Highlights of the week: Big Tech reporting, US and China agree on a deal, OpenAI thinking about an IPO

Nvidia temporarily surpassed its $5 trillion capitalization for the first time in history and announced partnerships with Uber, Nokia and the U.S. government. Apple's market value rose above the $4 trillion mark for the first time, while Amazon announced it was laying off 14,000 employees and realigning its business around artificial intelligence. Donald Trump and Xi Jingping agreed to a one-year truce in the trade war. About the main events from October 27 to 31 - in our review.

Reports from major technology companies showed that artificial intelligence remains the main driver of growth - but also a source of anxiety for investors. Meta disappointed the market: due to a one-time tax expense of nearly $16 billion, adjusted earnings per share fell 83% year-on-year in 2024, and AI infrastructure costs rose again. Despite revenue growth of 26%, the company's shares fell 9% on the post-market after the report was released. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company intends to "aggressively grow capacity" despite cost pressures, in anticipation of future profits.

Alphabet, on the contrary, exceeded all forecasts: quarterly revenue exceeded $100 billion for the first time, profit - $35 billion, the revenue of the cloud division Google Cloud showed an increase of 33%, to $15.15 billion. After the publication of quarterly results, Alphabet quotes rose by about 6%.

Microsoft also reported above expectations, with revenue up 18% and its cloud business adding 40%. However, investors were alarmed by a jump in capital expenditures to $35 billion - evidence that the race for AI computing power is getting more expensive. The company's shares fell about 4% in extended trading.

Apple's profit and revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter also beat analysts' expectations. Revenue at Apple's services division rose 15% to $24.97 billion, the company's fastest-growing division with higher margins than device sales. Still, thanks to better-than-expected demand for the iPhone 17, Apple's market value surpassed $4 trillion for the first time this week.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday, October 29, reduced the key rate by 0.25 p.p. to a range of 3.75-4%, the regulator's decision was not unexpected by the market. - to the range of 3.75-4%, the regulator's decision was not unexpected for the market. This is the second consecutive reduction in 2025. Two of the twelve members of the committee spoke against the rate cut by 0.25 p.p.. In addition, the Fed announced the termination of the balance sheet reduction program launched after the pandemic.

The market reaction was subdued, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq moving into negative territory shortly after the announcement. The Fed said inflation remains above target and risks to the labor market are intensifying. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that a December decision on further rate cuts is "far from a foregone conclusion".

Goldman Sachs economists forecast another rate cut before the end of the year by 0.25 p. p. A similar view is held by the market - almost 70% of traders expect a rate cut in December, shows CME FedWatch, a tool for monitoring market expectations about the decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

What else is there to read about it?

- What is the mood on Wall Street after the Fed rate cut? We collected opinions in the material "A lot of tension awaits us": what they say on Wall Street after the Fed's decision".

US President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea - for the first time in six years. Trump announced a halving of duties on Chinese goods imposed because of fentanyl smuggling, reducing the overall tariff on imports from China to 47%. Beijing, in turn, agreed to resume exports of rare earth metals: the agreement reached will be reviewed annually.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said the meeting was "terrific" and that "a lot of decisions were made." However, one of the most anticipated issues on the agenda - the fate of Nvidia's AI chip shipments to China - did not get any development: the leaders discussed "many chips," but not the advanced Blackwell. Analysts note that the talks were more an attempt to restart the U.S.-China dialog rather than a real breakthrough, and markets are still assessing the risks with restraint.

What else is there to read about it?

- Why mining and production of rare earth metals has become a strategic priority for the United States and what companies can benefit from it - in the material "1000% growth: rare earth metals - the new oil".

The completion of OpenAI's restructuring has paved the way for the company to go public - an IPO could take place as early as 2027, The Wall Street Journal wrote, citing sources. According to the WSJ, talks are at an early stage: OpenAI could postpone going public or abandon it altogether. The head of OpenAI Sam Altman said that the IPO of the company is likely to take place, but there are no specific plans for the timing.

OpenAI announced the completion of its restructuring on October 28. As a result, OpenAI created a for-profit public benefit corporation - OpenAI Group PBC - valued at $500 billion. Microsoft received a 27% stake, the OpenAI Foundation received 26%, and the remaining 47% was distributed among employees and investors.

Nvidia shares soared 4% at the opening of mainstream trading on October 29, bringing its market capitalization temporarily above $5 trillion. Chimpaker became the first company in history whose market value broke that mark.

The driver was the statements of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about orders for AI chips worth $500 billion and plans to build seven supercomputers for the U.S. government. In addition, on October 28, it became known that the company will become a strategic partner of Nokia: the chipmaker will invest in it $1 billion to develop 6G technologies in exchange for 2.9% of shares. On the same day, Nvidia and Uber announced a strategic partnership to create a fleet of self-driving cars - about 100 thousand cars, starting in 2027. The first 5,000 cars will be supplied by Stellantis, integrating Nvidia technologies into them.

As of the close of trading on Friday, October 31, Nvidia's market capitalization was $4.93 billion. Since the beginning of 2025, Nvidia's stock is up more than 50%.

Amazon on Tuesday, October 28 announced a new round of optimization, which will affect about 14 thousand corporate employees, this was written in the blog of the company's senior vice president of human resources and technology Beth Galetti. The company intends to reduce bureaucracy, remove redundant layers of management and direct resources into strategic areas, including AI development.

Earlier, Reuters sources told Reuters that the total number of layoffs could reach 30,000 - nearly 10% of the corporate workforce. The Reuters source claimed that Jassy insists that more processes need to be automated - despite the cuts, the company remains over-bloated after a period of mass hiring during the coronavirus pandemic.

Amazon reported its third quarter results on Thursday, with results that beat analysts' estimates. Earnings per share amounted to $1.95 with a forecast of $1.58, and revenue - $180.2 billion against expected $177.8 billion. The cloud division AWS brought $33 billion, beating the consensus of $32.4 billion. On the background of the report Amazon shares after the opening of the main trading in the U.S. on October 31, soared by more than 12% - to $250.5. This became their new all-time high for the entire time of circulation on the Nasdaq exchange.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor