Overnight US stocks | All three major indices closed lower collectively; bank stocks diverged as earnings season kicked off, while memory chip stocks came under pressure.

Tuesday saw the three major US stock indices close lower as traders digested earnings reports from several large banks and the pressure on memory chip stocks from a sharp overnight decline in the South Korean stock market. US StocksAt the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 51,670.10, down 0.35%; the S&P 500 closed at 7,805.45, down 0.02%; the Nasdaq Composite closed at 27,204.38, down 0.15%. The semiconductor index fell more than 2% at one point. Meta (META.US) rose 2.63%, and NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) gained 0.97%. Applied Materials (AMAT.US) closed down 6.69%. Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) and SK Hynix ADRs both fell more than 3%. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US) closed down 5.73% after earnings, and Citigroup (C.US) fell 5.6%. European StocksGermany's DAX30 fell 0.07%, the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.06%, France's CAC40 fell 0.07%, the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.55%, Spain's IBEX35 fell 0.39%, and Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.04%. ForexThe US dollar index edged down about 0.2% on Tuesday but remained within its highest range since May 2025. CryptocurrenciesBitcoin swung sharply over the past 48 hours before closing up about 0.3% at $83,214. Ethereum rose 2.22% to $2,501.08. Precious MetalsAs of publication, spot gold fell 0.3% to $4,160.74/oz; spot silver fell 1.8% to $59.1546/oz. Crude OilWTI crude for November delivery rose 0.4% to $94.14 per barrel; Brent crude for December delivery fell 0.9% to $105.69 per barrel. Macro News Fed's No. 3 official Williams: No rate hikes may be needed in 2027, diverging from traders' views. New York Fed President Williams said Tuesday that after one more rate hike this year, he does not expect further increases in 2027. "I haven't changed my view that one more hike may be appropriate," and "I don't think I currently have any reason to believe we need to do more." Williams' remarks put him at odds with the market and some other central bank members. Williams said that amid energy- and AI-related price shocks, the Fed should focus on the "underlying trend" of inflation. The Fed official warned that energy prices continue to put upward pressure on headline inflation, but said they may bring relief on a year-over-year basis in the future. Williams also said the impact of tariffs on price growth has mostly already appeared. Fed's Barkin: Acting against persistent inflation is reasonable. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said the shocks putting pressure on US prices are clearly persisting, and it is appropriate to act against that dynamic. "I'm very supportive of what we're doing," Barkin said Tuesday at Howard University when asked during a Q&A how he viewed fighting inflation through rate hikes. "If you go back four months, there were many shocks that looked one-off, possibly temporary, and would eventually fadeinflation might have returned to its early-2025 trajectory," he said. "In my view, these shocks are now clearly persisting, inflation is persisting, and it makes some sense to take some measures to address it," he said. When asked about the Fed's specific 2% inflation target, Barkin said: "This is not a figment of imagination, it is actually" reachable. Fed's Goolsbee: Bubble burst "could be ugly," depending on leverage; AI demand is starting to overheat. Chicago Fed President Goolsbee said the consequences of a financial bubble bursting "could be ugly," depending on leverage levels. He made the remarks when asked what a potential bursting of the artificial intelligence (AI) trade might look like. Goolsbee described a conditional scenario in which fundamentals do not support current valuations and the AI trade proves to be a bubble. He noted that the US has experienced bubbles before, including some recent ones, and their bursting process "could be ugly," depending on the associated leverage levels. Goolsbee is not an FOMC voter this year but will gain voting rights in 2027. US small-business optimism falls to a three-month low as business expectations and expansion willingness weaken. Data released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) showed the small-business optimism index fell 0.8 point to 97.9. Of the 10 components making up the index, 6 declined, 3 rose, and 1 was unchanged. The uncertainty index also edged up. The net share of owners expecting business conditions to improve fell 4 percentage points to 6%, a four-month low. Persistent price pressures continue to weigh on small businesses, with the Middle East military conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war keeping energy costs high. NFIB data showed that last month 20% of businesses cited inflation as their top problem, nearly triple the historical average of 7%. Bridgewater founder: The US Treasury bear market is far from over, and demand from some traditional buyers is weakening. Bridgewater founder Dalio warned that the selloff in US Treasuries is far from over, with demand from some of the world's largest traditional buyers weakening as government and corporate debt issuance surges. Dalio said Tuesday that the US is entering a phase in which expanded bond supply drives yields higher and debt levels increase further. He believes this cycle may continue until higher interest rates put enough pressure on the economy and financial markets and prompt supply and demand to rebalance. Dalio wrote: "The Treasury bear market path may be long." Dalio has long warned that a US debt crisis is approaching and has urged investors to sell bonds and buy gold. His bearish stance contrasts with some investors and institutional strategists such as BlackRock, Inc., who have turned bullish after the 10-year US Treasury yield surged this month to its highest level in nearly a quarter of a century. Company News Bank of America Corp (BAC.US) fined $1.2 billion over suspected money-laundering violations. Bank of America Corp was fined more than $1.2 billion in federal penalties on Tuesday. Regulators said the second-largest US bank failed for years to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions and failed to resolve long-standing anti-money-laundering problems. The Treasury Department said more than $1 billion of the unreported activity involved national security and other high-priority risks, including money-laundering networks and activity related to the southwest border. The move came less than a day before the bank was due to release quarterly earnings on Wednesday morning. The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which enforces anti-money-laundering rules, said the $1.2 billion fine was the third-largest in Treasury history. Treasury separately announced a $11.6 million settlement over sanctions violations. According to Treasury, as part of the settlement, Bank of America Corp admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act, failing to maintain a compliant anti-money-laundering program, conducting required due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts, and filing suspicious activity reports. JPMorgan (JPM.US) bans external AI agents such as Muse and Instinct from directly accessing accounts. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday that the bank will not allow external artificial intelligence agents to access customer accounts and act on customers' behalf, citing risks to the company and its clients as tech companies such as Meta release autonomous assistants. "We will not allow any external agents into the company because it is too dangerous for customers and for JPMorgan," Dimon told analysts on the bank's third-quarter earnings call. "You don't want runaway agents, and there could be thousands of them," he added, describing the potential threat to customers. In July, an OpenAI model breached the servers of AI company HuggingFace. Dimon said JPMorgan is using AI agents internally and plans to deploy them in customer-facing applications. He said the bank's approach is neither to support nor oppose the technology, but to ensure it safely serves customers. Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) Gemini 4 Argon launches globally, promotional pricing through end of November. Alphabet Inc. Class C is rolling out its flagship AI model Gemini 4 Argon to users worldwide. After being available for nearly three weeks only to cybersecurity defense partners, the model was officially expanded Tuesday to ordinary users, developers, and enterprises. Alphabet Inc. Class C hopes to further consolidate its position in the frontier AI competition with capabilities in coding, complex reasoning, and cybersecurity. Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) smart home lineup debuts, with core product HomeView challenging Amazon.com, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. Class C. Apple Inc. unveiled a new device called HomeView. The $299 smart display is the company's core product for challenging Amazon.com, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. Class C in the smart home market. HomeView will go on sale on November 13, relies mainly on hands-free voice commands, and uses facial recognition to provide a personalized software experience for each family member. HomeView has no physical buttons but features a 7-inch touchscreen, with apps arranged in a grid that will be very familiar to iPhone and iPad users. To rapidly expand its smart home business, Apple Inc. is partnering with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric to launch Apple Inc. Home Collection accessories, including indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbells, thermostats, and door locks. Apple Inc. participated in co-developing this hardware, which will begin shipping in December and be priced between $199 and $399.