Asia's share markets steadied on Monday as investors awaited Apple's earnings report, hoping for relief from concerns about AI spending and cash burn. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% while Nasdaq futures gained 0.8%.
Apple has climbed for four months straight, becoming the world's most valuable listed company, partly because it does not spend billions on data centres like other tech firms. Analysts expect Apple to report quarterly earnings per share of $2 on revenue of $113 billion, up from $1.85 a year earlier. The company may also offer guidance on iPhone 18 pre-order performance.
The Nasdaq lost almost 7% in October, its worst month since April 2025. Concerns about negative cash flow and massive AI capital expenditure pushed up default insurance costs last week. Intel tumbled nearly 29% on Friday, raising stakes for other chip groups including AMD.
Goldman Sachs expects hyperscaler capex to nearly double to $800 billion this year and rise to $1.2 trillion in 2027. Ben Snider, Goldman's chief US equity strategist, wrote that "earnings growth is strong, but it is no longer accelerating" and that "AI investment spending will continue to grow but that the growth rate of AI capex is peaking."
Japan's Nikkei fell 0.1% while South Korea added 0.8% after shedding 16% in October. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific index outside Japan eased 0.2%.
Treasuries rallied last month, with 10-year yields at 4.941%, down from October's peak of 5.3645%. Futures now price only a 55 basis point rate increase through year-end, down from over 70 basis points a month ago.
Oil prices slipped 2.0% for Brent to $111.15 a barrel and 2.3% for US crude to $101.73 after talks continued aimed at ending the US-Israeli war on Iran. Gold bounced 0.9% to $3,911 an ounce.
Investors should monitor Apple (AAPL), S&P 500 (SPY), Nasdaq (QQQ), and Brent crude (BZ=F) for signals on AI capex sustainability and Fed rate expectations this week.