Overnight US stocks | The three major indices closed mixed, with most chip stocks rebounding; Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) rose over 5%.

Friday, a rebound in chip stocks pushed the Nasdaq higher, while economic data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December, though dip-buying continued to flow into the market. San Francisco Fed President Daly said the Fed is prepared to raise rates further if needed, and monetary policy still needs to be tightened, but more information is needed to judge how much further tightening is required and when to act. Daly stressed that the Fed must act prudently. [US stocks] At the close, the Dow fell 237.32 points, or 0.46%, to 51,285.73; the S&P 500 rose 23.13 points, or 0.31%, to 7,376.86; the Nasdaq rose 264.42 points, or 1.09%, to 24,579.42. Most chip stocks rebounded: SK Hynix (SKHY.US) rose 2.78%, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) rose 2.78%, AMD (AMD.US) rose 11.04%, Intel Corporation (INTC.US) rose 7.71%, Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) rose 5.12%, Marvell Technology, Inc. (MRVL.US) rose 5.73%, and Arm (ARM.US) rose 4.74%. Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) rose 4.23%, and SpaceX (SPCX.US) rose 8.62%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 1.67%, Alibaba Group Holding Limited Sponsored ADR (BABA.US) rose 1.26%, NTES (NTES.US) rose 2.28%, and Baidu Inc Sponsored ADR Class A (BIDU.US) rose 3.01%. [European stocks] Germany's DAX30 fell 540.55 points, or 2.05%, to 25,789.50; the UK's FTSE 100 fell 109.28 points, or 1.01%, to 10,673.38; France's CAC40 fell 66.37 points, or 0.81%, to 8,139.00; the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 69.99 points, or 1.12%, to 6,161.55; Spain's IBEX35 fell 100.51 points, or 0.52%, to 19,350.39; Italy's FTSE MIB fell 460.37 points, or 0.91%, to 50,045.50. [Forex] The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, rose 0.74% on the day to close at 102.298 in late foreign exchange trading. As of late New York trading, 1 euro bought 1.1140 dollars, down from 1.1225 dollars the previous trading day; 1 pound bought 1.3351 dollars, down from 1.3459 dollars the previous trading day. 1 dollar bought 158.49 yen, up from 157.85 yen the previous trading day; 1 dollar bought 0.8206 Swiss francs, up from 0.8165 Swiss francs the previous trading day; 1 dollar bought 1.4132 Canadian dollars, up from 1.3998 Canadian dollars the previous trading day; 1 dollar bought 9.8988 Swedish kronor, up from 9.7948 Swedish kronor the previous trading day. [Cryptocurrencies] Bitcoin hovered below $76,000, at $75,846 as of publication; Ethereum edged up 0.07% to $2,236. [Precious metals] Spot gold fell 0.41% to $4,071.58; spot silver rose 0.31% to $51.97/oz. [Crude oil] The December light crude futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 31 cents to settle at $90.83 per barrel, a gain of 0.34%; the January London Brent crude futures contract rose 3 cents to settle at $98.32 per barrel, a gain of 0.03%. [Macro news] High prices continue to erode purchasing power; US consumer sentiment remains weak. A preliminary University of Michigan survey showed US consumer sentiment edged up about 6%. Expectations for personal finances and the business environment improved in several areas, but the improvement was concentrated mainly among independent voters. Although sentiment improved among low- and middle-wealth consumers, sentiment among high-wealth consumers who hold large amounts of stock actually fell 5% after recent significant volatility in the stock market. In addition, consumers' comments showed growing concern about an AI bubble. However, compared with AI-related worries, the cost of living remained consumers' top concern. About 57% of respondents volunteered that high prices had eroded their standard of living, the highest level since May this year and above the 46% before the Iran conflict broke out in February. Although consumer sentiment improved this month, it was still down 10% compared with February. The survey was conducted between October 20 and November 2. In the two months before the midterm elections, more than two-thirds of consumers expected Democrats to win control of the House, and more than half of respondents also expected Democrats to win the Senate. The one-year inflation expectation fell to 4.3% this month from 4.7% last month. Although this was the lowest since August, it remained significantly above the 3.4% in February before the Iran conflict and above all readings in 2024. The longer-term inflation expectation edged down to 3.4% from 3.5% in October, still significantly above the 2.8% to 3.2% range in 2024. US October nonfarm payrolls rose by 165,000; the dollar posted its largest single-day gain in nearly five months. US October nonfarm payrolls increased by 165,000, far exceeding the expected 65,000, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%. The strong jobs data pushed the probability of a 25-basis-point Fed rate hike in December to nearly 80%, and the dollar index rose 0.71% to 102.31, the largest single-day gain since June 17; the euro, pound and yen fell 0.72%, 0.74% and 0.5% against the dollar, respectively. US Treasury yields rose in tandem, with the 10-year yield rising to 4.85% and the 2-year yield to 4.52%. Fed officials Williams, Musalem and Daly all stressed that inflationary pressure remains, with Daly saying the Fed may still need to raise rates further. US considers easing restrictions