The Opener
Published
The SpaceX spectrum deal that hammered US carriers overnight is still the dominant premarket story, and the moves have only sharpened since yesterday's close. T-Mobile US is down 6.8%, AT&T down 6.4% and Verizon down 5.5%, while tower landlords Crown Castle (+6.9%), American Tower (+6.2%) and SBA Communications (+4.8%) keep climbing on the consolidation logic, and EchoStar adds 4.6%. AST SpaceMobile is off 3.0%. Humana extends its post-earnings surge to 14.4% on the strong Medicare Advantage star ratings, a reminder that healthcare, not just telecom, is where the real dispersion is this week.
The Hormuz standoff remains the macro backdrop, and the geopolitical temperature is rising rather than cooling. Three Saudi nationals died in two attacks at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and the Saudi-led coalition says it took out three Houthi missile launchers while promising a strong response. Pimco warns the 10-year Treasury yield risks a push toward 6%, a level last seen in 2000, underscoring how the energy shock is feeding directly into the rates story that already has yields near multi-decade highs. Gold is advancing again, this time on signs of stronger Chinese demand, with Beijing authorizing 257 million metric tons of 2027 crude import quotas for non-state refiners and 3.7 million tons of October fuel exports, both pointing to firmer Chinese appetite even as its Star 50 tech index drops roughly 3%.
Weather adds a second supply-side threat: the National Hurricane Center expects Isaias to approach the northern Gulf Coast as a dangerous hurricane Friday, and Shell has completed evacuations at its Appomattox, Mars, Ursa Olympus and Vito facilities ahead of the storm.
Elsewhere, Apple is reportedly scaling back iPhone 18 Pro orders on weaker demand, Porsche's nine-month deliveries fell 16% year over year with China down 33%, and Tesla sold 95,366 China-made vehicles in September. In Europe, Labour holds Starmer's old seat, Barclays cuts Ryanair to equal-weight, and Norway's underlying inflation ticked up to 3.4% year over year, still below expectations. Japanese and Chinese government bond yields eased overnight, a mild counterpoint to the pressure building in Treasuries.