Finance News October 30th (Editor: Zhao Hao) On Tuesday, October 29th, the three major US indexes fluctuated. Due to the strong performance of large technology stocks, the Nasdaq rose for the fourth consecutive day, closing at a historical high.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.36%, to 42,233.05 points; the S&P 500 Index rose by 0.16%, to 5,832.92 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 0.78%, to 18,712.75 points, setting a new high record since July 10th.

Nasdaq Composite Index Daily Chart

Only Tesla among the "Big Seven" declined, with Google Class C rising by 1.66% after-hours and further rising over 4%, with the company's latest third-quarter revenue and EPS exceeding expectations. Over 150 companies in the S&P 500 Index components are scheduled to release quarterly results this week.

Chris Senyek, Chief Investment Strategist at Wolfe Research, stated, "Our feeling is that a strong earnings season may be enough to get the 'Big Seven' back on the path to outperforming the market again."

Data released in the morning showed that the number of job vacancies as of the end of September dropped to 7.44 million, below the market's expectation of 8 million, in line with the labor market's slowdown, prompting traders to increase bets on the Fed's rate cut.

The current market expects the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points at the policy meeting on November 7th, but before that, the United States will elect a new president on November 5th. Jonathan Krinsky, Chief Market Technician at BTIG, believes that there will be more volatility in the market in the short term.

Krinsky wrote, "We do not believe that a bear market will occur, but we still firmly believe that there will be some downward fluctuations in the coming weeks."

Popular stocks performance

Most large-cap tech stocks rose, ranked by market cap: Apple rose 0.12%, Nvidia rose 0.52%, Microsoft rose 1.26%, Google Class C rose 1.66%, Amazon rose 1.30%, Meta rose 2.62%, and Tesla fell 1.14%.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 2.31%, with only Intel declining among the 30 constituent stocks. Broadcom rose 4.20%, surpassing Tesla and Eli Lilly in total market cap; AMD rose 3.96%, but fell over 6% after hours, as the company's revenue outlook was disappointing.

Trump Media & Technology Group rose 8.76%, accumulating a 220.54% increase this month. Several latest polls show Trump leading over Harris, with the gambling market betting heavily on Trump's ability to win 'very easily.'

Regarding China concept stocks, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index fell 1.44%, closing at 7,100.24 points.

Most popular China concept stocks declined: Zeekr fell 8.80%, Xpeng fell 4.37%, Nio fell 3.61%, TAL Education fell 3.00%, New Oriental fell 2.93%, Li Auto Inc fell 2.44%, Tencent Music fell 2.36%, JD.com fell 1.20%, PDD Holdings fell 0.43%, Alibaba fell 0.10%, and Baidu rose 0.49%.

Q3 Performance Summary

Alphabet's third-quarter revenue and earnings per share both exceeded expectations.

Google's parent company Alphabet reported revenue of $88.27 billion in the third quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $86.45 billion; earnings per share were $2.12, higher than analysts' expectation of $1.84; Google Cloud revenue was $11.35 billion, surpassing analysts' expectation of $10.79 billion; Google advertising revenue reached $65.85 billion, compared to analysts' expectation of $65.5 billion; YouTube advertising revenue was $8.92 billion, exceeding analysts' expectation of $8.89 billion; revenue from other businesses in the third quarter was $0.388 billion, analysts expected $0.3779 billion; operating profit was $28.52 billion, analysts expected $26.67 billion; revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs in the third quarter was $74.55 billion, analysts expected $72.88 billion.

AMD's third-quarter adjusted earnings met expectations, but the fourth-quarter revenue outlook is disappointing.

In the third quarter, AMD's revenue was $6.8 billion, analyst expectations were $6.71 billion; adjusted earnings per share were $0.92, matching analyst expectations; adjusted operating income was $1.72 billion, analysts expected $1.71 billion; adjusted operating profit margin was 25%, analysts expected 25.4%; research and development expenses in the third quarter were $1.64 billion, analysts expected $1.61 billion; projected revenue for the fourth quarter is between $7.2 billion to $7.8 billion, analysts expected $7.55 billion.

