MARKETS

S&P 500 7,580.07 -1.82% NASDAQ 25,437.00 -2.86% FTSE 100 10,715.67 -0.13% NIKKEI 63,082 -0.33% BRENT $108.43 -4.41% GOLD $3,910.7 +0.30%

Delayed 15 min · 13:30 GMT

FLASH

Germany’s gas storage hits a record low of 61% as winter arrives Korea’s chip exports jump 259% as October shipments hit $115.3B Oil at $110: will talks, the status quo or strikes set the next move? The 49.3 Problem: China’s factories shrink as its carmakers sell abroad Week ahead: US midterms, two rate hikes, jobs data and AI’s next earnings test Weekend Wrap part 2: Record profits, Falling Stocks - and Nervous AI Investors Weekend Wrap 1: The AI bill nobody fully counted: Bangladesh, World's no.2 apparel exporter, forms garment wage board after protests shut 43 factories FBI pins $6.3B Binance heist on North Korea; withdrawals restart Exxon earns $15.4B, Chevron $9.9B as refining boom lifts Big Oil

Germany’s gas storage hits a record low of 61% as winter arrives Korea’s chip exports jump 259% as October shipments hit $115.3B Oil at $110: will talks, the status quo or strikes set the next move? The 49.3 Problem: China’s factories shrink as its carmakers sell abroad Week ahead: US midterms, two rate hikes, jobs data and AI’s next earnings test Weekend Wrap part 2: Record profits, Falling Stocks - and Nervous AI Investors Weekend Wrap 1: The AI bill nobody fully counted: Bangladesh, World's no.2 apparel exporter, forms garment wage board after protests shut 43 factories FBI pins $6.3B Binance heist on North Korea; withdrawals restart Exxon earns $15.4B, Chevron $9.9B as refining boom lifts Big Oil

Technology

Weekend Wrap part 2: Record profits, Falling Stocks - and Nervous AI Investors

The AI trade is now priced on whether the buyers’ cash flows can keep paying, not on the sellers’ profits.

Industry Radar | 1 November 2026

Weekend Wrap part 2: Record profits, Falling Stocks - and Nervous AI Investors

Here’s the paradox.

SK Hynix just posted the most profitable quarter in memory-chip history, with a record Q3 operating profit of ₩83.3T on an 80% margin and expects memory demand to exceed supply through 2030. Korea’s market still fell 16% in a month.

Samsung’s record ₩107.44T operating profit still sent its shares down 4.13%.

The KOSPI fell through October, closing Friday at 5,730.74, about 37% below its June record close of 9,114.55.

In the US, Microsoft’s capex rose 30% to $45.2B but its free cash flow stayed positive at $18.63B, and the stock traded largely flat while cash-burning Alphabet had its worst day ever.

The reason is discounted-cash-flow maths applied one step upstream. Hynix’s future earnings are someone else’s capex.

If Alphabet or Alibaba burns cash today, investors discount the supplier’s tomorrow.

That’s why Microsoft, which pays for AI from its own cash, barely moved, while Hong Kong tech sits near two-year lows on a higher cost of equity.

Sentiment moved prices day to day, but the direction came from the cash flows.

AI profits are real. The market wants to know who is paying for them, and for how long.