A TON OF THINGS HAPPENED IN THE STOCK MARKET TODAY.

Here's a full recap:

1. Amazon $Amazon(AMZN.US) posted its best trading day since August, supported by a bullish Morgan Stanley outlook and a major development in its custom AI chip strategy. Morgan Stanley named Amazon its top pick, setting a $350 price target that implies approximately 40% upside, while raising its AWS growth forecasts to 47% and 42% YoY for 2027 and 2028, respectively. Separately, Amazon unveiled TorchNeuron, a new software tool that allows developers to run existing PyTorch AI workloads on Trainium2 and Trainium3 chips with minimal code changes. The development could help reduce one of the biggest barriers to adopting Amazon's custom silicon and strengthen its competitive position against NVIDIA $NVIDIA(NVDA.US), whose CUDA software ecosystem has historically been a major advantage in the AI infrastructure market.

2. ARK Invest updated its 2031 Tesla $Tesla(TSLA.US) valuation model, projecting a $4,400 base-case share price, representing approximately 12x upside from current levels. The firm expects robotaxis to account for roughly 80% of Tesla’s enterprise value by 2031, forecasting a fleet of 8.1M autonomous vehicles generating $753B in annual ride-hailing revenue, with operating costs potentially 40% below Waymo’s. ARK also sees Optimus humanoid robots emerging as Tesla’s second major growth engine, projecting approximately 1M robots sold externally and $212B in annual revenue by 2031, supported by an estimated $26T addressable robotics market. To support these ambitions, ARK expects Tesla to invest approximately $225B cumulatively in AI infrastructure through 2031, underscoring how heavily its valuation thesis depends on the successful commercialization and scaling of autonomous driving and robotics.

3. Microsoft $Microsoft(MSFT.US) has reportedly withdrawn from a major UK data center agreement with British neocloud provider Nscale, according to The Telegraph, dealing a setback to the startup ahead of its planned $3B IPO. The proposed facility in Loughton, Essex, has faced repeated delays, with authorities reportedly not expecting sufficient power availability until the 2030s. Anthropic is also reportedly in talks to purchase $45B worth of AI computing capacity from Nscale, the NVIDIA-backed data center developer, according to Bloomberg.

4. A potential breakthrough agreement between the United States and Iran could be announced as early as this week, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, citing sources familiar with ongoing mediation efforts. Negotiators are reportedly working to narrow remaining differences and secure mutual concessions aimed at preventing a renewed military escalation between Washington and Tehran. While the reported progress could represent a significant diplomatic development amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, no agreement has been officially confirmed, and negotiations remain ongoing.

5. Anthropic announced the creation of the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, pledging an initial 5% of company equity to support charitable initiatives and address the broader societal impacts of AI, including its effects on employment. Subject to shareholder approval, the company’s board may contribute an additional 2% of shares for every 50% increase in valuation above an undisclosed baseline. Elon Musk also said that next year, he will give every American child one share of $SpaceX(SPCX.US), which would be worth $10.5B at today's prices. He says this will be the first of many times he gives shares to the public.

6. JPMorgan says the latest October selloff in Korean semiconductor and memory stocks looks materially different from the July correction, with several factors potentially limiting a rebound. Unlike July, retail investors have shown little appetite to buy the dip, while short interest across Korean equities, U.S. memory stocks, semiconductor ETFs such as $SMH, and broader indexes like $SPY remains relatively low. JPM also warned that leveraged ETF exposure has increased since late July, making the market more vulnerable to further selling pressure. Compounding the risks, a combined $40B share buyback program from South Korea's two largest memory manufacturers was accelerated to finish in mid-October, removing a significant source of buying support that helped stabilize the market in recent months.

7. Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly proposed a three-way meeting with President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to negotiate a potential end to the war in Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal. Putin reportedly raised the proposal during an October 9 phone call with Trump, with the meeting potentially taking place next month. The proposed summit would bring together the leaders of Russia, the United States, and China in an effort to explore a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, although no meeting or peace agreement has been confirmed.

8. South Korean AI infrastructure company Elice plunged approximately 30% on its stock market debut, despite raising $151M at a $750M valuation in an IPO that was reportedly 400x oversubscribed by retail investors. Elice specializes in GPU cloud rentals and the software infrastructure used to manage AI computing workloads, making its listing a notable test of investor appetite for AI infrastructure companies. The sharp decline came amid a broader selloff in South Korean equities, with the KOSPI falling 4.2% to below its July lows, while Samsung Electronics declined 3% and SK Hynix dropped 6%. If the decline holds through the close, Elice could record the worst IPO debut in South Korean market history, highlighting the growing disconnect between strong investor demand for AI-related offerings and increasingly volatile public market valuations.

9. S&P 500 $SPY put option trading volume surged to a record $3.3T in notional value on Friday, marking an extraordinary increase in downside positioning and hedging activity. The dollar value of S&P 500 puts traded was approximately 330% above the 2024 daily average, compared with typical daily volumes of just $100B–$500B before the 2020 pandemic. Meanwhile, total CBOE put option volume reached 9.6M contracts, the fourth-highest daily reading since 2015. The surge highlights an unprecedented level of activity in downside protection as investors navigate elevated market uncertainty, although record put volume does not necessarily indicate outright bearish positioning, since options are also used for hedging and complex trading strategies.

10. Morgan Stanley strategist Michael Wilson believes the three-month U.S. equity correction may be approaching its final stages, urging investors to prepare for potential buying opportunities rather than assume the broader bull market is ending. Since mid-August, high-quality stocks have gained roughly 6%, while the equal-weight S&P 500 has declined nearly 4% and cyclical stocks have fallen almost 10%, highlighting the growing divergence beneath the index. He believes the correction reflects a transition toward a more selective, mid-cycle market rather than the end of the economic expansion, with investors potentially getting an opportunity to buy the dip as the adjustment concludes.

11. The top 10 most active options today by contracts traded were $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) with 3.3M contracts, $Tesla(TSLA.US) with 2.8M contracts, $Amazon(AMZN.US) with 1.5M contracts, $Apple(AAPL.US) with 1.5M contracts, $Micron Tech(MU.US) with 1.4M contracts, $SpaceX(SPCX.US) with 1.0M contracts, $Intel(INTC.US) with 816K contracts, $Coreweave(CRWV.US) with 778K contracts, $Meta Platforms(META.US) with 754K contracts, and $AMD(AMD.US) with 743K contracts.

12. JPMorgan significantly raised its AI data center capital expenditure forecasts, now expecting spending to grow 85% YoY in 2026, up from 80%, and 70% in 2027, up from its previous 50% estimate. The firm projects more than $270B in incremental data center spending in 2026 and another record increase of $400B+ in 2027, with total spending across major U.S. hyperscalers and other operators approaching $800B in 2026 and $1.5T in 2027. JPM highlighted Credo $Credo Tech(CRDO.US), Lumentum $Lumentum(LITE.US), Coherent $Coherent Corp.(COHR.US), Amphenol $Amphenol(APH.US), Arista $Arista Networks(ANET.US), Celestica $Celestica(CLS.US), Ciena $Ciena(CIEN.US), Corning $Corning(GLW.US), and Fabrinet $Fabrinet(FN.US) as key beneficiaries of the accelerating infrastructure buildout.

WALL STREET IS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

Source: amit