BlockBeats news, on October 31, global financial markets experienced increased volatility this week. Gold and silver plunged significantly, while Brent crude oil is poised for a fifth consecutive weekly gain; U.S. tech stocks faced concentrated selling, with AI capital expenditures and cash flow pressures becoming the market’s focal point. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, but Chair Powell did not rule out a December rate hike, further widening market分歧 on the direction of monetary policy.
In precious metals, spot gold closed at $3,876.89 per ounce on Friday, down 6.7% for the month; silver closed at $49.13 per ounce, with a decline of over 18% in October. Stronger-than-expected U.S. economic and inflation data reinforced expectations of higher interest rates, and rising real yields continued to pressure gold and silver prices. In oil, risks of supply disruptions in the Middle East supported prices, with Brent crude on track for a fifth consecutive weekly gain.
In the U.S. stock market, trading enthusiasm for AI has clearly cooled, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices falling for the third consecutive week. The Nasdaq dropped 5.3% in October, marking its worst monthly performance since March 2025. Alphabet plunged as much as 13% amid concerns over capital expenditures and cash flow, while Intel slid 28.58% on Friday, recording its worst single-day decline since 1974. Apple’s closing market capitalization rose to $5.03 trillion, surpassing NVIDIA’s $4.93 trillion to reclaim its position as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company.
On monetary policy, the Federal Reserve maintained interest rates unchanged this week with a 10-to-2 vote, as two officials advocated for a 25-basis-point rate hike. Chair Powell stated that U.S. economic growth remains strong, but inflation has remained above target for nearly six years, and future policy will depend on incoming economic data. U.S. core PCE increased 3.1% year-over-year in September, and GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.4% in the third quarter. CME data shows the market assigns approximately a 75% probability to a 25-basis-point rate hike by the Fed in December.
On the international front, U.S.-Iran diplomatic mediation continues, with Qatar proposing a seven-day ceasefire plan; however, significant differences remain on issues such as sanctions, port blockades, the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, the United States is still discussing the possibility of resuming military strikes against Iran, and supply risks in the Middle East have not diminished.
In the AI industry, capital expenditures and financing pressures have become key market concerns. Meta has announced a maximum equity financing plan of $97.5 billion, SpaceX has raised approximately $40 billion through equipment leasing arrangements, and Oracle expects to require up to $20 billion in external financing by fiscal year 2030. Anthropic has publicly filed its IPO documents, disclosing revenue of $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026 and long-term commitments for computing power and infrastructure totaling approximately $637 billion.
The semiconductor industry continues to be driven by AI demand. SK Hynix reported a 632% year-over-year increase in operating profit for the third quarter, Samsung Electronics' semiconductor division generated an operating profit of 10.65 trillion KRW, and SanDisk posted a 378% year-over-year revenue increase for its first fiscal quarter of 2027. However, tech stocks experienced significant selling pressure this week, indicating that markets are beginning to focus more on whether AI investments can translate into actual profitability and free cash flow.