Overnight US stocks | The three major indexes hit new highs for the second consecutive day, Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US) rose more than 4%.

On Friday, the three major stock indexes continued to set historic highs for the second consecutive trading day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a high of 46,396.47 points, the Nasdaq rose to a high of 22,645.11 points, and the S&P 500 rose to 6,671.82 points, all setting new highs during the trading day. All three indexes recorded gains for the week, with the Dow rising 1.05%, the Nasdaq rising 2.21%, and the S&P 500 rising 1.22%. In the US stock market, at the close, the Dow rose 172.85 points, or 0.37%, to 46,315.27 points; the Nasdaq rose 160.75 points, or 0.72%, to 22,631.48 points; and the S&P 500 rose 32.40 points, or 0.49%, to 6,664.36 points. In terms of individual stocks, Oracle Corporation(ORCL.US) rose over 4%, Apple Inc.(AAPL.US) rose 3.1%, while Micron Technology, Inc.(MU.US) fell 3.6%, and Intel Corporation(INTC.US) fell 3.2%. Among popular Chinese concept stocks, Pony.ai (PONY.US) rose 18%. In the European stock market, the German DAX30 index fell 28.58 points, or 0.12%, to 23,642.38 points; the UK's FTSE 100 index fell 25.16 points, or 0.27%, to 9,202.95 points; the French CAC40 index fell 1.02 points, or 0.01%, to 7,853.59 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 3.78 points, or 0.07%, to 5,460.45 points; the Spanish IBEX35 index rose 102.94 points, or 0.68%, to 15,276.74 points; and the Italian FTSE MIB index fell 6.81 points, or 0.02%, to 42,301.00 points. In the oil market, the price of light crude oil futures for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by 89 cents to $62.68 per barrel, a decrease of 1.4%; while the price of Brent crude oil futures for November delivery fell by 76 cents to $66.68 per barrel, a decrease of 1.13%. In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin fell by over 1.2% to $115,662.94, while Ethereum fell by 2.5% to $4,474.94. In the precious metals market, spot gold rose by 1.11% to $3,685.01, marking the fifth consecutive week of gains. Spot silver surpassed $43 per ounce, the first time since September 2011, rising nearly 49% so far this year. In the US bond market, the yield on the 10-year benchmark Treasury bond rose by 2.30 basis points to 4.1274%, with a cumulative increase of 6.31 basis points for the week. On September 17, after the Federal Reserve announced a rate cut and the dot plot suggested a further 50 basis points cut by the FOMC before the end of the year, the rate initially maintained a slight drop and traded around 4.04%, then fell sharply during Fed Chairman Powell's speech and rebounded significantly on September 18. The yield on the 2-year Treasury bond rose by 0.80 basis points to 3.5715%, with a cumulative increase of 1.59 basis points for the week, trading between 3.4655% and 3.5883%. The yield on the 20-year Treasury bond rose by 6.68 basis points to 4.7125%; the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose by 6.33 basis points to 4.7438%. The yield on the 3-year Treasury bond rose by 2.59 basis points, the yield on the 5-year Treasury bond rose by 4.35 basis points, and the yield on the 7-year Treasury bond rose by 5.66 basis points. On the macro front, the Democratic Party in the US Senate rejected the temporary funding bill proposed by the Republican Party, increasing the risk of a government shut down. Democratic senators in the US Senate blocked a temporary funding bill proposed by the Republican Party, which was intended to keep government funding until late November. This means that both sides must engage in last-minute negotiations within two weeks to avoid a government shutdown. In the Republican-controlled Senate, the vote resulted in 44 in favor and 48 against, failing to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the bill. Two Republican senators, Rand Paul from Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, were the only two Republican members to vote against the bill, while Democratic senator John Feitman voted in favor. Several Republican senators were absent. Earlier in the day, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly passed the bill, and now party leaders must come up with a new plan. Newly appointed Federal Reserve Governor Milan clarifies communication with Trump, emphasizes independence in rate cut decisions. Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Milan publicly clarified his communication with US President Trump on Friday, emphasizing that his vote on interest rate decisions at this week's monetary policy meeting was made independently without any political interference. Earlier, the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point rate cut, but Milan voted against it in this rate decision, advocating for a 50 basis point cut. He explained after the meeting that this decision was based on his independent judgment of the economic situation. In response to public concern, Milan said that he only had a brief exchange with President Trump before the interest rate decision was announced. He revealed, "He (Trump) called me on Tuesday morning just to congratulate, that's all." Milan emphasized that they "never discussed how I should vote, nor did they mention my position in the 'dot plot' of the Federal Reserve economic forecast summary." White House ally Bannon suggests Bernhardt take over both Treasury and Federal Reserve. White House ally Steve Bannon has proposed an unusual solution for who will succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Powell next year. In an