Top Stories This Morning: Banks Are Selling $40 Billion in SpaceX Debt; Apple to Cut AI Spending

Goldman Sachs and Apollo have begun seeking buyers for a portion of SpaceX’s $40 billion debt financing to purchase Nvidia AI chips. Apple will reduce employees’ spending limits on AI usage: for some teams, these limits may drop to $25 per day. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of November 5.

Futures on U.S. stock indices showed mixed performance on Thursday following a sharp market rally driven by the Democrats’ decisive victory in the U.S. midterm elections and a drop in oil prices, according to CNBC. Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 plunged more than 1%, futures on the broad-market S&P 500 index fell 0.2%, while Dow Jones futures rose 0.4%. The previous day, the Dow Jones gained 3%, marking its best performance since April 2025.

In after-hours trading on Wednesday, following the close of the regular session, Qualcomm shares fell 6.5% despite quarterly results that exceeded analysts’ expectations. Shares of AppLovin, a developer of AI-based advertising technology, on the other hand, soared nearly 24% after the company released earnings and guidance that exceeded market expectations. During Wednesday’s regular trading session, Walmart shares rose more than 3%, while CoreWeave shares fell on concerns about tighter regulation of data centers following the Democrats’ election victory.

During Thursday’s trading session in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.49%, the Topix rose more than 2%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.39%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 2.33%, and the Kosdaq dropped 1.24%, according to CNBC. The Democrats’ victory in the U.S. midterm elections has heightened concerns about possible restrictions on the construction of AI infrastructure.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech Index rose more than 5% thanks to a rally in major Chinese tech companies—despite a broader sell-off in the tech sector across Asia. Alibaba’s shares jumped 6.3%, while Tencent’s rose 6.4%. Baidu and Kingsoft Cloud shares gained 4.9% and 6.4%, respectively.

Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global Management are in talks with investors about selling portions of SpaceX’s $40 billion debt financing to fund the purchase of AI chips, Bloomberg reports, citing sources. Potential buyers are being offered tranches of up to $500 million even before the official start of the offering.

The deal involves the purchase of Nvidia chips through a special purpose vehicle, which will allow SpaceX to keep the debt off its balance sheet. The company will lease the equipment for five years. The placement is being prepared amid a sell-off of AI company stocks and growing investor doubts about the return on large-scale investments in artificial intelligence, the agency notes.

Isomorphic Labs, which spun off from Alphabet’s Google DeepMind, is in talks to raise about $5 billion to develop drugs using artificial intelligence, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. The new round of funding could value the startup at approximately $50 billion. The terms of the deal have not yet been finalized and are subject to change.

Founded in 2021, Isomorphic Labs is developing technologies based on the AlphaFold model, which is designed to predict protein structures. The company’s developments are currently in the preclinical research stage, although it had previously expected to begin its first trials by the end of 2026. In May, Isomorphic raised $2.1 billion in a funding round led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Alphabet and other investors.

Apple will reduce spending limits for employees using artificial intelligence as part of a cost-cutting program, Bloomberg reports, citing sources. In October, the company lowered the daily limit for some engineers from $300 to $200, and is now considering reducing it further to $100. For some departments outside of engineering teams, the limit may drop from $100 to $25 per day. Employees will be able to request exceptions from management.

The restrictions are being introduced as Apple seeks to expand the use of AI in its operations. The company’s research and development expenses in fiscal year 2026 rose by 32%, while operating expenses increased by 22% to $75.5 billion, or 16% of revenue, the agency notes.

British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has offered about $10 billion for U.S.-based Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, which develops drugs to treat rare forms of obesity, Reuters reports, citing sources. The non-binding offer calls for a payment of up to $134 per share, including payments tied to the achievement of certain milestones. On the back of the news, Rhythm’s shares rose 28% on Wednesday, and the company’s market capitalization reached $7.64 billion, the agency notes.

AstraZeneca plans to carry out the transaction through its rare disease division, Alexion, which it acquired in 2021 for $39 billion. In March, the U.S. regulatory agency expanded the approved indications for the drug Rhythm Imcivree to treat a rare form of obesity caused by brain damage. The acquisition will allow AstraZeneca to strengthen its position in the rapidly growing obesity treatment market, which is projected to exceed $100 billion annually over the next decade.

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