa index was up 8%. Investors broadly see Bolsonaro as more favorable to markets, as the candidate is promising greater fiscal discipline, with Brazil's deficit-to-GDP ratio at almost 10% in June.

Visa is expanding its stablecoin infrastructure across nine blockchains and now supports more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs, with payment volume up nearly 200% year over year. In fiscal 2026 year to date, about 17% of Visa's stablecoin-linked card volume came from business and commercial card programs, and its stablecoin settlement volume has crossed a $20 billion annualized run rate, up more than 15-fold from a year ago. The company launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, introduced an onchain credit model in September 2026 that uses VisaNet settlement data, and expects its partnership with Bridge to take stablecoin-linked cards to more than 100 countries. Visa's Value-Added Services revenues rose to $3.8 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 from $2.8 billion a year earlier, while processed transactions rose 10% year over year to 71.7 billion. Net cash provided by operating activities totaled $16.3 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, free cash flow reached $15.2 billion, and Visa returned $6.2 billion in the third quarter through dividends and share repurchases, including $4.9 billion of buybacks, with $28.4 billion still available under its repurchase authorization as of June 30, 2026.

Sintana Energy's Namibian affiliate Trago Energy has agreed to transfer its entire 10% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence 90 to Harmattan Energy Limited, an affiliate of Chevron, for US$11 million in cash upon completion. Sintana holds an indirect 49% interest in Trago, and the agreement also provides for additional contingent consideration tied to appraisal and production milestones, including revenues from potential commercial production currently estimated at between 1.5 million and 2.5 million barrels of oil. CEO Robert Bose said the deal removes Trago from the PEL 90 joint venture, eliminating capital obligations that could reach $15 million per exploration well and as much as $500 million if the project moved into development with an uncarried 10% interest, while preserving exposure to milestones such as appraisal plan approval and first oil. Attention now turns to the Nabba 1-X exploration well on PEL 90, expected in December, which will test the prospectivity of Namibia's Orange Basin near the Mopane and Venus discoveries. Bose also noted that Total is set to begin a three-well campaign on PEL 83 in the fourth quarter, with Equinor having recently farmed into PEL 90.

Quanta Services raised its full-year 2026 free cash flow outlook to $2-$2.5 billion, alongside operating cash flow expectations of $2.9-$3.4 billion, after a strong first half. In the second quarter, Quanta generated operating cash flow of $1.10 billion and free cash flow of $886 million, bringing first-half free cash flow to $1.07 billion, sharply higher than $288 million in the comparable 2025 period. Management attributed the second-quarter strength partly to favorable working-capital dynamics, particularly from large-load and renewable projects, while days sales outstanding improved to 57 days. The outlook is underpinned by a record $53.4 billion backlog, expanding project activity and rising investment in electric grids, power generation, data centers and other mission-critical infrastructure. Quanta still expects roughly $900 million of net capital expenditures in 2026, and cash generation could fluctuate with project timing, working-capital requirements, acquisitions, weather, permitting, supply-chain issues, inflation and project execution. Quanta competes with MasTec and EMCOR Group across power, electrical and mission-critical infrastructure markets; MasTec reported negative $59 million of free cash flow in the second quarter, while EMCOR posted record remaining performance obligations of $17.14 billion.

Strategy's high-profile STRC preferred stock is nearing the critical $100 level, a threshold that may once again open the door to an important line of capital for the Bitcoin treasury juggernaut to grow its cryptocurrency position. The development centers on the preferred instrument tied to the company's Bitcoin accumulation strategy, with the $100 mark serving as the key reference point for whether that capital channel reopens.

