MARKET SNAPSHOT

U.S. stocks fell, led by an historic slide at Aphabet. Treasury yields fell after both the Fed and the ECB kept interest rates unchanged, while U.S. indicators showed growth and inflation was still hot. Expectations of higher U.S. interest rates ahead pushed down gold. The dollar edged lower. Oil futures retreated on news that the U.S. is seeking to establish talks with Iranian hard-liners.

MARKET WRAPS EQUITIES

U.S. stocks declined as a revenue shortfall from Google parent Alphabet caused one of the largest ever one-session market capitalization losses for a single company, feeding doubts about the payoff from artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%. The broad S&P 500 slipped 0.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.4%.

After two years of an AI boom and a historic surge in the stock market, the bar for earnings is almost unattainably high. Alphabet fell over 12% to $281.73 despite logging a marked increase in operating income after Google's search revenue growth waned due to the less lucrative nature of AI searches. The slide erased $499.8 billion from Alphabet's market value, the second biggest single-session loss for any company on record.

Earlier Thursday, Asian chip stocks diverged as earnings results met with mixed reception from increasingly skeptical investors taking a closer look at what's under the hood.

Shares of South Korea's memory giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix diverged. Samsung's shares slid 4.1% despite posting a fourth straight quarter of record earnings, while SK Hynix rose 2.6%. The Kospi Composite Index settled 1.2% lower.

Meanwhile, Japanese chip-related companies were more resilient. The Nikkei Stock Average added 1.1%.

In contrast, Chinese semiconductor companies fell broadly. Despite robust earnings, investors have turned more cautious over Chinese AI chip makers' elevated valuations as doubts over the AI boom builds.

China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.8% while the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 2.8%. The tech-focused ChiNext Price Index sank nearly 4.5%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.6%.

Stocks in Australia rose, as the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5%. New Zealand's S& P/NZX 50 edged 0.1% higher.

COMMODITIES

Oil prices fell as traders assessed fresh U.S. efforts to revive peace negotiations with Iran, while persistent Middle East supply risks and the possibility of renewed military escalation limited losses.

December Brent crude futures slipped 0.4% to $114.88 a barrel, while December West Texas Intermediate settled down 0.8% at $102.00 a barrel.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, in an effort to revive peace negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter.

President Trump said that he approved Vance's attempt to make contact. The discussions have focused on a possible framework for negotiations rather than a detailed peace proposal, the Journal reported.

"In my opinion, the administration is finally talking to the right person," Robert Yawger, commodity specialist at Mizuho Securities USA, said. Rezaei's position "is probably second only to Iran's Supreme Leader," he added.

Precious metals futures settled lower following a stronger-than-expected U.S. GDP reading, which supports expectations of higher U.S. interest rates ahead.

"Markets continue to price in a December interest-rate hike and further tightening beyond year-end, keeping yields supported and weighing on gold," Thadeu Dos Santos of Infinox said.

Geopolitical uncertainty adds pressure with the possibility of new military operations after the U.S. midterm election, he added.

"Elevated oil prices continue to fuel inflation, potentially reinforcing restrictive monetary policy."

Front-month gold settled down 0.5% in New York at $4,017.70 a troy ounce. Silver fell 2.4% to $52.191 a troy ounce.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

U.S. Economy Accelerated This Summer Despite High Gas Prices

U.S. economic growth picked up steam over the summer. Business investment surged, driven by the artificial-intelligence build-out, and consumers continued to spend at a healthy clip despite high gas prices and other affordability concerns.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product-the value of all goods and services produced across the economy-rose at a 3.4% annual rate in the third quarter. That number is adjusted for inflation and seasonality.

PCE Inflation Accelerated Last Month

The inflation metric targeted by the Federal Reserve sped up in September, showing why elevated price increases hang over the central bank's next moves.

Prices as measured by the personal-consumption expenditures price index increased by 0.5% last month, after rising by 0.3% in August, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The 12-month PCE inflation rate climbed to 3.6%, from 3.4% a month earlier.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core PCE inflation was 0.3% in September and 3.1% over the trailing 12 months.

ECB Leaves Rates Unchanged as Challenges Mount for Lagarde's Successor

FRANKFURT-The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged Thursday, hours after President Christine Lagarde said she would step down early. The humdrum rate decision belies the storm clouds building over her final months and the bevy of challenges her successor will inherit.

French bond markets are being rocked by volatility. Energy prices remain stubbornly high. And Lagarde's departure will kick off one of the most significant leadership shake-ups in the central bank's history, with jockeying to succeed her beginning in earnest on Thursday.

The ECB held its key deposit rate at 2.5%. As with the Federal Reserve-which also kept rates unchanged Wednesday-investors think the ECB will next raise rates in December.

Amazon Stock Drops on Wall Street Miss, Despite Biggest Cloud Growth in Years

Amazon.com reported higher-than-expected revenue from Amazon Web Services in its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, showing sustained momentum in its cloud computing business.

Amazon Web Services brought in $46 billion in revenue for the three months through September, accounting for 39% growth year-over-year, the company said.

Overall revenue increased 12% to $201.9 billion, and net income was $20.7 billion. Both were below analysts' estimates polled by FactSet.

Intel Shares Tumble on Lower Profit, Weak Guidance

Intel logged a lower profit in the third quarter and guided for lackluster fourth-quarter earnings, sending shares sliding after-hours.

The chip maker on Thursday projected that adjusted earnings in the current fourth quarter of 25 cents a share, on revenue between $15 billion and $16 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting fourth-quarter earnings of 45 cents a share on $17.29 billion of revenue.

Shares fell 17% to $76.85 in after-hours trading. The stock closed down 3.6% at $92.07, and has more than doubled in price this year through the close.

Starbucks Same-Store Sales Climb on U.S. Growth

Starbucks recorded higher same-store sales in the fiscal fourth quarter, as its turnaround plan drives revenue in the U.S.

The coffee-shop chain posted a profit of $677.2 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with $133.1 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were 80 cents, ahead of the 72 cents anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.

Expected Major Events for Friday 00:30/AUS: Sep Financial Aggregates, incl Private Sector Credit

00:30/AUS: 3Q PPI

01:00/PHI: Sep External Trade Performance

01:00/JPN: Sep Steel Imports & Exports Statistics

02:00/SIN: 3Q Employment

02:00/SIN: 3Q Unemployment Rate

02:00/SIN: Sep Money Supply

02:00/SIN: Sep Bank Loans

04:30/JPN: Sep Preliminary Report on Petroleum Statistics

05:00/JPN: Sep Housing Starts

05:00/JPN: Sep Construction Orders

05:30/AUS: Sep International Reserves & Foreign Currency Liquidity

07:00/THA: Sep Industrial Production Index

07:00/MAL: Sep Money Supply

07:30/THA: Weekly International Reserves

08:00/TAI: 3Q Advance GDP

08:15/HK: Sep Money Supply

08:59/JPN: Japan Monetary Policy Meeting decision

09:59/PHI: Sep Money Supply (M3)

09:59/HK: Sep Tourism figures

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