on some sanctioned tankers to ease freight and oil price pressure. According to reports, at least four companiesTrafigura, Vitol, Mercuria and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)are in talks with the US government to apply to buy or lease some tankers that were placed on the US sanctions list for involvement in illicit oil transport, in order to ease the global shortage of tanker capacity and reduce shipping costs. The talks involve about 50 of the roughly 1,600 vessels currently sanctioned by the US, including very large crude carriers capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil. The US Treasury is reviewing the applications and may authorize them case by case rather than granting a blanket waiver; no final decision has been made and the timing of approval is uncertain. However, whether the measures can effectively lower oil prices remains uncertain. Reactivating idle tankers could increase effective capacity, but some older tankers pose maintenance and safety risks. As of November 4, the US had sanctioned a total of 1,568 vessels, including 462 crude oil tankers. The US also needs to prevent the authorizations from funding entities that violate rules, and US licenses cannot lift other sanctions imposed by the EU and the UK. [Company news] Musk: SpaceX annualized revenue could exceed $100 billion by the end of the year. Musk said in an interview on Friday that he still expects SpaceX (SPCX.US) annualized revenue to exceed $500 billion by the end of 2027, which he considers the most reasonable forecast; reaching $1 trillion in revenue is not entirely impossible, but the probability is only about 2%. He expects SpaceX annualized revenue to exceed $100 billion by the fourth quarter of 2026, up about 70% quarter on quarter, but stressed that the figures are only personal expectations, not commitments. Musk also said that the share of SpaceX revenue from the US government will be less than 10% this quarter and will fall below 5% a year later, and said the company's government business provides the highest-quality products at the lowest prices. After the news was announced, SpaceX shares rose more than 8% at one point. Report: Microsoft Corporation is gradually terminating its AI computing leasing agreement with Oracle Corporation. According to media reports citing people familiar with the matter, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) has stopped renewing its AI computing leasing contract with Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US) and has been gradually shutting down leased computing resources in recent months. The people said the servers provided by Oracle Corporation use an older generation of NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) chips and no longer meet Microsoft Corporation's current technical specifications. The two sides reached the agreement in 2023 to provide computing power for the new version of the Bing AI search engine; the specific contract amount is unknown. Oracle Corporation responded that demand for its AI infrastructure remains strong and that older-generation GPUs still have a market. Microsoft Corporation is reassessing external AI computing partnerships, having previously committed more than $80 billion in computing leasing spending to emerging cloud service providers such as Coreweave (CRWV.US), Nscale and Nebius (NBIS.US). There were earlier reports that Microsoft Corporation management was increasingly dissatisfied with the high costs and project delays of some suppliers, had recently strengthened its review of data center projects, exited some high-risk projects, and was reconsidering whether to sign new computing cooperation agreements. Meanwhile, Oracle Corporation's cloud business is expanding rapidly, but heavy capital expenditure has turned free cash flow negative, intensifying investor concerns about the returns on its AI infrastructure investment, and its shares have fallen by more than half from this year's high. Buffett's successor bets on AI; Berkshire's $10 billion draws attention. In Greg Abel's first year as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, he took the investment group into a brand-new investment area: artificial intelligence. In a clear departure from Buffett's long-standing reservations about tech stocks, the new chief executive began committing large sums shortly after taking office. Within just a few months, he invested $10 billion in Alphabet Inc. Class C parent Alphabet (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) to support its AI-related investments; he also added $930 million to Italian conglomerate Bending Spoons SpA, which uses AI to transform businesses. However, as AI trades begin to show cracks, the timing of Berkshire's sudden increase in related investments may look less than ideal. CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said: "I do think some of this may be a deliberate increase in AI exposure. However, one also has to ask the question: is it a bit too late to enter now?" Still, for staunch value investors and long-time Berkshire watchers, these market fluctuations may not matter. After all, when Buffett invested in Apple Inc. in 2016, he was criticized for missing the iPhone maker's best period, but it ultimately became one of Berkshire's most successful investments. Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Meyer Shields said Abel likely views Berkshire's AI investment as a bet on the technology's long-term development potential.