5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Good morning. The US military strikes two facilities in Syria, Amazon and Intel provide some relief to tech stocks, and one of Wall Street’s [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Good morning. The US military strikes two facilities in Syria, Amazon and Intel provide some relief to tech stocks, and one of Wall Street’s most bearish voices says the S&P 500 is facing a technical test. Here’s what people are talking about. — [Sofia Horta e Costa]( Syria strikes US forces [attacked two facilities]( in eastern Syria it said were being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was careful to stress the strikes were “separate and distinct” from the Israel-Hamas war, but the development shows how quickly the conflict could spread to other countries in the region. Thursday’s attacks by the US, which is continuing to send forces to the Middle East, are the country’s first known offensive action since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched its incursion into Israel. Separately, Israel said it sent troops on a limited raid into Gaza [for the second night running](, while aid continued to move into the territory from Egypt though in far smaller volumes than the United Nations says is needed. Amazon rises Amazon.com is up more than 5% in premarket trading after the company reported quarterly revenue [that topped estimates](, helped by rising sales in its retail and cloud computing units. CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon Web Services signed several new deals with customers that took effect this month and demand for generative AI is likely to boost the division. Cloud unit sales increased 12% to just over $23 billion, marking the first quarter-to-quarter rise in AWS revenue growth in almost two years. Intel shares are also up strongly in early trading after the PC maker [predicted a return to sales growth]( in the fourth quarter. The results are helping send futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 up by almost 1% after the steepest two-day drop in almost a year. S&P 500 support  The S&P 500 [is at risk of dropping another 5%](, says Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett — one of the more bearish voices on US stocks. It’s all down to technicals and charts, he says, with the benchmark closing in on the 200-week moving average that has been a support line in previous instances of a market downturn. On Thursday, the S&P 500 stopped just shy of confirming a technical correction. While investors pulled $2.1 billion from global stock funds in the week ending Oct. 25, they added $2 billion to the tech sector — a sign that investors are buying the dip in tech. Futures Climb US equity futures are climbing at the end of a turbulent week, while crude oil is higher as traders keep an eye on the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Treasury yields are ticking up and the dollar is steady, while Universal Music Group — the record label for Taylor Swift —is falling in Amsterdam after missing some estimates. There’s [a raft of corporate news in Europe]( as the earnings season gets underway. Coming up… On the data front we’re due September readings for US personal spending and income, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of underlying price pressures, as well as the University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment index print for October. Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive and AbbVie are among companies reporting results before the bell. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr will deliver opening remarks at the Fed's Economics of Payments XII Conference. What we’ve been reading This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - Citi wants most of its 40,000 coders to [experiment with AI](. - China’s ex-Premier Li Keqiang dies at 68 [from a heart attack](. - A video explaining how Taylor Swift [became a billionaire](. - Elon Musk is [preparing to challenge]( YouTube and LinkedIn. - Some $27 billion of structured products [are at risk in China](. - A UK bank is having [its worst day]( since the 2016 Brexit vote. - Get up to speed with the [Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast](. And finally, here's what Kristine’s interested in this morning Well, it's official: Taylor Swift [is a billionaire](, and US growth has accelerated to the [fastest pace since 2021](. Diehard Swifties would you have you believe that the confluence of these two events is proof that she is the ultimate "[Mastermind](". There's also something to be said more generally about the role of women, which comprise a majority of Swift's fanbase, in driving this year's summer of spending. From splashing thousands of dollars on concert tickets for Swift and her fellow superstar Beyoncé to flooding cinemas to watch "Barbie" and buying all the merch they could get their hands on, women have proven to be "very powerful economic agents" with their annual contribution of $7 trillion to gross domestic product, as Morgan Stanley Chief US Economist Ellen Zentner noted in a [podcast]( this month. The trouble is, you wouldn't know that US growth is going exceedingly well just by looking at stocks' performance this week. Caveats about how `the economy is not the stock market' aside, investor sentiment right now is conspicuously jarring with the consumer resilience that has repeatedly surprised everyone this year. The combination of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 plunging to the lowest levels since May, and the seven biggest tech companies [shedding $200 billion of their market value]( may be due to the more idiosyncratic reason of a less-than-stellar earnings season thus far. But it doesn't exactly fit seamlessly with a picture of roaring growth either, does it? As always, all roads lead back to the bond market, and the Federal Reserve. As Oanda's Edward Moya [pointed out](, "The stock market isn’t ready to rally until bond yields are sharply lower, which probably won’t happen until we see inflation a lot closer to the Fed’s target.” And the reality is, that the inflation target will likely remain out of reach until economic growth pulls back from this summer's feverish pace. There is a silver lining: [bond math](. This week's 5% milestone for Treasury yields -- a level seen only in two previous instances in the past 20 years -- has a [myriad of consequences]( for the average US household, raising the cost of things like mortgages and car loans. But to some investors, it's an attractive enough entry point to pile back into the US bond market. T. Rowe Price's Stephen Bartolini explains: it takes bigger increase now to wipe out total returns over a 12-month horizon because you’re getting yield. That said, any relief from this mechanism would depend on a critical mass of investors believing that Treasuries are a good buy right now. And this week's bond market gyrations signal we're not there just yet. [Kristine Aquino]( is managing editor for Bloomberg Markets Today. 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