Preview of US Stock Market | The three major stock index futures are mixed. The U.S. midterm elections officially hold voting today. Apple and Palantir shares weaken after earnings.

Pre-market Market Moves 1. On Tuesday, November 3, ahead of the U.S. market open, the three major U.S. stock index futures were mixed. As of press time, Dow futures were down 0.90%, S&P 500 futures were down 0.16%, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.09%. 2. As of press time, Germany's DAX index was down 0.78%, the UK's FTSE 100 was down 0.72%, France's CAC 40 was down 0.34%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 was down 0.70%. 3. As of press time, WTI crude oil was up 2.23% at $98.61/barrel; Brent crude was up 1.71% at $106.56/barrel. Market News U.S. midterm elections officially hold voting today; the balance of power may be reshaped. According to reports, voting in the U.S. midterm elections officially began on November 3 local time, with all 435 House seats, about one-third of Senate seats, and multiple governorships up for election. The results will determine the congressional balance of power for the next two years and affect the Trump administration's room to govern. As of October 31, a record 50 million people had voted early; pre-election polls show Democrats are expected to retake the House, Senate races are tight, and cost of living is seen as voters' top concern. Pre-election risk aversion has risen, and analysts believe that once the results become clear after the election, some funds that moved to the sidelines may flow back into risk assets. Reserve Bank of Australia raises rates by 25 basis points to 4.85%, extending the global tightening tail. At 11:30 on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia announced its rate decision, raising the November cash rate to 4.85% from 4.6%, maintaining a tightening stance amid persistent inflation. This is the latest rate hike among major developed economies and echoes market pricing for the Federal Reserve to continue raising rates in December. Although U.S. inflation has eased somewhat, core services and wage pressures remain, and the "higher for longer" tone is unchanged, weighing on equity valuations, especially long-duration growth stocks. PIMCO: AI financing scale may move toward "excess." Emmanuel Roman, CEO of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), said that over the next five years, AI-related financing could reach about $10 trillion and may ultimately exceed reasonable levels. Roman estimates that the AI industry may require about $2 trillion in new financing each year over the next five years to support capital expenditure. By comparison, the U.S. bond market is about $12 trillion in size. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. sharply raises global data center capacity forecast; capital expenditure could reach $8.5 trillion over the next five years. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. said it had updated its global data center capacity forecast based on the latest data from the 451 Research database. It now expects global data center supply to reach 273GW by 2030 (compared with 217GW in its previous update in July 2026), implying 170GW of new capacity after 2025, with net new capacity of 25GW, 32GW, and 35GW in 2026, 2027, and 2028, respectively. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. expects the pace of net new data center capacity to not slow in the medium term. Based on a rule-of-thumb estimate of $50 billion of investment per GW, this 170GW of new capacity implies $8.5 trillion of capital expenditure over the next five years. At the same time, however, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. also noted that IT infrastructure costs continue to face upward pressure. IEA: Iran war may cause the largest annual decline in global LNG supply on record. The IEA expects global LNG supply to fall 3% this year, a decrease of nearly 20 billion cubic meters. Shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks on key regional infrastructure have sharply reduced exports from Qatar and the UAE. The IEA expects trade flows through Hormuz to remain severely disrupted at least through the end of this year. Higher output elsewhere has partly offset the supply shock. New projects coming online in North America and Africa, along with increased gas supply to existing LNG plants in Africa, Asia, and Russia, drove production outside the Persian Gulf up 14% from March to October, offsetting about two-thirds of the Persian Gulf supply loss. However, the IEA said global LNG output still fell about 6% during the war. Iran intervenes in Saudi-Houthi conflict? Iran says it is holding talks with Saudi Arabia. As fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis continues to escalate, Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said, "We are continuing dialogue with Saudi Arabia. Our goal is to reach a new regional security arrangement led by regional countries themselves, far from any foreign military presence." Recently, senior officials from the three countries of the "Mecca Defense Agreement"Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistanvisited Tehran and met with Iranian counterparts. This was the first high-level contact between Iran and these three countries since August this year. Individual Stock News Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) new CEO's first earnings report shows revenue growth on both counts, but Greater China misses expectations and shares fall pre-market. Apple Inc. reported fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results after the close on November 2: revenue of $114.477 billion, up 11.7% year over year; diluted EPS of $2.10, up 14% year over year; gross margin of 47.9%. By business, iPhone revenue was $57.58 billion (+17.5%) and Mac revenue was $10.79 billion (+23.7%), both strong; iPad revenue was $6.23 billion (-10.4%) and wearables were $8.3 billion (-7.9%), both weaker; services revenue was $31.57 billion (+9.8%), a record high, but growth slowed to below 