Morning Briefing
Published
S&P 500 futures point to a modestly higher open, up about 0.4%, even as Latin American markets are in freefall after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's narrow presidential runoff win in Brazil, with the Brazil ETF EWZ collapsing more than 25% and the broader Latin America ETF ILF down over 15%.
The Brazil shock is colliding with an already tense Middle East backdrop. Oil has pulled back from last week's five-month high, with crude ETFs USO and BNO both down more than 2%, even as the US has moved additional carrier groups and troops toward the Gulf and Iran's economy shows signs of strain under the naval blockade, with reports of triple-digit inflation and sharply higher food prices. HSBC cut its global equities stance to neutral from max overweight while moving oil to outright overweight and trimming gold, a reallocation that fits the morning's cross-asset jitters. US natural gas futures have dropped about 5% to their lowest since April on higher output and weaker demand forecasts. Elsewhere, Serbia's ruling party conceded a snap parliamentary election, and Venezuelan opposition leader Machado has returned to the country following US-backed reconciliation talks cited by Secretary of State Rubio.
Energy is the weakest sector, with XLE down 1.6% as crude eases. Consumer Discretionary leads gainers at +0.7%, powered by Tesla, up 2.1% and among the mega-cap growth cohort's best performers alongside Meta, up 2.0%. Technology is firmer (+0.5%) with semiconductor names, including Lam Research, KLA and Applied Materials, outperforming while Apple lags, down 1.7%. Emerging-market dividend exposure via DVYE is down 4.1%, reflecting the Brazil fallout, and Mercado Libre has dropped sharply as a direct read-through.
Company News
- EQT has agreed to acquire Range Resources in an all-stock deal valuing the combined company's enterprise value at more than $50 billion, with Range shareholders receiving 0.987 EQT shares each.
- Verizon reported Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.31, in line with expectations, on revenue of $34.31 billion versus $35.79 billion expected, and raised its full-year adjusted EPS and free cash flow growth guidance.
- Meta is offering $22.5 billion of Class A stock and up to $60 billion of Class C stock, with Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom agreeing to buy up to $5 billion of the Class A shares.
- SpaceX has entered a roughly $40 billion financing lease with an Apollo Global Management-managed entity to fund GPU equipment for its data centers.
- AutoZone CFO Jamere Jackson is departing to become CFO of FedEx effective November 30; AutoZone shares are among the session's notable decliners.
- Ovintiv agreed to acquire Logan Energy for roughly $890 million, adding Montney acreage and production.
- Anthropic is set to release its S-1 filing this morning.
Overseas Data
Japan's August coincident index edged up to 118.8 from 118.7.
Germany's October Ifo business climate index came in at 90.2, above the 89.9 expected, while France's 10-year yield eased after Moody's held the sovereign rating steady on Friday.
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