Tech Stock Selloff Hasn't Yet Boosted Consumer Stocks — Market Talk
1230 ET - Investors are selling off tech stocks amid mounting fears of AI. But the selloff hasn't resulted in a buy-in to consumer stocks, where strong underlying data and impressive prints haven't been rewarded like they should, Mizuho analysts say in a research note. "We believe consumer is still under-owned here," they write, pointing to a solid underlying fundamentals and a strong earnings season so far within the group. The analysts speculate there may be some hesitation around the upcoming holiday season and next week's midterm elections. "We advise clients to keep their guard up and stay selective over the next few months," they write, selecting Walmart, Costco and O'Reily as their highest-quality picks. ([email protected])1227 ET - Intel's commentary around server supply growth doesn't provide a fully satisfying answer as to why the company continues to forecast meaningful relief in the second half of 2027, StoneX analyst Cody Acree writes in a note. "If server demand has been visible and expanding, and increasing server supply has been a management priority, the fact that the larger revenue step still waits until 2H27 suggests the constraint cannot be explained by a single late-arriving component," Acree writes. "The relevant question is not whether wafer, substrate and assembly lead times are real - they are - but why the combined system was not positioned earlier to respond to demand that management describes as unusually strong." There's more execution risk around capacity that Intel's confidence suggests, he adds. Shares fall 30% to $64.69. ([email protected])1204 ET - The long-term investment thesis for crypto isn't changed by the $6.3 billion Binance hack, but the bar is raised for platforms that want to ride the next wave of growth, Moon Pursuit Capital's Utkarsh Ahuja says in a note. Investors will start to favor platforms that demonstrate robust security, transparency and independently verifiable safeguards, rather than just liquidity and execution, he says. "Trust can no longer be assumed; it has to be earned," Ahuja says. ([email protected])1203 ET - Morgan Stanley analysts don't find the Intel investment case compelling, even after PC softness in the third quarter triggers a 29% drop in the stock price. Beyond the third-quarter weakness, Intel failed to deliver what the analysts say would build more confidence in the stock: a path to leadership in the CPU market. "Intel describes 2027 as an investment year, but even with the high capital spending requirements, it is clear to us that it will lose share to fabless competitors that have no such requirement, with AMD, NVIDIA, Graviton and Axion all materially outgrowing Intel's 30% market growth rate in CPU next year," the analysts write. Intel's multiple should be dampened if the CPU shortage is temporary, they add. ([email protected])1201 ET - The $6.3 billion Binance hack is a reminder that the biggest vulnerability in crypto is the infrastructure and operational controls around the blockchain, not the blockchain itself, Moon Pursuit Capital's Utkarsh Ahuja says in a note. For institutional investors, it highlights the need for independent custody, segregated assets, multi-layered transaction authorization and limiting exposure to a single exchange, he says. For retail investors, this should advance the conversation around safer custody solutions for everyone, Ahuja says. ([email protected])1200 ET - The recent crypto selloff from the Binance breach may be the last major opportunity for investors to accumulate bitcoin under the $80,000 mark before the next bull market takes hold, ZX Squared Capital's CK Zheng says in a note. Zheng has been predicting that bitcoin could rise to $150,000 next year. Exchange hacks have historically only had a short-term impact on bitcoin prices, driven by traders' psychological reactions rather than any deterioration in bitcoin's underlying fundamentals, he says. "I believe this latest selloff represents the final capitulation phase of the 2026 crypto bear market," Zheng says. ([email protected])1154 ET - The U.S. Treasury could increase short-term borrowing and reduce longer-term issuance when it announces its refunding plans next week, Kelley & Mullis Wealth Management's Michael Mullis says. While some analysts expect the change to happen next year, Mullis says it could come sooner. "The short end is where the safety is right now." He sees demand for the short end secured by money market funds and reserve backing required for stablecoins, while long-end appetite dwindles. Mullis keeps 34% of his $500 million portfolio on cash and Treasurys maturing in less than a year, and 15% in gold, as he expects the long-end to remain volatile amid sticky inflation. ([email protected]; @ptrevisani)1146 ET - ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods says the company plans to invest more than $100 billion through 2030 to bolster global energy supplies, with roughly 10% of that focused on its refining business. "No other international oil company has invested more to grow crude production and refined product production," Woods says during an appearance on CNBC. The investment will span Exxon's upstream, refining and chemical businesses across its global footprint, he says.([email protected])1145 ET - With fuel prices rising amid geopolitical tensions, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods says the company is focused on churning out diesel. "Frankly, diesel is the key crunch point here because it is so critical to economic growth and [has] very inelastic demand," Woods says during an appearance on CNBC. "The demand for diesel remains high despite the capacity." Woods says the company is at record levels of utilization for its refineries, and the yield of diesel across its global refining footprint is at record levels. In North America, the company is producing record diesel volumes, he adds. "It's all been a function of trying to drive more product into the marketplace to meet that demand and to drive costs down." ([email protected])1129 ET - Bitget CEO Gracy Chen, responding to news of the $6.3 billion Binance hack, is calling for faster coordination between exchanges, issuers, blockchain security firms and law enforcement to crack down on crypto cyber attacks. "When an attack happens, those relationships need to work in minutes, not days," Chen says in a note. The industry's biggest challenge is the speed at which stolen assets can move across different networks, she says. Some funds can be frozen, but others can be converted into assets that can't be frozen, Chen says. ([email protected])1121 ET - Bitget CEO Gracy Chen says she knows just how difficult the initial response period is for Binance as it reckons with the fallout of a $6.3 billion hack. Bitget dealt with its own headline-making security breach last month, in which hackers stole roughly $388 million. The crypto exchange's priority was to contain the incident, protect users and communicate openly about what had happened, Chen says in a note. Bitget covered the financial impact with its Protection Fund and user balances weren't affected, she says. "Right now, the focus should be on supporting Binance's recovery efforts and protecting its users," Chen says. ([email protected])1117 ET - A new New York Fed study examines new measures of labor market tightness from social platform LinkedIn and finds some outperformed a traditional gauge using JOLTS data. The labor market is considered tight if there are few job seekers available relative to job openings, which could result in wage pressures. The researchers found that LinkedIn's Jobs per Jobseeker Index and the LinkedIn Hiring Rate measure track existing labor-market yardsticks well and offer results comparable to or better than existing measures. "Crucially, these measures are also timelier than the JOLTS hires rate and traditional measures of tightness," the researchers say. ([email protected])