Daily newsletter · Mon 2 Nov 2026
 | Sharespective Wall Street, before morning tea | Daily newsletter Mon 2 Nov 2026 |
 Third Time Unlucky Plus: Apple reports on Tuesday morning, and memory chip prices are squeezing its margins. |
Good morning. US shares fell for a third week in a row. The S&P 500 was up 1.27% for the week by Thursday's close, then dropped 1.82% on Friday as Intel's forecast hit chipmakers. It finished down 0.57%, and the NASDAQ Composite lost 2.00%.
This week is busier. Apple reports after Monday's close in New York, Americans vote in the midterms on Tuesday, and New Zealand votes on Saturday. The Reserve Bank of Australia meets on Melbourne Cup Day, so Tuesday afternoon has two races.
In other company news, Capri Holdings jumped 16.31% on Friday after the Michael Kors owner raised its full-year profit forecast. Elsewhere, Regeneron rose 13.33% because quarterly revenue grew 36%, well ahead of forecasts. Finally, Illumina fell 18.64% after its quarterly revenue came in below what analysts expected, even though it raised its full-year guidance.
Friday ate the week.
Market snapshot
S&P 500 7,580.07 ▼ 0.57% | | NASDAQ 25,437.00 ▼ 2.00% | | NZX 50 13,797.00 ▲ 0.46% |
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ASX 200 8,908.10 ▲ 1.28% | | USD/NZD 1.78 ▲ 1.23% | | USD/AUD 1.42 ▲ 0.04% |
| HEALTH CARE |
Stryker cut its growth forecast as orthopaedic sales slowed, and the shares fell 6.38%
Stryker shares fell 6.38% to US$291.86 on Friday, the day after its September-quarter results. They lost 4.98% over the week.
The slowdown is in hips and knees. Orthopaedics, the division that sells joint implants, grew 5.9% on an organic basis, which leaves out currency moves and acquisitions. It grew 8.6% in the June quarter. The rest of the company grew 9.1%.
Overall sales rose 7.7% to US$6.5 billion, short of the roughly US$6.6 billion analysts expected. Chief executive Kevin Lobo said the quarter "did fall short of our expectations".
The forecast took the bigger hit. Stryker now expects organic growth of between 6.5% and 7.0% this year. In July it was aiming for 8.3% to 9.3%.
What to watch Stryker's organic growth was 9.0% in the June quarter, even as it recovered from a cyberattack in March. I'd want to see whether hip and knee volumes pick up again before reading this as more than one soft quarter. |
| BIG TECH |
Apple reports on Tuesday morning, and memory chip prices are the line to watch
Apple reports its September-quarter results after Monday's close in New York. The call starts at 11am on Tuesday in Auckland and 9am in Sydney, and it is John Ternus's first as chief executive.
So what is Wall Street expecting? Analysts expect revenue of about US$113.4 billion, up roughly 11% on a year earlier, and earnings of US$1.99 a share. Apple's own guidance was for growth of 9% to 11%.
Memory is the squeeze. AI data centres are buying up memory chips, and that has pushed up the cost of the chips inside every iPhone and Mac.
Apple guided to a gross margin of 47% to 48% for the quarter. That is the share of revenue left after the cost of making its products, and it was 50.1% in the June quarter.
Some of the cost has gone to customers. Apple raised the starting prices of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which went on sale in September. Options prices imply a move of about 3.5% either way after the results, according to Pepperstone.
Next up the December-quarter forecast. That quarter carries the first full holiday season of iPhone 18 sales, and its margin guidance will show how much of the memory bill Apple can absorb. |
| RESTAURANTS |
Starbucks grew US sales 7.7%, and its shares still fell on Friday
Sales at Starbucks' US stores open at least a year rose 7.7% in the September quarter. The shares fell 1.74% to US$103.67 on Friday, a day the S&P 500 lost 1.82%.
More customers came back, and they spent more each visit. Transactions rose 2.4% and the average order 5.2%. Chief executive Brian Niccol said "Back to Starbucks" started as a turnaround plan and is now the company's growth plan.