Target Corporation is raising capital investments to strengthen its store network, supply chain and technology capabilities, expecting capital expenditures of approximately $5 billion in fiscal 2026. Through the first half, the retailer deployed about $2.4 billion in capital expenditures, up nearly 30% from a year ago, with spending directed toward new stores, full-store remodels and technology upgrades. Target opened 17 new stores in the second quarter, bringing the first-half total to 24, and had more than 100 full-store remodels underway, moving toward roughly 130 for the year, as stores handle more than 95% of the company's sales. The company is modernizing its technology foundation and has partnered with OpenAI, Google Gemini and other leading platforms as it explores agentic commerce, saying digital traffic sourced from external AI platforms is growing more than 3.5 times the industry rate versus a year ago. Target is also investing in Proxima, a digital twin of its middle-mile inventory positioning system, and said it fulfilled nearly 30% more same-day and next-day units in the second quarter than a year earlier. Separately, Walmart raised its fiscal 2027 capital expenditure outlook to about 4% of net sales from roughly 3.5% earlier, while Dollar General expects fiscal 2026 capital expenditures of $1.4-$1.5 billion and plans about 4,730 real-estate projects during the year.

Alphabet Inc. is positioned to extend a streak of earnings beats into its next quarterly report, according to Zacks Investment Research. Over the last two quarters, the company's average earnings surprise was 154.94%. In the most recent quarter, Alphabet was expected to post earnings of $2.88 per share but reported $9.11 per share, a surprise of 216.32%, following the prior quarter's result of $5.11 per share against a consensus estimate of $2.64 per share, a surprise of 93.56%. Alphabet currently has an Earnings ESP of +1.20% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), a combination that Zacks research shows produces a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time.

Citigroup Inc. is taking Citi Token Services to Japan and the United Arab Emirates, broadening its digital payments network across key financial hubs. Built on a private and permissioned blockchain, the platform enables near-instantaneous movement of funds within Citigroup's network, helping clients overcome traditional banking cut-off times, holidays and time-zone constraints. With the addition of Japan and the UAE, Citi Token Services is now available across seven markets, including the United States, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom; Japan will support USD transactions, while the UAE will support USD and euro transactions. The platform, launched commercially in 2024 following an initial Singapore-New York pilot, was integrated with Citigroup's 24/7 U.S. dollar Clearing capabilities in 2025 and later expanded to support euro transactions through its Dublin operations. The initiative aligns with Citigroup's 2026 Investor Day strategy, which identified tokenization and next-generation platforms as longer-term Services growth drivers, with Services revenues expected to grow at a low to mid-single-digit rate in 2027-2028.

Morgan Stanley said on the 5th that semiconductor giants Nvidia and Broadcom are relatively unlikely to be affected by the worsening data center power shortage in the United States. The firm estimated last month that even if U.S. data center developers adopt measures such as "behind-the-meter" power generation, which integrates power plants with data centers, and fuel cells, they will face a net power shortfall of 34 percent by 2028, equivalent to a shortfall of 32 gigawatts. Morgan Stanley noted that because Nvidia and Broadcom have clear visibility on chip deployment, geographic expansion, and coordination among data centers, semiconductor suppliers, and power supply networks, these bottlenecks will not threaten the two companies' 2027 outlook. On the other hand, if semiconductor production capacity cannot be expanded, customers may delay delivery schedules or cancel orders, and memory, optical components, power management, and analog components are most vulnerable to inventory-related disruptions. Goldman Sachs has also pointed to growing constraints on U.S. data center construction, seeing the short-term impact of political backlash as limited, while Morgan Stanley cites labor, power, and politics as the three challenges.

Amazon Web Services Chief AI and Technology Officer Matt Wood said the cost of delivering a given level of AI intelligence is falling by one or two orders of magnitude every three to six months outside the most advanced frontier models, a decline he attributed to improving efficiency as companies learn to operationalize frontier models at lower cost. Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Wood rejected the idea that more capable AI agents must become less safe, saying developers can surround models with controls, guardrails, security and privacy protections while still improving the underlying technology, and pushed back on the notion that companies must choose between development speed and safety. Wood also defended AWS's $220 billion infrastructure investment, pointing to customer demand and internal business metrics, and said he expects additional computing capacity and greater operating efficiency to bring AI to more businesses and users. Accelerating AWS growth helped push Amazon above $3 trillion in market value for the first time in August 2026, after second-quarter results showed AWS revenue growing at its fastest pace since 2021; the stock surged more than 15% in one session, adding nearly $400 billion in market value, before gaining as much as another 5.3% as it crossed the threshold. TD Cowen analyst John Blackledge said AWS's AI business exited a quarter at roughly a $25 billion annual run rate, its fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating revenue growth, and pointed to CEO Andy Jassy's view that AWS could eventually generate $1 trillion in revenue, compared with the $600 billion long-term opportunity Jassy discussed in his April shareholder letter. Amazon expects AWS to remain capacity constrained through 2026 and 2027 because of AI demand, even as it plans to double AWS capacity by the end of 2027.

