Strong earnings have fueled rises in the major indices with the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all closing last week up over one percent. With 23% of Q3 earnings reports released from S&P 500 index members, 84% have reported a positive EPS surprise and 75% reported a positive revenue surprise according to FactSet.

Investors will keep an eye on rising costs as the Q3 earnings season continues. Supply chain issues, labor problems and increased demand are all leading to shortages, while a rise in raw material costs is pressuring companies' bottom lines. FactSet reported that 71% of S&P 500 companies have cited supply chain issues on their Q3 earnings calls. 

Bloomberg reported that mobile payment giant, PayPal, was in talks to acquire Pinterest, a social media company, for $45B in stock. The boom in online shopping has pushed fintech companies to invest in e-commerce platforms. Following reports, PayPal announced that it is not interested in pursuing Pinterest “at this time.” We will see.

ProShares launched a bitcoin futures ETF (ticker: BITO). This is the start of vehicles for investors to invest in cryptocurrency without opening a crypto wallet. The ETF has received some criticism in that it is reliant on future contracts which can expire and is subject to heavy fees. Bitcoin rose to an all-time high following this at just below $67,000 but is trading back towards $63,000 as of 10/25/21.

Following controversy from whistleblower allegations, Facebook announced that it will be changing its name. It is keeping the name close to chest, but theories suggest it could be related to its metaverse efforts. One might ask, what exactly is the metaverse? It is a digital reality that allows users to interact virtually with aspects of social media, augmented reality, and online gaming. Facebook is planning on hiring 10,000 employees to work on the metaverse in Europe. Mark Zuckerberg has stated that the metaverse is going to be “the next big chapter” for Facebook.