This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Alphabet and Reddit beat expectations
Google-parent Alphabet’s third-quarter earnings beat expectations. The company’s top line was boosted by its cloud division’s 35% jump in revenue from a year ago. Meanwhile, Reddit turned profitable in the third quarter with net income of $29.9 million, compared with a net loss of $7.4 million during the same quarter a year ago. Reddit shares surged almost 25% in extended trading Tuesday.
European banks bask in profits
UBS smashed expectations for the third quarter, bringing in $1.43 billion net profit attributable to shareholders, compared with a forecast of $667.5 million in a LSEG poll. Separately, British bank Standard Chartered beat expectations on its third-quarter net interest income and pre-tax profit, which jumped 37% from a year ago.
Choppy markets
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.78% to close at a new high and the S&P 500 added 0.16%, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.36%. Asia-Pacific markets mostly traded lower Wednesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell around 1.4% and China’s CSI dropped about 1.2%. The indexes were weighed down by Chinese EV stocks, which fell on news that the European Union raised tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Xiaomi’s EVs at cruising speed
Xiaomi, China’s smartphone and electric appliance giant, delivered more than 20,000 SU7 EVs in October, the company said Tuesday. The SU7 costs around $4,000 less than Tesla’s Model 3. The speed of Xiaomi’s manufacturing and deliveries is remarkable – Xpeng and Nio took about six years to produce 100,000 EVs, while Tesla took 12 years.
[PRO] UK budget’s effects on markets
U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves will announce the country’s national budget later today. Analysts expect changes to the tax regime and government borrowing – and highlight the stocks and bonds that could be affected by those developments.
The bottom line
A day in the life of an average office worker:
- Commute to work. Send a Snap of the packed train to friend
- Browse Reddit. Chuckle at cats in r/pics
- Search Google for information on why orange cats are so nefarious
- Watch a video compilation on YouTube of cats knocking over vases
- Arrive at work. Secretly continue browsing social media
Those behaviors are so ingrained in most of us that they’re almost automatic and essential.
It’s not too surprising, then, that the companies behind those services – Snap, Reddit and Alphabet – reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
Their revenues, in particular, are bright spots. For its third quarter, Alphabet’s advertising revenue increased 10.4% year on year. While Snap and Reddit didn’t report their advertising top line specifically, there were indications both companies are also doing well in that area.
Snap’s total active advertisers have more than doubled from the year-ago quarter, according to CEO Evan Spiegel. That’s coupled with two million more global daily active users than expected. More advertisers and more eyeballs mean more revenue per ad.
Meanwhile, Reddit swung from a loss a year ago to earning a profit. That remarkable transformation was in part helped by a 47% year-over-year jump in daily active users and better-than-expected average revenue per user.
All companies reported earnings after the bell. In extended trading, shares of Reddit rocketed almost 25%, Snap surged around 10.6% and Alphabet added 5.8%.
It’s Meta’s and Microsoft’s turn to report earnings later today. Microsoft isn’t really involved in the ad market because it’s more focused on enterprise products. But investors will be watching to see if Meta keeps up with the positive trend so far.
Judging by how much time I spend on Meta-owned Instagram and see ads that seem to know exactly what I want, the company’s ad revenue is likely to see healthy growth as well.
— CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, Jonathan Vanian and Jennifer Elias contributed to this report.
Note: CNBC Daily Open will be on a break Thursday, Oct. 31, for the public holiday in Singapore. Regular programming will resume Friday.