Profit grew faster than sales. Adjusted earnings rose 54% to 80 cents a share, and the adjusted operating margin widened 4.5 percentage points to 14.0%.
Total revenue fell 4% to US$9.1 billion. That was mostly because Starbucks moved its China stores into a joint venture, where it keeps a 40% share.
The catch next year's forecast is gentler. Starbucks expects North American same-store sales to grow about 4% in the year to September 2027, about half this quarter's pace. It forecasts adjusted earnings of US$3.15 to US$3.25 a share, about 18% growth, so wider margins have to do more of the work. |
Newsworthy numbers
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US$24.5 billion MasTec's record backlog of signed work at the end of September, up US$7.8 billion in a year. | | 31,596 anonymous tip-offs to Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman in the year to June, a record and 23% more than the year before. |
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US$117.64 where Brent crude's December contract settled on Friday as it expired, its highest close since April. OPEC+ held December output steady on Sunday. | | 19,248 vehicles Rivian delivered in the September quarter, up from about 13,200 a year earlier. Its smaller, cheaper R2 became its best-seller. |
Worth a read
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01 | Mortgage holders aren't alone in paying for rate hikes. Here's how the RBA spreads the pain — John Hawkins, ahead of Tuesday's decision, on why a stronger Aussie dollar does more of the RBA's work than mortgages do. |
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02 | This startup is using plants to help toxic workplaces — Danny Jensen on Greenairy, whose plant towers let roots and microbes break down the fumes in indoor air. |
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03 | From petrol pumps to the podium: Victorian servo vies for world's best 'foodvenience' store — Simon Thompson on an APCO servo near Geelong selling roast dinners beside the dim sims, one of 12 finalists for a global award. |
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04 | Scientists Shrink Archimedes' Screw to the Size of a Single Molecule — University of Augsburg researchers built a spiral molecule that spins when a current flows, and conducts up to 100 times better while turning. |
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05 | Keeping Up Appearances — Andie Eisen on the women reshaping American funeral homes, now about 75% of mortuary-school graduates, up from 5% four decades ago. |
Wrapping up
Chip stocks start November nursing Friday's losses. There is no Federal Reserve meeting this week. The Reserve Bank of Australia decides at 2.30pm Tuesday in Sydney, 4.30pm in Auckland, with markets pricing more than 80% odds of a rise to 4.85%.
Apple and Palantir report after Monday's close in New York, and AMD after Tuesday's, where PC chip sales are the line to watch. Uber reports before Wednesday's open and Airbnb after Thursday's close. Stats NZ publishes September-quarter unemployment on Wednesday; Westpac expects 5.5%, from 5.6%.
The kiwi had the notable week. USD/NZD rose 1.23% to 1.78 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand held rates on Wednesday, when markets had priced a rise. USD/AUD barely moved at 1.42, held up by bets on Tuesday's rise in Australia.
The week ahead
- Tue 11am NZ · 9am Sydney — Apple's results call, John Ternus's first as chief executive; analysts expect revenue of about US$113.4 billion.
- Tue 4.30pm NZ · 2.30pm Sydney — Reserve Bank of Australia decision on Melbourne Cup Day; markets price more than 80% odds of a rise to 4.85%.
- Wed 10.45am NZ · 8.45am Sydney — New Zealand September-quarter unemployment; Westpac expects 5.5%, down from 5.6%.
- Wed 11am NZ · 9am Sydney — AMD's results call; after Intel's warning, PC chip sales are the line to watch.
- Wed noon NZ · 10am Sydney — The first polls close in the US midterm elections, for all 435 House seats and about a third of the Senate.
- Sat 2.30am NZ · 12.30am Sydney — US jobs report for October, after employers added just 29,000 jobs in September.
- Sat (all day) — New Zealand's general election, with advance voting open since 26 October.
Pick a horse, Australia. Pick a party, New Zealand. See you tomorrow.