CNBC Daily Open: A turnaround in sentiment for U.S. markets may be in the cards

Last week on Wall Street, two forces dragged stocks lower: a set of high-stakes numbers from Nvidia and the U.S. jobs report that landed with more heat than expected. But the leaves that remained after hot tea scalded investors seemed to augur good tidings.

Even though Nvidia’s third-quarter results easily breezed past Wall Street’s estimates, they couldn’t quell worries about lofty valuations and an unsustainable bubble inflating in the artificial intelligence sector. The “Magnificent Seven” cohort — save Alphabet — had a losing week.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics added to the pressure. September payrolls rose far more than economists expected, prompting investors to pare back their bets of a December interest rate cut. The timing didn’t help matters, as the report had been delayed and hit just as markets were already on edge.

By Friday’s close, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost roughly 2% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.7%.

Still, a flicker of hope appeared on the horizon.

On Friday, New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said that he sees “room” for the central bank to lower interest rates, describing current policy as “modestly restrictive.” His comments caused traders to increase their bets on a December cut to around 70%, up from 44.4% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

And despite a broad sell-off in AI stocks last week, Alphabet shares bucked the trend. Investors seemed impressed by its new AI model, Gemini 3, and hopeful that its development of custom chips could rival Nvidia’s in the long run.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly’s ascent into the $1 trillion valuation club served as a reminder that market leadership doesn’t belong to tech alone. In a market defined by narrow concentration, any sign of broadening strength is a welcome change.

Diversification, even within AI’s sprawling ecosystem, might be exactly what this market needs now.

U.S. stocks rebounded on Friday. Despite that, major indexes ended the week lower. U.S. futures rose Sunday evening stateside. On Monday, Asia-Pacific markets mostly advanced, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumping as much as 2%.

Qube Holdings receives takeover proposal from Macquarie. The asset management firm has put forth a non-binding proposal to acquire Qube Holdings, an Australian logistics company, at an enterprise value of 11.6 billion Australian dollars ($7.49 billion).

Bessent doesn’t see a U.S. recession in 2026. “We have set the table for a very strong, noninflationary growth economy,” the U.S. Treasury secretary said Sunday in an interview on “Meet the Press.” However, he acknowledged that some sectors have been struggling.

Singapore inflation creeps up. The country’s consumer price index for October rose 1.2% year on year, the highest since August 2024 and surpassing the 0.9% estimate in a Reuters poll of economists. Core inflation also increased a higher-than-expected 1.2%.

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Chinese consumer brands flood into Africa as old investment model fades

Chinese business dealings in Africa, once dominated by state-owned enterprises, are now increasingly shifting toward consumer products from the private sector.

Chinese investments in Africa’s resource-intensive sectors have declined by roughly 40% since their 2015 peak, according to Rhodium Group China Cross-Border Monitor released on Nov. 18 this year. Meanwhile, China’s exports to Africa have surged by 28% year on year over the first three quarters of 2025, the report said. 

— Evelyn Cheng