☕️ Australia rates hit an 18-year high

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.

In today's newsletter:

🇦🇺 Australia hikes rates to 18-year high

💸 $6.4B Binance hack triggers crypto selloff

🍎 Apple warns of slimmer margins on AI costs

🔌 Marvell buys Lumentum for $115B in AI connectivity bet

📊 Anthropic's revenue soars 1200% but posts $104B loss

Plus: 🌍 11 macro stories, 🏢 10 corporate stories, and 📑 6 research & reports.

📊 Before The Bell

• Australia's central bank lifted its benchmark cash rate by a quarter point to 4.85%, the highest since November 2008, as it keeps battling inflation that most peers have already brought to heel.
• The move, the RBA's fifth hike this year, split the board six-to-three, and came as consumer prices rose 4.3% in September, up from 4% in August and the fastest pace since March.
• The bank now expects inflation to stay elevated through much of 2027 and not return to its 2%-3% target until late that year, three quarters later than forecast, though Governor Michele Bullock said a recession is "not our base case."

• A $6.4 billion theft from Binance, blamed on North Korea-linked group TraderTraitor and more than four times the previous record set by February 2025's Bybit hack, triggered a crypto selloff that pulled Bitcoin down to $77,600.
• Attackers drained Binance's hot wallets across roughly 10 blockchains in about 20 minutes on Thursday, exploiting pre-signed authorizations that turned one wallet into a self-emptying contract, a failure of Binance's own approval process rather than of the blockchains, with no private keys leaked.
• The fallout erased Bitcoin ETFs' month, with $643 million of outflows on Friday flipping October from a small gain to a loss; Binance has set aside enough to repay users and must now buy tokens on the open market to refill the pool.

• Apple told investors yesterday that rising memory-chip costs, driven by AI demand, will squeeze its gross margin to 45%-46% this holiday quarter, down from 47.9% in the quarter just ended, sending shares down as much as 4% on the call.
• Services revenue is forecast to grow 8%-9%, short of the 10.7% analysts expected, and executives said purchasing commitments jumped $33 billion in the quarter as Apple moved to lock in memory supplies amid prices it expects to keep climbing into next year.
• To offset the hit, Apple raised iPhone 17 prices by $100 and lifted some MacBook prices, and plans to charge more for iCloud+ to cover AI costs; suppliers benefited too, with Micron up more than 1% in after-hours trading.

• Marvell has agreed to buy optical-networking maker Lumentum in an all-stock deal valued at $115 billion including debt, a bet on the plumbing that connects AI data centers and one of the largest tech acquisitions ever.
• Marvell will swap 4.5 of its shares for each Lumentum share, giving the deal an equity value of about $80 billion, bigger than Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard in 2022.
• Both companies share Nvidia as a backer, which invested $2 billion in each earlier this year; the deal still needs shareholder and regulatory approval and is not expected to close until the first half of 2028.

• Anthropic's amended IPO filing disclosed about $895.4 billion in committed spending on computing power and infrastructure, a cost burden that helped push the company deep into the red despite surging sales.
• Revenue for the nine months to Sept. 30 reached $33.24 billion, up roughly 1,200% from a year earlier, but the company booked a $104 billion net loss, most of it tied to accounting changes on convertible notes rather than operations.
• As Anthropic prepares its IPO road show, investors are watching whether computing capacity, sourced largely from Amazon, Google and SpaceX, can come online fast enough, a worry sharpened by last week's heavy AI spending reports from Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

🌍 Macro News

• Oil rebounded after report of secret US strike on Iran's Qeshm Island. LINK
• US factory activity expanded for tenth month, with ISM index reaching 55.5. LINK
• Treasury plans $618 billion borrowing this quarter and $800 billion next quarter. LINK
• US LNG exports reached their second-highest level as Europe stocked up for winter. LINK
• Yuan headed for steepest daily drop in six months after liquidity tightening. LINK
• Nasdaq 100 entered correction, down 10% from October peak amid tech selling. LINK
• Selig urged federal oversight of crypto exchanges after Binance's $6.3 billion theft. LINK
• Circle urged technology-neutral SEC rules covering vetted open blockchain networks. LINK
• FATF will review jurisdictions with significant crypto activity to strengthen anti-money-laundering enforcement. LINK
• World has depleted emergency oil stocks, with nearly 1 billion barrels withdrawn. LINK
• China's factory growth slowed slightly in October as export orders weakened. LINK

🏢 Corporate News

• Oracle raised $20 billion in planned financing in one day, unnerving investors. LINK
• Palantir commercial revenue beat government business as quarterly sales topped $2 billion. LINK
• Brookfield to invest over $26.8 billion in UK AI data center development. LINK
• SpaceX discusses Boost Mobile deal or network access to accelerate Starlink Mobile. LINK
• Meta prepares bond sale potentially raising $20 billion, including first euro issuance. LINK
• Salesforce bought Cresta, its third acquisition in two weeks, expanding customer-service software. LINK
• Disney plans thousands of job cuts as managers pursue 20% cost savings. LINK
• Aramco third-quarter adjusted profit climbed 9% to $31.2 billion on refining gains. LINK
• Grab raised 2026 revenue outlook on ride-hailing growth and stronger delivery demand. LINK
• NYSE added four firms to its planned blockchain-based stock trading platform. LINK

📈 Stocks

📑 Research & Reports

• 7 AI stocks to own in 2026: names the AI companies MarketBeat rates as long-term holds this year, in a free report. Get the free report
• BofA warned prolonged AI-stock selloff threatens US and global economic growth. LINK
• Amazon capital spending could reach $476 billion in 2028, JPMorgan analyst projects. LINK
• IMF estimates dollar stablecoin use stays elevated after countries lift capital controls. LINK
• Goldman raised oil forecasts, warning Brent could hit $140 in 2027. LINK
• Fed study says tariffs prompt households to cut spending beyond price increases. LINK
• Morgan Stanley sees chip stocks falling another 10%-15% before mid-November bottom. LINK

📅 Market Calendar

💬 How did you find today's edition?

We read every reply — just reply to this email and let us know how we can improve!