Reactor, the developer platform for real-time generative video and world models, announced that NVIDIA and Sapphire Ventures have joined its Series A round, which is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company said the investment comes as demand grows for infrastructure capable of running increasingly powerful world models in real time. Reactor's proprietary inference engine, global GPU cloud and low-latency streaming layer let developers and enterprises run models at 60+ FPS and sub-40ms latency through a unified SDK and API. The platform is already used across media and entertainment, where major Hollywood studios, advertising platforms and video streaming services have active projects, and by leading world model labs in the U.S. and internationally. Reactor was co-founded by CEO Alberto Taiuti and CTO Bryce Schmidtchen, both former technical leads on Apple Vision Pro, and its team includes engineers and researchers from Apple, Meta, Google, Adobe, Replicate and Microsoft.

Verizon Communications has entered into a joint venture with AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile US, Inc. to expand wireless coverage and reduce mobile dead zones across the United States using satellite connectivity. The venture will complement Verizon's existing network with direct-to-device services, letting compatible devices connect to satellite networks and providing backup connectivity during natural disasters or other network disruptions. The partnership is expected to reduce coverage gaps, improve reliability and provide more satellite service options, while helping Verizon adopt common technical standards that improve compatibility among devices, operating systems and satellite networks. Existing carrier-satellite agreements will remain in place, allowing Verizon to continue its independent connectivity initiatives alongside the new venture. Verizon shares have gained 10.8% over the past year compared with the industry's growth of 119.6%, and the stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77 versus the industry average of 37.6. Earnings estimates for 2026 have remained static at $5.03 per share, while estimates for 2027 have increased 0.2% to $5.30 over the past 60 days.

Jefferies says a divided government may be the best midterm elections outcome for Big Tech players spending massive amounts of money to build out AI infrastructure. In a note on Monday, the Jefferies research team wrote that a split government and prospects for a national AI policy, rather than fragmented state-level rules, should ensure the rapid pace of AI innovation continues, disproportionately benefiting large, scaled players. The firm's biggest tech winners include Amazon, which benefits regardless of which AI model wins through a model agnostic platform approach; Alphabet, which gets more time to catch up in the AI model race with Gemini 4 Pro and beyond; Microsoft, which has the highest trust from enterprises given its pervasive presence in corporate IT shops; Oracle, emerging as the fourth enterprise cloud option with outsized upside if data center permitting and regulatory hurdles ease; CoreWeave, rapidly becoming recognized as a leading alternative to megacap hyperscalers; Snowflake, a top 2 vendor for AI data plumbing; Datadog, as observability becomes paramount; and Meta, on renewed consumer and small business momentum with Muse and Meta Business Agents. The analysts noted the president's party has lost House seats in 18 of 20 postwar midterms, and with Trump's approval near 39% and independents at 24%, they expect a GOP setback. The 2026 midterm elections are coming on Nov. 3, when voters will choose all 435 members of the House and 35 senators. Truist chief strategist Keith Lerner pointed out that every midterm election year since 1946 has been followed by positive one-year stock returns, with the biggest gain a 34% return after the 1954 elections and an average one-year gain of 14.4%.

