US stocks wiped out $1.8T in value after poor Big Tech earnings and massive AI Capex forecasts sparked a historic selloff

Canada's TSX index fell 1.7% in its worst day since June

Gold fell 7% in its worst October since 2008

Iron ore posted its seventh monthly loss this year for its lowest month-end close since 2022

Euro fell 2% versus pound in its worst month since 2022 on French woes

Chevron posted its fourth-best earnings in firm history on the back of high oil prices and record US refining margins (CNBC)

ExxonMobil also beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates amid disruption in energy markets from the Russia-Ukraine war and US-Iran war (WSJ)

What we're watching this week:  

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Big Tech returns smallest share of cash to shareholders in 15 years (RT)

Apple overtook Nvidia as world's most valuable company (BBG)

US Treasury borrowed a record $839B in auctions last week (BBG)

China is exploring more stock market stimulus (BBG)

India was the world's top IPO market in October (BBG)

Junk debt rout sparks 'bloodbath' for credit investors (FT)

Bond investors sit out 'most consequential' midterm elections in years (FT)

Wall Street is starting to call the shots in America's AI build-out (WSJ)

AI investors are racing to get insurance on market bets (WSJ)

AI boom drives jump in lending but bankers are still cautious (WSJ)

Data centers vow to step up disclosures to local communities (BBG)

ETF managers find loopholes to offer concentrated funds (WSJ)

Meta builds humanoid robot with Chinese startup Fourier (TI)

Sam Altman says it's wasteful to have RAM for your own PC (IGN)

Polymarket piled on media deals ahead of midterms (BBG)

PE is boosting Republicans over Democrats in midterms (BBG)

Kimi Antonelli becomes youngest-ever F1 world champion (ESPN)

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PE firms CD&R and GTCR are exploring an LBO of $25B-listed payments processor Global Payments

Spanish transport company Autobuses ​de Leon offered to acquire UK coach and rail services company Mobico for $3.1B, including debt, at a 55% premium

Dutch retail chain Ahold Delhaize will acquire the Czech and Slovakia business of UK supermarket chain Tesco at a $2B enterprise valuation

Gencom and White Bridge Capital acquired the InterContinental hotel in Miami from a Chinese entity for $300M

Activist hedge fund Fund 1 Investments is looking to take-private Xponential Fitness, the $220M-listed owner of Club Pilates and Pure Barre brands, at an 87% premium

Snacks giant Mondelez International will acquire a majority stake in healthy snacks maker Undercover Snacks 

ExxonMobil increased its stake in the planned Rovuma LNG gas project in Mozambique from 25% to 50% after a swap with Italian energy giant Eni

QHP Capital acquired digital clinical trial patient recruiter AutoCruitment

Activist Oasis Management is pressuring Vail Resorts to sell some mountain assets

OpenAI is now seeking to raise a lower $20B at a lower $1.25T valuation in its final pre-IPO round

Baseten, an AI inference company, is in talks to raise a $2B round at a $30B valuation led by Sands Capital 

UK chip startup Fractile raised $772M Series C at a $6.4B valuation

Dulo, an AI startup building foundation models for engineering and hardware design, raised a $130M seed round from Marc Benioff, John Doerr, Eric Schmidt, Lowercarbon Capital, and others

PowerLattice, a chip startup that cuts power demands of AI processors, raised $86M of a planned $111M funding round 

Solink, a company turning business camera infrastructure into AI vision intelligence, raised $100M in new financing led by Vertu Capital 

&Truth, a universal verification machine for code, raised a $70M seed round 

Phase, an operating-layer startup for the AI agent economy, raised $45M in founder funding 

AvalonX, an AI-powered offensive security startup, raised $10M in funding from Ridown Capital

Audio Chateau Records, a music label and content/partnership studio, raised a $9M Series A from CW Ventures 

Portugal is exploring raising its 8% stake in $16B-listed oil company Galp Energia after the collapse ​of merger talks with Spain's Moeve

Portugal's state holding company Parpublica bought a 5.3% stake in $2.6B-listed power and gas ​grid operator REN from insurer Fidelidade, which is controlled by Chinese conglomerate ​Fosun

SoftBank-backed Nigerian fintech Opay withdrew its $304M US IPO after a regulatory inquiry

I&I-focused Bambusa Therapeutics raised $160M for a $765M market cap in its IPO

Biotech Aspen Neuroscience raised $140M for a $433M market cap in its IPO

Iceland's main tourist attraction Blue Lagoon plans to raise $112M in an Iceland IPO

Humanoid robotics maker Agility Robotics will merge with Churchill Capital Corp XI to raise a lower $465M

Commodities giant Trafigura signed a $1.5B loan to back a five-year gas supply contract with SEFE

Kyrgyzstan is planning a debut yuan bond sale after it raised $700M in its first eurobond sale in 2025

Lenders to Partners Group-backed Iberian agri products maker Rovensa are looking to offload debt at a discount as the firm burns through cash 

A US bankruptcy judge allowed chatbot platform Character.AI to proceed with a sale of its assets to Disney despite objections from state AGs

Quant-focused hedge fund Xantium plans to spinout from hedge fund Tudor Group with a record $9B in AUM

QHP Capital raised a $2.1B CV for Azurity Pharmaceuticals led by HarbourVest Partners

Credit hedge fund Arini sold off $800M in debt due to margin calls after dropping 20% YTD

Second Alpha raised $170M for its fifth secondaries PE fund

CZ tells Musk 'bad time to troll' after record Binance hack

Binance sees spike in withdrawals after resuming transactions

Binance covered $6B of $6.3B stolen in hack

Crypto exchanges call for quick moves to bolster defenses after Binance heist

50 US companies now oppose having their stocks tokenized

Uber joined HSBC and Franklin Templeton in blockchain investing test

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FT published unprecedented data on AI's impact on the labor force showing that productivity is surging in sectors that are adopting AI.

WSJ says the smartest people in AI believe this is the world's most important chart.

Also, The Economist published some findings on how people from richer countries are less likely to have a positive perception of AI. "First World problems" lol. It's always the well-off who have the most to be miserable about.

Check out this chart on Anthropic's growth, placed alongside 24 other of the fastest-growing companies in history.

@Deedydas shared an interesting table on the top 50 most talent-dense breeding grounds for founders. Definitely some surprises at #3 and #23.

FT published a brief primer on how the $6.3B Binance hack unfolded in 30 minutes. Read it here.

In honor of Halloween 2026, Leading Indicators published the The Monsters of Finance X: 100 finance accounts on X, sorted into 10 kinds of monsters. These are some of the best accounts to follow to craft the perfect algorithm.

Ditch the dating apps. Connect over some fine wine instead. Off-Market Vol. 2