🚀 Quantum reboot

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Good morning. Caviar spent a century climbing the social ladder, only to end up back in the bargain bin. Chinese sturgeon farms are flooding the market with affordable, quality roe, while new brands package it in pink tins and sell it with promo codes. Quince offers 100g of Osetra for $125, while Manhattan's Caviar Russe charges nearly $3K for its finest. Luxury strategist Daniel Langer says the newcomers have "called the bluff (opens in a new tab)" of an industry built on exclusivity. Caviar's most expensive ingredient was always the illusion.

Top Idea

Dividend Stocks Are Back in Favor as Investors Look Beyond the AI Boom

The chip king is finally cutting bigger checks, but Wall Street is still fixated on its AI fortune. Nvidia's May decision to lift its quarterly payout from $0.01 to $0.25 per share got buried in the hype, despite a rare comeback for dividend growth stocks. They're keeping pace with the broader market in an up year that would normally leave them in the dust.

Cash is king again: In absolute terms, Nvidia's payout is enormous, with ~$25B a year (opens in a new tab) heading to shareholders. That puts the chip giant among the largest dividend payers in the US, despite a yield below 1%. Bank of America sees a broader opportunity in companies with cash to spare, flagging non-AI names as S&P 500 free-cash-flow yield sits at record lows.

Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle may post $141B (opens in a new tab) in combined negative free cash flow.
Allstate offers an 18% free-cash-flow yield and a ~1.8% dividend yield, with shares up roughly 17% year to date.

Where The Payouts Are Actually Growing

Healthcare has been carrying dividend growers in 2026, with Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and UnitedHealth all enjoying stellar years. Energy added another boost as the Middle East conflict pushed oil prices higher and lifted profits at ExxonMobil. The strength extends beyond US stocks, with the Thornburg Investment Income Builder fund returning 28.2% over one year, nearly double its category’s 14.5% gain.

Thornburg bought Kimberly-Clark near $90 this year, attracted by its 5% dividend yield (opens in a new tab) and the income potential of the consumer staples giant.
Citigroup yields 1.93%, with Thornburg manager Brian McMahon seeing potential for dividend growth to reach high-single or even double digits.

The other side of the ledger: Roughly 19% of global dividend announcements last quarter were cuts rather than increases (opens in a new tab), the highest share since Q2 2020. McKinsey's review of ~1.2K companies found virtually none cut payouts voluntarily to fund growth. Most were responding to crises or falling profits. With 10-year TIPS real yields near 2.6% against the S&P 500's ~1.4% forward dividend yield, stocks face stiff competition for income dollars. The biggest yield on the screen means nothing if the profits behind it disappear.

Ask Finks: Where can investors still find safe dividend yields above 5%? (opens in a new tab)

Large-Cap Recap

The AI Power Trade Moves Downstream

Global artificial intelligence infrastructure spending could reach $31.6T through 2050, driven by recurring hardware refreshes and massive energy demand. That surging power requirement has transformed utilities and pipeline operators into key beneficiaries, with funds like BNY Mellon Global Infrastructure Income ETF capitalizing on physical assets. Meanwhile, tech giants are pivoting toward smaller capacity deals to speed up deployments. This shift highlights growing hardware exposure across memory and networking suppliers. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Quantum Stocks Catch Another Tailwind

Quantum computing stocks are attracting buyers again after months of steep declines. IonQ shares jumped following an agreement to install its Superion 256 machine at Nvidia's new quantum research center. That partnership will combine quantum calculations with traditional GPU chips to explore applications in financial modeling and drug discovery. Meanwhile, the company also demonstrated a real-time quantum error decoder running on a standard CPU, helping revive investor interest across the sector. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Financial Stocks Suffer From Yield Curve Pressures And New AI Threats

Rising bond yields and new artificial intelligence competition combined to squeeze financial shares. Charles Schwab and JPMorgan Chase fell as a narrowing yield curve compressed lending margins and wealth management profits. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms launched a new personal AI agent called Muse that partnered with PayPal. That digital tool threatened traditional brokerage fees and idle cash sweep earnings. Robinhood bucked the broader sector slump by expanding its own automated tools. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Market Pulse

HubSpot, Inc.

The software company’s shares jumped as several analysts raised their price targets following its latest investor updates.

Wayfair Inc.

The online furniture retailer’s shares sank as insider selling and a broader risk-off mood fueled concerns about its valuation.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

The e-commerce giant’s shares fell as a reported Beijing probe into AI startups raised fears of broader regulatory scrutiny.

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Markets & Economy

McDonald's invests $8.5B to counter falling US traffic: The fast-food giant is overhauling its chicken recipes and drive-thru tech to fend off competitors like Burger King. Shares have declined 18% year-to-date as sticky inflation and rising beef costs squeeze domestic margins. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

New customs rule halts cheap Canadian drug imports: US Customs and Border Protection is ending a decades-old exemption for low-value mail, requiring mailed prescription drugs to clear formal customs entry with a licensed broker starting Oct. 22. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Trump-Xi summit puts US alliances in focus: Trump and Xi are meeting as several US allies pursue closer economic ties with China and greater independence from Washington. Trade commitments, technology restrictions and regional security remain central to the talks. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Business & Tech

General Mills stock drops despite earnings beat: General Mills topped Wall Street estimates for its fiscal first quarter, but shares extended a 24% yearly decline. Sales fell 3% largely due to the divestiture of its US yogurt business. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Disney raises streaming subscription prices: Disney is increasing prices across most Disney+ and Hulu plans, with ad-free subscriptions rising to $21.49 monthly. The company is keeping its ad-supported bundle unchanged as streaming platforms push to improve profitability. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Fed’s Barr backs further rate hikes: Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said more tightening is likely needed to bring inflation back to target. He cited tariffs, higher energy costs and AI investment as persistent sources of price pressure. [Read (opens in a new tab)]

Chart

Digit of the Day

Mortgage Rates Break 7% Threshold as Homebuyer Demand Cools

Homebuyers are getting priced out before they even make an offer.The average contract rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage surged to 7.12% (opens in a new tab), a level last seen in May 2024, while Freddie Mac recorded its sharpest weekly rate increase (opens in a new tab) in over a year. The Fed’s latest rate hike and surging Treasury yields are making an already expensive housing market even harder to afford.

Purchase mortgage applications fell 19% from a year earlier in the week ending Sept. 11, per the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Sellers offered concessions in nearly 45% of US home sales in the three months through August, a post-2020 high.

Mortgage standoff: The mortgage market has hit a number buyers don't want to touch. Pending sales have fallen to a near three-year low, while existing-home sales dropped 2% (opens in a new tab) in August. Sellers aren't blinking either, with the median existing home still fetching ~$429K. Nationwide expects borrowing costs to stay elevated through year-end, and builder confidence has sunk to its weakest level since late 2022.

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Which Stocks Could Benefit From a Trump-Xi Trade Deal?

Trump and Xi have plenty to settle when they meet this week, from tariffs and rare earths to China's access to advanced chips. The current trade truce expires Nov. 10, and companies on both sides of the Pacific have a lot riding on what comes next. Finks can help you find the stocks most exposed to the outcome.

Find the potential winners: Discover which semiconductor, automotive, and rare-earth stocks could benefit from a trade deal or an easing of export restrictions (opens in a new tab).
See who's most exposed: Identify companies vulnerable to renewed tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and tighter controls on critical minerals (opens in a new tab).

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