interview, Bannon suggested that current Treasury Secretary Bernhardt should be appointed as the Federal Reserve Chairman while also retaining the position of Treasury Secretary. Bannon said, "I firmly believe that during the transition phase, Bernhardt should serve as both the Federal Reserve Chairman and the Treasury Secretary, perhaps holding on until the midterms, and then stepping down from the Treasury to fully take over the Federal Reserve." Bannon served as White House Chief Strategist during Trump's first term but was dismissed after only seven months in office. However, he still commands a certain level of respect within the US government. A White House spokesperson responded, "The White House has not considered, nor has it ever considered, this arrangement." Trump to impose new $100,000 fee on H-1B visas. According to a knowledgeable White House official, US President Trump is expected to sign an announcement as early as Friday to comprehensively reform the H-1B visa program, requiring an application fee of $100,000 to curb excessive use. Trump will sign a statement on Friday requiring payment of this money, claiming that abuse of the H-1B visa has already replaced American workers. The announcement limits entry to the H-1B program unless payment is attached. Trump also plans to order the Labor Secretary to initiate a rulemaking process to modify the current wage levels of the H-1B program, aimed at limiting the use of visas to depress wages for American workers. White House considering launching "Trump Online Pharmacy" to provide a cheaper channel for purchasing medication. US government officials are reportedly discussing creating a website, possibly under the name of US President Trump, to allow patients to directly purchase prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies at discounted prices. This initiative is part of Trump's plan to lower drug prices and align them with those of other developed countries. The proposed website would allow patients to search for specific medicines and connect with platforms selling these medications. Officials are also discussing creating the Trump brand for the website, with "TrumpRx" being one of the names under consideration. Stock-specific news: - Oracle Corporation is in talks with Meta Platforms for a $200 billion AI cloud computing collaboration. According to sources, Oracle Corporation is negotiating a cloud computing deal worth about $200 billion with Meta Platforms, further establishing Oracle Corporation as a major infrastructure provider. Under this multi-year agreement, Oracle Corporation will provide computational capabilities to the social media giant for training and deploying artificial intelligence models. The total commitment amount may increase, and other terms of the deal may also change before the final agreement is reached. This contract will be a boon to Oracle Corporation's cloud infrastructure business. Last week, the company reported a significant increase in bookings, driving its stock to set new highs. - Apple Inc. CEO Cook stated that the rise in iPhone prices is unrelated to tariffs. Despite the initial higher prices for some new iPhone models, Apple Inc. CEO Cook said, "There's no part of the pricing that's affected by tariffs, that's very clear." This rare, clear response from Cook on the relationship between iPhone prices and tariffs. Earlier this month, Apple Inc. released the iPhone 17 series, with the starting price of the Pro model increased by $100. However, this year's entry-level Pro comes with 256GB of storage, compared to 128GB storage last year, which may alleviate some consumer concerns. Although Cook insists that the recent price hike is unrelated to tariffs, the company still feels the impact of Trump's trade policies. Cook stated during a recent earnings call that Apple Inc. expects to incur $1.1 billion in tariff-related costs this quarter, up from $800 million in the previous quarter. - Musk's xAI seeks to raise $10 billion in funding, with a valuation of $200 billion. According to sources, Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI is raising $10 billion from investors, with this round of funding valuing the company at $200 billion. This once again reflects the trend of soaring valuations for companies developing foundational artificial intelligence models. Earlier this month, Anthropic raised $13 billion, valuing the company at $1.83 trillion. The industry's largest company, OpenAI, reached a valuation of $500 billion through secondary stock sales. The funding is taking place after Musk raised $10 billion through debt and equity financing a few weeks ago, with the market estimating xAI's valuation at around $1.5 trillion. - Meta applies to enter American Electric Power Company, Inc. wholesale market, intensifying the tech giants' "power grab". Meta Platforms has submitted an application to US federal regulators to enter the wholesale electricity market and conduct electricity sales. For large tech companies like Meta, Microsoft Corporation, and Alphabet Inc. Class C, acquiring more power supply has become an increasingly pressing issue. These companies are all competing to develop more advanced artificial intelligence systems and tools, which are known to be highly resource-intensive. According to industry forecasts, the electricity demand for data centers used to build and run artificial intelligence models is expected to quadruple over the next 10 years. Meta submitted this application through its subsidiary Atem Energy LLC. A representative from Meta said that participating in the energy market is a logical step for the company.