Amazon Saves the Bull Market + 9 Other Things You Need to Know
The Fed spooked the market this week about future rate cuts but big-tech earnings came in to save the day and keep the bulls running.
Now it's time to look ahead with the 10 things you need to know:
1. More Rate Cuts Aren't Guaranteed
Markets got the 25 basis point rate cut they were expecting from the Fed this week… but Chairman Jerome Powell quickly threw some cold water on future expectations.
In his press conference, Powell said another cut in December is “not a foregone conclusion.”
As of October 31, CME Group's FedWatch Tool shows just under 65% of traders now expect a 25bp cut at the December meeting.
2. Amazon is the MAG7 Earnings Winner
Amazon (AMZN) shares shot higher on Friday after beating Q3 expectations across the board Thursday.
Here's a look at how the company's results compared to analysts' estimates:
- Earnings per share: $1.95 vs. $1.57 estimated
- Revenue: $180.17 billion vs. $177.8 billion estimated
- Amazon Web Services Revenue: $33 billion vs. $32.42 billion expected
- Advertising Revenue: $17.7 billion vs. $17.34 billion expected
In a statement, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that AWS is “growing at a pace we haven’t seen since 2022.”
“We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity — adding more than 3.8 gigawatts in the past 12 months” – Andy Jassy
That seemed to temper market concerns about the company's cloud business which have weighed on the stock this year.
AMZN has been underperforming its MAG7 peers in 2025, up just 0.7% for the year as of Thursday's close.
3. Is the AI Trade Unwinding?
One reaction to this week's big tech earnings seemed key to the future of the AI trade theme.
Meta Platforms (META) tumbled as increased AI spending overshadowed strong Q3 results for the company.
The social media giant hiked its capital expenditure guidance for 2025 to a range between $70 billion and $72 billion vs $66 billion to $72 billion previously.
On the earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the massive spending.
“It’s pretty early, but I think we’re seeing the returns in the core business. That’s giving us a lot of confidence that we should be investing a lot more, and we want to make sure that we’re not underinvesting.” -Zuckerberg
This appears to be the first negative market reaction to big spending on AI… with companies previously being rewarded for such investments.
But maybe that's just a META thing…
4. Nvidia CEO: AI Is In A Virtuous Cycle
Speaking at the APEC CEO Summit in South Korea on Friday, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said AI has reached a “virtuous cycle”.
“The AIs get better. More people use it. More people use it, it makes more profit, creates more factories, which allows us to create even better AIs, which allows more people to use it. The virtual cycle of AI has been designed, and this is … the reason why you’re seeing the world’s capex going so fast.” -Jensen Huang
Basically, demand creates more products, which creates more demand, and more products, and more demand, and more products, and so on.
Take a listen to Jensen's speech below:
5. More Important Earnings Are Ahead
This will be another packed week of earnings reports.
Highlights include:
- Monday PM: Palantir (PLTR), Hims and Hers (HIMS)
- Tuesday AM: Shopify (SHOP), Uber Technologies (UBER), Pfizer (PFE), Spotify (SPOT)
- Tuesday PM: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Astera Labs (ALAB), Pinterest (PINS)
- Wednesday AM: McDonald's (MCD)
- Wednesday PM: Applovin (APP), Qualcomm (QCOM), Arm Holdings (ARM), Robinhood (HOOD), Doordash (DASH)
- Thursday PM: Airbnb (ABNB), Block (XYZ), Trade Desk (TTD), Affirm (AFRM)
6. It's Jobs Week… With No Jobs Report
The government is still shutdown, which means next week's October nonfarm payrolls report won't be released.
The September JOLTS report scheduled for Tuesday also isn't likely to be published.
That puts all eyes on ADP's Private Employment Report at 8:30am ET on Wednesday.
For now that appears to be the only number the market will be getting to determine the health of the labor market.
Here's the full calendar for the week:
7. Trade Truce Between the U.S. and China
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to a trade truce this week.
The two leaders met at the ASEAN Summit in South Korea on Thursday.
The agreement includes:
- A one-year pause of Beijing's rare earth export controls
- The U.S. cut fentanyl tariffs on China to 10% from 20%
China's original announcement of rare earth export controls on October 9th sparked the latest round of the trade war with Trump threatening 100% tariffs.
But China quickly came to the table for negotiations after that threat.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after his meeting with Xi that the rare earths agreement will be “very routinely extended as time goes by.”
“We have a deal. Now, every year we’ll renegotiate the deal, but I think the deal will go on for a long time, long beyond the year. But all of the rare earth has been settled, and that’s for the world.” -Trump
The lower fentanyl tariffs reduces the overall tariff rate on Chinese goods to around 47%.
Trump said he will visit China in April and Xi will come to the U.S. at a later date.
8. Sentiment Turns Bullish
The latest AAII Sentiment Survey shows that 44.0% of investors are bullish.
That was up 7.2 points from the week before and higher than the historical average of 37.5% for the fifth time in the past seven weeks.
9. Netflix Announces Stock Split
Netflix (NFLX) stock is about to become more accessible for the retail community.
The company announced a 10-for-1 stock split after hours on Thursday.
Netflix will issue 9 additional shares for every one share held on November 10.
The stock will then begin trading on a split-adjusted basis at the market open on November 17.
Netflix said the move will make its stock more accessible to employees participating in its stock option program.
10. David Prince Teaches You How Small Accounts Should Use Options
David Prince, the leader of T3 Live's Inner Circle VTF®, often uses options to add Alpha to a stock trade.
But he believes smaller traders can often win bigger with options instead of buying stock while taking on less risk:
David covers:
- How smaller traders inside the Inner Circle VTF® take his stock ideas and apply them to options
- Why options can be a better risk/reward vs equities
- How to determine size on an options trade for a smaller account
ATTN: Serious Options Traders
There Is Just ONE Epic Trade Every Week