Weekly Market Notes — October 25–November 1, 2026

Weekly Overview The AI-spending anxiety that cracked Meta a week ago turned into outright carnage this week. Alphabet posted its worst single day since its 2004 IPO after a rare earnings miss tied to heavier AI capex and a souring equity stake, even as Microsoft and Amazon beat and still saw their stocks wobble — proof the market is now scrutinizing every hyperscaler’s spending plan line by line. Intel added a separate gut punch, cratering 28.6% on a weak PC outlook and a factory accident, dragging the Nasdaq to a third straight losing week and handing the S&P 500 its worst single day since June. The Fed, meeting in the middle of it all, held rates at 3.75%–4.00% but saw two governors dissent in favor of a hike, keeping December very much in play even as oil pushed toward $118 on an unresolved Iran standoff. Then Friday night brought the week’s strangest twist: the largest crypto theft in history, roughly $6.3 billion drained from Binance in a breach investigators link to North Korea, which pulled Bitcoin into the high $70s at the same moment gold — the traditional safe haven — was also falling. Small caps, improbably, were this week’s refuge. Estimated reading time: 8-9 minutes NOT FOR FINANCIAL ADVICE - FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT USE ONLY Instrument Level Week S&P 500 7,580.07 DOWN 0.6% Dow 51,770.31 DOWN 0.9% Nasdaq Composite 25,437.00 DOWN 2.0% Russell 2000 2,811.84 UP 1.3% Brent Crude ~$117.64 UP ~0.8% 10-Yr Yield 4.93% DOWN ~7 bps Gold ~$3,884.90 DOWN 3.6% Bitcoin ~$77,290 DOWN ~4.0% Headline 01 of 06 - Alphabet’s Worst Day Since Its 2004 IPO Overshadows Strong Microsoft and Amazon Earnings Big Tech Earnings - Alphabet - AI Capex - Cloud Alphabet broke a long streak of earnings beats. Q3 revenue rose 25% to $127.58 billion, but EPS of $2.12 fell well short of consensus, dragged down by an $8.7 billion loss on its equity investment portfolio - which includes a large SpaceX stake - layered on top of sharply higher AI spending. Capital expenditures…