10%. Greater China revenue was $17.539 billion, up 21% year over year, but below the expected $18.75 billion. Management warned of "unprecedented" increases in memory costs, and next-quarter gross margin guidance of 45%46% was below market expectations; shares fell more than 4% pre-market. Palantir (PLTR.US) Q3 revenue nearly doubles and guidance raised, yet shares still fall more than 7% pre-market. Palantir reported third-quarter results after the close on November 2: revenue of $2.313 billion, up 96% year over year, topping $2 billion for the first time and exceeding the expected $2.18 billion; net profit of $1.128 billion, more than doubling year over year; adjusted EPS of $0.44, beating the expected $0.41. The highlight was U.S. commercial revenue, which surged 148% year over year to $984 million, surpassing U.S. government revenue of $953 million for the first time in history, confirming an explosion in enterprise AI demand. The company raised full-year revenue guidance to $8.530 billion$8.534 billion (previously $8.155 billion) and expects Q4 revenue of about $2.65 billion. However, Q4 sequential growth of about 15% was below the prior quarter's 20%, and combined with elevated valuations, the tenth consecutive quarter of beating expectations was again followed by "good news priced in," with shares down nearly 8% pre-market. Pfizer Inc. (PFE.US) Q3 profit beats expectations, non-COVID products grow 7%, full-year guidance raised. Pfizer Inc.'s third-quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.87, flat year over year and significantly above the consensus estimate of $0.73; GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.56, down 9% year over year. Total quarterly revenue was $16.583 billion, essentially flat year over year; excluding COVID products Comirnaty and Paxlovid, quarterly revenue grew 7% on an operational basis; among that, revenue from launched and acquired products jumped 32% operationally, becoming the quarter's biggest highlight. Looking ahead, the company raised its 2026 revenue guidance to $62 billion$64 billion from the previous $60.5 billion$62.5 billion (midpoint raised by $1.5 billion); adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance was raised and narrowed to $2.95$3.05 from $2.80$3.00. AMD (AMD.US) reports earnings after the close tonight; market focuses on data center and PC demand. AMD is scheduled to report third-quarter results after the U.S. market close on November 3. Wall Street expects revenue of about $13 billion$13.2 billion (up about 18% year over year) and diluted EPS of about $1.93$1.97. Data center revenue is expected at about $8.19 billion (up 88% year over year), the absolute core; however, gaming revenue may fall 49% to $655 million, pressured by memory and storage shortages that have pushed up prices and weighed on demand for graphics cards and console chips. The market is especially focused on Q4 guidance: if it confirms a PC market slowdown, delays in mass production of Helios server racks and Instinct MI450, or gross margin guidance falling below 56%, analysts warn the stock could fall more than 10%. The current AI stock selloff and Intel Corporation's disappointing earnings last week have added to the pressure. CrowdStrike (CRWD.US) spends $495 million to acquire two AI security startups. CrowdStrike will acquire Palo Alto, California-based Fiddler AI for about $400 million. Founded in 2018, the company develops software used to monitor and explain agent behavior. CrowdStrike is also acquiring Dreadnode for about $95 millionan automated security testing platform founded in 2023 that can detect vulnerabilities in AI models before they go live. CrowdStrike said most of the consideration for both acquisitions will be paid in cash, with the remainder in restricted stock subject to vesting conditions. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) Jensen Huang backs Marvell (MRVL.US) and Lumentum (LITE.US) $100 billion-plus merger. People familiar with the matter said the heads of Marvell Technology, Inc. and Lumentum obtained support from NVIDIA Corporation CEO Jensen Huang before finalizing the nearly $103 billion merger. Marvell CEO Matt Murphy and Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston spoke with Huang by phone before the deal was announced to seek his views. This is the second-largest M&A deal in tech history, and Huang's endorsement highlights that NVIDIA Corporation, as an AI leader, is actively promoting consolidation among its key suppliers. NVIDIA Corporation invested $2 billion each in Marvell and Lumentum earlier this year. Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US) raises $20 billion to fund AI expansion. Oracle Corporation announced on November 2 local time that it will raise about $20 billion through bond issuance and stock sales to support AI and cloud infrastructure buildout. Oracle Corporation is selling 86.2 million shares at $116 per share, a discount of about 11.2% to Friday's closing price. The bond portion consists of five tranches of fixed-rate notes with maturities ranging from 2029 to 2046 and coupons between 7% and 8.65%. The company said proceeds will be used for capital expenditure, debt repayment, investments or acquisitions, and general corporate purposes including dividends and share repurchases. Important Economic Data and Event Preview 23:00 Beijing time: U.S. September durable goods orders revised month-over-month, U.S. September JOLTS job openings, U.S. September factory orders month-over-month 05:30 Beijing time the next day: U.S. API crude oil inventories for the week ended October 30 Earnings Preview Wednesday morning: AMD, Amgen (AMGN.US), Arista Networks (ANET.US), Booking Holdings (BKNG.US), Astera Labs (ALAB.US), Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI.US), Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (SWKS.US) Wednesday pre-market: Novo Nordisk A/S Sponsored ADR Class B (NVO.US), McDonald's Corporation (MCD.US), Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER.US), Datadog (DDOG.US), Emerson Electric Co. (EMR.US)