Visa's fourth-quarter adjusted earnings exceeded expectations.

Visa's fourth-quarter adjusted earnings were $2.71 per share, analyst expected $2.57 per share; fourth-quarter net revenue was $9.62 billion, analyst expected $9.49 billion; fourth-quarter payment transaction volume was $3.41 trillion, analyst expected $3.4 trillion.

Snap's third-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings exceeded expectations.

Snap's third-quarter adjusted earnings were $0.08 per share, analyst expected $0.051 per share; third-quarter revenue was $1.37 billion, analyst expected $1.36 billion; third-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $0.132 billion, analyst expected $0.0906 billion; third-quarter daily active users were 0.44 billion, analyst expected 0.44 billion; expected fourth-quarter revenue between $1.51 billion and $1.56 billion, analyst expected $1.56 billion; expected fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA between $0.21 billion and $0.26 billion, analyst expected $0.233 billion; authorized repurchase of up to $0.5 billion Class A shares.

Reddit's fourth quarter revenue guidance is higher than expected.

Reddit's third quarter revenue was $0.3484 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.3128 billion; third quarter net income was $0.0299 billion, better than analysts' expected loss of $0.0138 billion; adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $94.1 million, higher than analysts' expectations of $58.9 million; projected fourth quarter revenue is expected to be between $0.385 billion and $-0.4 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.3562 billion; estimated adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter is between $0.11 billion and $-0.125 billion, above analysts' forecast of $0.087 billion.

First Solar's third quarter earnings per share fell short of expectations.

First Solar's net sales in the third quarter were $0.9 billion, below the analyst's expectation of $1.07 billion; EPS for the third quarter was $2.91, lower than the analyst's expectation of $3.12; R&D expenses in the third quarter were $50.2 million, slightly below the analyst's expectation of $50.5 million.

Other company news

Apple launches new Mac mini: starting at 16GB memory, priced at 4499 yuan

Apple officially released the new Mac mini on October 29th, equipped with the M4 and latest M4 Pro chips. Apple stated that the new Mac mini is designed for intelligent Apple use, this personal intelligent system will fundamentally change the way users work, communicate, and express themselves while properly protecting user privacy. The new Mac mini starts with 16GB of memory and a starting price as low as 4499 yuan, available for pre-order starting October 31st and officially on sale from November 8th.

OpenAI reportedly plans to collaborate with Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor to jointly develop self-designed chips.

According to media reports, sources revealed that OpenAI is collaborating with Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor to develop its first in-house chip to support its AI systems. The report mentioned that OpenAI has explored a range of options to diversify chip supply and reduce costs. Sources indicated that the company also plans to use AMD chips alongside NVIDIA chips to meet its rapidly increasing computing power needs. Previously, OpenAI even considered setting up a chip foundry. However, according to sources, considering cost and time constraints, OpenAI has abandoned the foundry plan. Instead, the company plans to focus on in-house chip design work.

Musk: It is expected that by 2040, the number of robots will surpass humans.

Musk predicts that by 2040, the number of robots will surpass humans, with at least 10 billion robots in use. Humanoid robots will be priced between $0.02 million and $0.025 million.

The FDA investigated Novo Nordisk's factory in March, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that it investigated Novo Nordisk's factory in March; Quality issues occurred at Novo Nordisk's Kalundborg plant in Denmark; The affected factory produces active ingredients for weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.

Visa plans to lay off about 1,400 regular and contract employees.

According to sources, US payment giant Visa plans to lay off around 1,400 regular and contract employees by the end of the year. Approximately 1,000 of them will be from technology positions; most others will affect merchant sales and global digital partnerships. The layoffs are part of streamlining Visa's international business. The proportion of affected regular and contract employees is unclear.