Preview of US Stock Market | All three major stock index futures fell together, oil prices surged over 4%, SpaceX, Broadcom, and Oracle simultaneously pushed forward with chip financing.

Premarket Market Trends 1. On Thursday, October 8, in the premarket session, all three major U.S. stock index futures fell. As of press time, Dow futures were down 0.80%, S&P 500 index futures were down 0.46%, and Nasdaq futures were down 0.68%. 2. As of press time, Germany's DAX index was down 1.00%, the UK's FTSE 100 index was down 0.21%, France's CAC 40 index was down 0.61%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 index was down 1.04%. 3. As of press time, WTI crude oil was up 4.53% at $92.28 per barrel. Brent crude oil was up 4.49% at $104.70 per barrel. Market News Federal Reserve Governor Waller: Rate hikes do not need to occur at consecutive meetings; the dot plot reflects a rate hike in early 2027 followed by rate cuts. Federal Reserve Governor Waller said that further rate hikes are still needed to bring inflation back to the 2% target, but they do not need to be implemented at consecutive meetings. Waller expects the 2027 dot plot may reflect a path of a rate hike early in the year followed by rate cuts, and said that AI infrastructure investment and energy shocks are making inflationary pressure more persistent, while the U.S. economy is strengthening in the second half of the year. Federal Reserve meeting minutes: Most officials expect one more rate hike before the end of the year; the rate hike path is a prudent move. The latest meeting minutes show that Federal Reserve officials expect to raise rates again before the end of this year to curb inflation that has remained above target for more than five consecutive years. However, the minutes did not show when policymakers specifically expect to raise rates, only indicating that persistently elevated prices and a stable labor market may prompt the Fed to implement a second rate hike this year. Discussions at the September meeting showed that officials believe inflation carries a risk of remaining sticky, while the labor market is "near full employment" and overall economic growth has also accelerated. Oil prices rebounded again. Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and U.S. Gulf of Mexico production shutdowns. On Thursday, oil prices rose about 4%. The reasons were the escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, another tanker attack in the Persian Gulf, and Hurricane "Isaias" approaching the northern U.S. Gulf Coast, which expanded the scale of U.S. offshore oil production shutdowns. French debt risk is already higher than 38% of French corporate debt. France currently has about 215 billion euros ($241 billion) of corporate bonds, whose trading performance has shown a lower risk premium than French government bonds. After the large-scale selloff in sovereign debt, this scale has expanded nearly 18 times compared with early 2026. Data show that as of Wednesday, about 38% of all high-rated French corporate debt had yields lower than government bonds of the same maturity. By comparison, at the beginning of the year this scale was only 12 billion euros. Saudi Arabia plans to allow loading outside the Strait of Hormuz and is considering changing its crude oil pricing benchmark. According to reports, Saudi Arabia is in discussions with customers and plans to offer loading options outside the Strait of Hormuz in next year's long-term crude oil supply contracts, formally incorporating the temporary transportation arrangements used during the Iran war into the contractual mechanism. People familiar with the matter said the negotiations are still ongoing and must be completed before the end of this year. The people said Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco is also discussing other adjustments, including allowing customers to choose different crude oil pricing benchmarks, and even having Saudi Aramco deliver crude oil directly to Asian customers. World Meteorological Organization: El Nino is expected to intensify and last until February 2027. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its monthly climate bulletin on Thursday that this year's El Nino will further strengthen before peaking in December, and the probability of it lasting until February 2027 is close to 100%, with its intensity potentially reaching one of the strongest levels since at least 1950. At the same time, sea surface temperatures are expected to set historical records; sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific, the core region of El Nino, from October to December are expected to be 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. Trump says he is not interested in reaching a deal with Iran. U.S. President Trump said he is no longer seeking a deal with Iran. This came after reports that the U.S. military is preparing for potential strike actions against Iran, possibly before the midterm elections. "I think this deal is not really something I want to do, but they are willing to offer any terms in exchange for a truce," Trump said. He also added that U.S. Middle East envoy Witkoff has been working to broker the deal and that "progress is going very well." Individual Stock News Samsung (SSNLF.US) Q3 operating profit surged 783%. Samsung Electronics announced preliminary third-quarter results on Thursday. The company's third-quarter operating profit surged 783% year over year and rose 20.01% quarter over quarter, slightly exceeding analyst expectations, mainly driven by a surge in AI chip demand that led to strong profit growth in its memory business. Regulatory filings show that the world's largest memory chip maker expects operating profit for the July-to-September quarter to be 107.4 trillion won (about $801.7 billion), compared with a market forecast of 106.1 trillion won. This is Samsung's fourth consecutive quarter of record operating profit; third-quarter revenue was 195 trillion won, up 127% year over year, versus market expectations of 199 trillion won. Samsung Electronics will release its full earnings report later this month. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TSM.US) third-quarter revenue grew 50%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR announced on Thursday that, driven by strong growth in AI application demand, third-quarter revenue reached NT$1.49 trillion (about $46.71 billion), up 50% year over year and a record high, exceeding the market expectation of NT$1.46 trillion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR's strong sales growth reinforced market expectations for AI demand. The focus topics at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR's third-quarter earnings call will be on the outlook for 2027 and beyond; pricing is also another major focus, with reports saying Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR wafer prices may rise 3% to 6% in 2027. PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP.US) lowered its profit forecast, with North American business recovering more slowly than expected. PepsiCo, Inc. announced on Thursday quarterly profit and revenue that both beat analyst expectations, helped by growth in its international business, but its North American business remained sluggish. Third-quarter net profit attributable to the company was $3.05 billion, lower than $2.6 billion in the same period last year. Excluding special items, earnings per share were $2.34. Net sales rose 5.6% to $25.27 billion. Organic revenue grew 3.1% in the quarter. The company also lowered its full-year profit forecast because difficulties in its home market weighed on profit. PepsiCo, Inc. now expects core earnings per share to grow 2.5% to 3.5%, below the lower end of its previous 5% to 7% range. The company now expects net revenue growth of about 6%, at the high end of its previous 4% to 6% forecast range. SpaceX (SPCX.US), Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US), and Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US) are all reaching out to "ask for money." People familiar with the matter said that in recent weeks, Broadcom Inc. has been arranging more than $50 billion in financing for its custom AI chip project developed in cooperation with OpenAI. The people said Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.US) and Blackstone (BX.US) are among the lenders in talks to participate in the financing. The negotiations are still at an early stage, and the deal size may change. In addition, the people said Oracle Corporation is also in talks with Apollo and Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS.US) to arrange funding for a large-scale chip procurement. Separately, media reports said SpaceX has also recently been seeking to raise $40 billion through a financing plan led by Apollo to purchase NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) chips. People familiar with the matter said the company plans to raise about $10 billion through bank loans and $30 billion through investment-grade debt to support its large-scale chip orders. Bezos: Blue Origin may conduct an IPO within the next few years. Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said the space company is likely to hold an initial public offering (IPO) within the next few years after completing its first round of external financing and raising billions of dollars. Bezos said: "I now have a clearer understanding of Blue Origin's financial prospects. After completing this financing, Blue Origin will likely have reason to become a public company at some point in the future." He added that this process may have to wait until "a few years later." Bezos said the company recently raised $10 billion from external investors and may raise more in the future. He also mentioned that the company plans to test-fly its "New Glenn" rocket again in December, a rocket designed to compete with SpaceX's flagship Falcon 9. SK Hynix's (SKHY.US) Solidigm reportedly selected Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Morgan Stanley (MS.US) to handle its U.S. IPO. According to sources, Solidigm, the flash memory business subsidiary of SK Hynix, has selected Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Morgan Stanley for a U.S. IPO next year, and JPMorgan (JPM.US), Citi (C.US), and UBS Group AG (UBS.US) have also been invited to participate in the listing. Solidigm could list as early as 2027, with a valuation of up to $100 billion. The discussions are still ongoing, specific arrangements may change, and more banks may join. The U.S. Department of Defense plans to exchange a $1.5 billion loan for warrants for up to 7.5% of Wolfspeed (WOLF.US) equity. The U.S. Department of Defense has provided chipmaker Wolfspeed with a commitment for a conditional senior secured loan of up to $1.5 billion with a 30-year term to support domestic U.S. production of silicon carbide materials and wide-bandgap power devices. Under the terms still subject to negotiation, Wolfspeed will provide the U.S. Department of Defense with warrants allowing it to purchase up to 7.5% of the company's shares in tranches. Wolfspeed filed for bankruptcy in July last year due to production problems at a key silicon carbide wafer plant. The company said it will use the funds to expand production of silicon carbide materials and power devices for telecommunications, aerospace, and defense applications, and to upgrade related material supply capabilities for military communications systems. As of press time, Wolfspeed's premarket stock price was up more than 11%. Important Economic Data and Event Preview 20:15 Beijing time: Bank of England Governor Bailey speaks. 20:30 Beijing time: U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ended October 3. 22:00 Beijing time: U.S. August wholesale inventories month-over-month final reading. 01:00 Beijing time the next day: U.S. October 8 30-year Treasury auction. 01:40 Beijing time the next day: 2028 FOMC voter and St. Louis Fed President Musalem speaks. Earnings Preview Friday morning: Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL.US)