Wall Street traders hoping for a clear direction on stocks after Thursday’s selloff didn’t get that in late hours amid a mixed bag of earnings from a pair of tech heavyweights. A roughly $300 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) struggled for direction after the close of regular trading. Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, fell 2%.

Amid an overall weak market sentiment, individual small and midcap stocks enjoyed their northward rally with shares of WPIL Ltd surging by as high as 44.16% in just one week. Shares of Prudent Corporate Advisory Services rallied 40% to close the week at Rs 3,577.65 on the BSE. The stock had gained 14.75% in the last trading session alone.

Oil prices edged up on Friday on reports Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel from Iraq in coming days, but record U.S. output weighed on prices. Brent futures were up 29 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $73.10 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 23 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $69.49. At their session highs, both benchmarks were up over $2 a barrel.

With the September quarter earnings of India’s largest bank by total assets, State Bank of India, just around the corner, analysts have turned bullish on the stock, forecasting a healthy upside from its current market price. SBI will announce its September quarter (Q2) results on Friday, November 8.In the first quarter of the current financial year, SBI’s net profit remained almost flat.

The Ponda Municipal Council will lease its underutilized new market complex to a single entity after failing to attract bidders, aiming to generate revenue and cover operational expenses. The decision comes after failure to get the bidders over six different auctions for individual shops in the complex, said PMC chairperson Anand Naik.

Gold prices in India have experienced a significant increase of nearly 32% since last Diwali, largely due to geopolitical tensions and other influencing factors. However, the upcoming US election and the Federal Reserve’s policy decision are expected to introduce substantial volatility in the market. The market is currently anticipating a 25-basis point rate cut by the U.S.

MicroStrategy, a company with a massive Bitcoin holding, is on track to become the first $1 trillion crypto stock, with its value skyrocketing 264% this year and outperforming every S&P 500 stock since 2020, with its plan to transform into a Bitcoin investment bank and wait for the cryptocurrency's price to appreciate.

Neelkanth Mishra, Chief Economist at Axis Bank and Head of Global Research at Axis Capital, recommends banking stocks to investors, citing improving liquidity conditions and an expected boost in credit growth. “...the challenge over the last two years has been that on the quantity side, I mean the raw material that the banks work with (deposits or cash reserves)."

TGI Friday’s has become the latest restaurant chain casualty, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas on November 2, according to a Bloomberg report. The casual dining restaurant chain said it is facing challenges from changing consumer habits amid a cost-of-living crisis and increased competition from fast food options, the report added.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 12,000 last month, and hiring over the previous two months was weaker than previously thought, suggesting the underlying labor market continues to cool. The data keep the Federal Reserve on track to lower interest rates by a quarter-point next week, and it’s the last major data point on the economy before the US presidential election.

Cryptocurrency is an emerging asset class that's been rising in popularity during the past several years. I see a couple of valid reasons to consider investing in crypto. First, I think some investors are intrigued by the idea of digital currencies replacing fiat money in the future -- hence, buying crypto becomes an appealing decision.

Swiggy IPO: The initial public offering (IPO) of online food ordering and delivery player Swiggy is set to hit the Indian primary market on Wednesday, November 6. The ₹11,327 crore book-built issue will remain open till Friday, November 8.Meanwhile, according to reports, several prominent investors, including Norway’s sovereign wealth fund Norges and Fidelity, placed bids worth more than $15 bn.

The Indian stock market delivered an impressive performance last Samvat, with the benchmark Nifty 50 soaring almost 25 per cent. However, according to Shankar Sharma, ace investor and the founder of GQuant, an AI-tech company, Samvat 2081 could be challenging and a year of moderate to negligible returns. India’s performance in the last year has been exceptional, to say the least.

Investors have plowed money into funds tracking bitcoin, betting on a return of Republican Donald Trump to the White House even as they expect wild price swings in the world’s largest cryptocurrency during the election week, data showed. Exchange-traded funds (ETF) tracking the spot price of bitcoin notched net inflows of $917.2 million on Wednesday, the biggest one-day increase since March.

Marking the highest-ever monthly selling spree, the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in India offloaded a staggering Rs 1,13,858 crore through the exchanges in the month of October. However, they remained active buyers in the primary market for the month. As opposed to the huge sell-off in the secondary market, the FPIs invested Rs 19,842 crore in the said time period.