Friday’s Final Takeaways: Firmus Delays IPO, Affordability Hits Households

back to Market Close. I'm Marley Kayden here in Chicago alongside Sam Bardis athe New York Stock Exchange. We will close out tweek with our final thoughts on session. We got consumer sentiment this morning falling to a five month low in October, as frustration over the rising cost of living continues to wn Americans. preliminary consumer sentiment index dro to 46.3, down from 48.1 in September, coming in below economists expectations. its measure of current economic conditions plunged to 44.7. That's the lowest reading on record. Inflation expectations are also higher, consumers now expecting prices to rise 4.7% over the year and 3.5%over the s gas price borrowing costs remain elevated. The growing pessimism raisesrns about the consumer outlook as we h into the holiday shopping season, plarly for lower income household Even as spending has remained relatively resilient and staying with the consumer here, Americans are facing mounting financial pressure as debt burdens and missed payments rise. This is according to new Federal Reserve data. The Fed's survey of consumer finance shows that the share ofhouseholn 40% of their income on debt payments climbed to 8.6% by the end of last year. That's the highest level we've seen since 2013. While loan delinquencies rose from 12% to nearly 20%, mar of famil falling behind on their payments since 2010, when we were, of course, recovering from the Great Recession. The strain particularly concerning for that sam category in consumer sentiment, lower income households as persistent infl and elevated borrowing costs make it harder , even as inflation adjusted median household income did increase 7% to $82,200. Pair this with the New York Fed Survey released earlier this week, that showed that households are reporting their nd worsened from a year ago they feel they are likely to be weaker in the year ahead. And what we're left with is a picture of a consumer wh is under mounting pressure. But then, Sam, we get the results from Del they say the consumer is still flying and ng and traveling. So, you know, always a mixed picture when it comes to the consumer. But what caught your eye today? I suppose you still need to go on vacation. A bit of a tech theme. Nvidia backed Australian AI company thermos now edly exploring private funding. As I mentioned earlier after pulling its IPO, citing market volatility, the Aussie data center operator is now looking for other sources of funding. According Bloomberg, the company is in talks with investors to raise 2 to $3 billion in a private round. It roughly $5 billion from itsblice been one of the biggest new share sales in Australian history, and SoftBank is reportedly looking to raise u to $llion from Gulf investors to further fund itsAIo the Ft CEO. Masayoshi son has be talks with people, including in the UAE, about potential backing. Tokyo listed shares got hard overnight, down as much as 7% after that open AI scare, but managed to pare losses after Bloom reported that could have been, you know, helped ease concerns. SoftBank is paarly exposed to the news around open AI, as we kno given it's a major investor. But as I just mentioned to my gt about the shifts in sourcing capital for this massive AIbuilh and the private sector, rather than the publi equity markets. But heading into next week, Molly, what are you going to be looking out for inf front and center next week? Sam. We'll get the Sep CPI report expected to show that headline inflation is higher month over month and 3.6% over year. Core inflation should be about 2.5%. We'll also get producer prices, retail sales and weeklyss claims, giving investors a broader read on business costs, consumer resilience and the health of the labor market. And these are some of the last key data releases before the Fede Reserve meets at the end of October to decide whether to raise rates again for the fed. It is a delicate and closely watchedancing act. The fed watch tool currently has about a 20% chance of a hike in October. What will you be watching for, Sam? As we've been talking abou earnings season really kicking off in earnest with the banks, obviously some of the key financials will be JP Morgan, Goldman City on Tuesda Then of course on Wednesday we'll have Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, BlackRock as well. We've got couple of key tech names as well coming out TSMC and ASML. So no doubt we poring over all those reports next week. Molly. It will be a busy week for us, but that is going to do it for us. On market on close for Sam bodies. I'm Marley Kayden. Be sure to download our Schwab Network app available in the Apple App