Asia Shares Bounce as Apple Earnings Loom, Oil Falls More Than 3%
Share markets bounced in Asia on Monday (November 2) as investors hoped Apple earnings later in the session would provide relief from worries over super intelligence (SI) cash burn, while oil prices slid as talks continued between Iranian and Qatari mediators, according to Reuters.
Japan's Nikkei firmed 0.3%, while South Korea added 2.6%, having shed 16% last month. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5%, and China's blue chips gained 1.3% after media reports said regulators would meet financial institutions to discuss measures to support capital markets. EUROSTOXX 50 futures rose 0.3%.
S&P 500 futures edged up 0.5% and Nasdaq futures rallied 0.9%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost almost 7% in October, its worst month since the tariff rout of April 2025. Apple shares have climbed for four straight months, unseating Nvidia as the world's most valuable listed company; analysts look for quarterly earnings per share of $2 on revenue of $113 billion, up from $1.85 a year earlier, along with guidance on early iPhone 18 sales.
Brent futures fell 3.3% to $109.70 a barrel, following a 13.6% jump in October, while U.S. crude futures lost 3.4% to $100.58 a barrel. Iranian officials and Qatari mediators held a third straight day of talks aimed at a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, though tankers were still being attacked in the Gulf.
Futures imply a 72% chance of a quarter-point Federal Reserve rate rise in December, with only 55 basis points of total tightening now priced in, compared with more than 70 a month ago; the 10-year Treasury yield held at 4.931% and the two-year at 4.612%. Markets wager the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of England and the Riksbank will hike this week, while the Norges Bank is seen on hold. The U.S. ISM manufacturing survey for October is due later Monday and the payrolls report on Friday, with a median forecast of a 65,000 rise and unemployment holding at 4.2%. Goldman Sachs expects hyperscaler capital expenditure to almost double to $800 billion this year and rise to $1.2 trillion in 2027.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 上海陆家嘴金融区天际线（资料图）。摄影：DXR，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。
