Weekly Market Recap | Oct 12 – Oct 18

Analyst Highlights

AI financing is becoming more selective: Tencent’s successful bond sale contrasts with stress among borrowers dependent on continued access to credit.
Strong chip demand can coexist with infrastructure financing problems; ASML’s supply constraints show why the AI cycle deserves company-level analysis.
Falling Treasury yields during the selloff reflected demand for safety; they should not automatically be read as evidence of improving inflation.
Power availability is a commercial risk: the Nscale setback illustrates how grid delays can threaten contracted AI capacity and project economics.
Russia sanctions relief and Europe’s new restrictions point to diverging policy approaches; energy supply normalization still depends on physical access and security.
Biotech’s strong debuts suggest an IPO window remains open for selected issuers; they do not establish a broad recovery in new-listing demand.

City Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CTY) — Priced 11.11 million shares at $18 for a $200 million upsized IPO; shares ended Friday 24.4% above the offer price.
Iambic Therapeutics (NASDAQ: IAM) — Priced 9.375 million shares at $16 for a $150 million IPO; shares finished Friday 48.8% above the offer price.
Amaero (NASDAQ: AMRO) — Priced 4.71 million shares at $4.25 for approximately $20 million in its U.S. cross-listing; shares ended Friday 5.9% above the offer price.
TCGX Acquisition II (NASDAQ: TCXB) — Priced 10 million shares at $10 for a $100 million SPAC IPO, targeting healthcare businesses in Asia.
Frazier Life Sciences Acquisition II (NASDAQ: FLSC) — Raised $75 million through 7.5 million shares at $10, with the SPAC targeting biotechnology businesses.
Apex Treasury II (proposed: APTTU) — Filed for a proposed $250 million SPAC IPO, targeting AI infrastructure, energy, defense, space and fintech.
EuroSPAC Acquisition (proposed IPO) — Filed for a $125 million SPAC offering targeting industrial businesses; pricing remains pending.

S&P 500 closed at 7,659.44, falling 152.10 points, or 1.95% for the week.
Russell 1000 closed at 4,162.18, falling 84.88 points, or 2.00% for the week.
Russell 2000 closed at 2,721.37, falling 85.61 points, or 3.05% for the week.
Russell 3000 closed at 4,329.19, falling 90.13 points, or 2.04% for the week.
CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) closed at 19.99, rising 5.15 points, or 34.70% for the week.
Dow Jones closed at 52,002.41, rising 347.46 points, or 0.67% for the week.
NASDAQ (IXIC) closed at 26,140.03, falling 1,226.14 points, or 4.48% for the week.
Bitcoin closed $82,012.34 at the weekly cutoff, falling $1,667.13, or 1.99% for the week.
Ethereum closed $2,408.26 at the weekly cutoff, falling $126.44, or 4.99% for the week.
Solana stood at $104.02 at the weekly cutoff, falling $7.22, or 6.49% for the week.
XRP stood at $1.3050 at the weekly cutoff, falling $0.1042, or 7.39% for the week.
Gold futures closed at $4,181.10, falling $35.20, or 0.83% for the week.
Silver closed at $57.305, falling $3.743, or 6.13% for the week.
WTI crude November contract, closed at $101.41, rising $9.56, or 10.41% for the week.
Brent crude closed at $109.86, rising $5.14, or 4.91% for the week.

September CPI rose 0.6% monthly and 3.7% annually, while core inflation reached 2.6%, reinforcing pressure on the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook.
CoreWeave’s 2032 bonds fell into distressed territory as default-insurance costs briefly exceeded 1,000 basis points, exposing AI-financing stress.
Reports of CXMT’s progress on a denser memory design intensified competition concerns; Samsung shares fell over 7% and SK Hynix more than 10% on Tuesday.
Producer prices rose 1.3% in September and 6.3% annually, while retail sales increased 0.8%, underscoring persistent inflation alongside resilient nominal spending.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh declined to preview October’s interest-rate decision, while markets continued to anticipate a pause despite hotter inflation data.
Treasuries rallied as AI-related equity and credit concerns prompted demand for safety, even as inflation complicated the monetary-policy outlook.
The IEA agreed to accelerate remaining emergency-stock releases, including more than 20 million barrels of diesel, to ease persistent supply tightness.
The IMF projected 3.1% global growth in 2026 and 3.4% in 2027, with AI investment helping offset the energy shock but debt and investment risks threatening the outlook.

Trump waived key Russia-related sanctions and tariffs; Rubio said Washington would take up to 60 days to assess their economic effects before further decisions.
The EU adopted nearly 1,600 sanctions listings targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex, with over half linked to ballistic-missile production.
Zelenskiy reported 76 Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector since Trump’s ceasefire announcement; neither Kyiv nor Moscow had confirmed the agreement.
Zelenskiy said U.S. missile-warning intelligence sharing had resumed after a brief interruption, updating the week’s earlier concerns over a suspension of support.
Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters Tehran was changing its tactics against shipping to keep oil prices elevated and influence the U.S. midterms.
Iran renewed its conditional proposal to reopen Hormuz within a week, seeking sanctions relief and an end to the U.S. port blockade.
A Houthi attack hit a Saudi Aramco administrative building in Dhahran, causing a limited fire, according to Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry.
Egypt declared readiness to support Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks; parliamentary discussions on authorizing military assistance were set to continue.

TSMC reported NT$763.1 billion in third-quarter net income, up 68.7%, with a 66.4% gross margin, as leading-edge semiconductor demand remained strong.
ASML reported record quarterly sales of €11.7 billion, forecast €44–45 billion in 2026 sales and warned planned 2027–28 supply would not fully meet customer demand.
Anthropic told prospective investors third-quarter revenue rose 45% to $16.8 billion and that it was profitable on an adjusted basis, Reuters reported, citing investor-day attendees.
Tencent raised $5.7 billion through dollar and offshore-yuan bonds, attracting more than $23 billion in orders despite AI-financing scrutiny.
Nvidia agreed to acquire stakes in French healthcare platform Doctolib and robotics developer Genesis AI, the companies confirmed; investment amounts remained undisclosed.
Ramp raised $1.85 billion at a $60 billion valuation, supporting its expansion in AI-powered corporate finance and spending-management software.
Microsoft reportedly exited Nscale’s Essex data-center agreement; grid delays threatened the project, while other Microsoft contracts were unaffected.
Anthropic announced a commitment of 5% of its shares, subject to stockholder approval, to a public-benefit fund that could address AI’s labor-market impact.

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