Inspire Medical Systems announced that the American Medical Association's CPT Editorial Panel approved new Category I CPT codes for procedures involving a single lead and implantable pulse generator, including the company's recent launch of the Inspire V system. The new codes, effective Jan. 1, 2028, establish a dedicated coding framework for hypoglossal nerve stimulation procedures and are expected to create a clearer, more consistent pathway for coding and reimbursement while reducing administrative burden for hospitals and physicians. The company credited support from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the International Surgical Sleep Society in seeking a permanent coding solution. The codes now enter the Medicare valuation process, with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expected to weigh recommendations from the AMA Relative Value Scale Update Committee; Inspire Medical expects CMS to publish proposed valuations in July 2027 and final valuations in November 2027. Inspire V, a closed-loop implantable device designed to synchronize with patients' natural breathing to help maintain an open airway during sleep, has treated more than 140,000 patients over more than a decade of clinical experience. INSP stock has lost 1.1% since the announcement on Thursday and is down 24.2% year to date, against the industry's 18.4% growth and the S&P 500's 12.3% rise, with a market capitalization of $2.02 billion.

Precigen shares have climbed 52.5% over the past three months, outpacing a 0.2% decline for the industry, on the strength of its sole marketed drug, Papzimeos. Papzimeos, the first and only FDA-approved therapy for adults with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, generated $74.6 million in revenue in the first six months of 2026, with second-quarter product sales more than doubling sequentially. A marketing authorization application for Papzimeos in adults with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis is under review in Europe, and the drug holds seven years of FDA market exclusivity through Aug. 14, 2032. Inovio Pharmaceuticals is developing INO-3107 as a competing treatment for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, with an FDA decision expected on Oct. 30, 2026. Beyond Papzimeos, Precigen is developing PRGN-2009 through its AdenoVerse platform, which recently received FDA platform technology designation, and a phase II study is testing PRGN-2009 with Merck's Keytruda in recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, with a portfolio update planned by the end of 2026.

MercadoLibre reported second-quarter 2026 gross merchandise volume of $21.9 billion, up 44% year over year and 36% on an FX-neutral basis, with items sold rising 45% to 795.4 million. Brazil remained the primary growth engine, posting 39% FX-neutral GMV growth and a 56% rise in items sold, while Mexico grew 26% FX-neutral despite tax reform and a weaker macroeconomic environment, and Argentina delivered 38% FX-neutral growth. Cross-border trade added another layer, with FX-neutral GMV up 60% and triple-digit growth in Argentina, Brazil and other markets, and the company's China fulfillment center saw volume rise 170% sequentially. Unique active buyers reached 89.3 million, with items sold per buyer up 14% overall. The Zacks Consensus Estimate implies 44.7% year-over-year sales growth for the current fiscal year but a 2.8% decline in earnings per share, and the stock carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Deutsche Bank has laid out three scenarios for Meta Muse, forecasting that the product could generate $36.3 billion in sales by 2030 in its most optimistic case. The middle case projects about $10.7 million, while the base case puts revenue potential at roughly $2.4 billion. The forecasts were detailed on page seven of a Deutsche Bank note, and Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi said he double-checked the top figure to confirm it was $36.3 billion and not $36.3 million. Sozzi noted Meta's stock has climbed roughly 23 to 24 percent over the past month on optimism about Muse, citing strong downloads and early use cases. He also discussed Meta's talent push, including the hiring of the former MongoDB chief executive, with a former Meta chief technology officer who said Mark Zuckerberg personally recruits key leaders.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is exploring a robotics solution for research and laboratory operations aboard future commercial space stations, working with space and defense technology provider Redwire Corporation. Honda's U.S.-based space development team is combining its multi-fingered robotic hand with Redwire's STAARK robotic arm and experiment locker technology to automate research tasks and cut the time astronauts spend on routine lab work. The push comes as NASA shifts from the International Space Station toward commercially operated stations in low Earth orbit, where smaller crews and shorter astronaut stays are increasing the need for automation. Honda's hand uses actively controlled joints with force and tactile sensing across the fingertips and palm for precise, human-like manipulation, while Redwire operates eight facilities on the ISS and has tested the STAARK arm's ability to autonomously track and grasp dynamic objects. The integrated system could eventually support the broader experiment workflow, from sample handling and material transfers to equipment operation, plus inventory management, cargo movement and inspections.