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Is SpaceX & Tesla Merger a Match Made in Heaven?

Elon Musk has dropped a financial supernova. SpaceX has posted a jaw dropping 3rd quarter profit of USD 4.4 billion with revenue skyrocketing 161% to USD 14.6 billion. Driving this turnaround is SpaceX Super Intelligence AI Division which hauled in a massive USD 7.6 billion all on its own.

The real kicker? Elon Musk announced that special committees of independent directors are weighing a historic merger between $Tesla(TSLA.US)and $SpaceX(SPCX.US).

If this happens, it will be the largest corporate merger in human history, creating a USD 3.5 trillion to USD 5 Trillion tech powerhouse. But the real question remains: Is this beneficial for shareholders of both companies?

Why It Is A Masterstroke:

Merging the 2 companies means that Musk can focus on 1 unified ecosystem.

There will be Superintelligence synergy:

SpaceX isn't just about rockets anymore. Merging allows seamless integration between SpaceX's AI infrastructure, the Tesla Optimus robots, self driving software and their joint Terafab chip making initiative. It bridges the gap between digital AI and physical machines perfectly.

Why It Can Be A Minefield:

A National Security Nightmare:

SpaceX is a critical US Defense contractor. Tesla however relies deeply on manufacturing infrastructure and consumers in China. Merging the 2 companies together is bound to trigger a frenzy of national security reviews.

The Verdict:

As you digest the reality of a world where your electric car might be built by the same company launching Starships into orbit, keep the words of the legendary Peter Lynch in mind:

"Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it is doing".

Right now , SpaceX and Tesla are trying to build the physical infrastructure of the future. Just make sure you check the final merger details before you strap yourself into the rocket.

Dear Fellow Investors, What do you think of the odds that this mega merger will be successful?

Buckle Up: Elon Musk's Tesla Faces an Earnings Reality Check This Week

🌟🌟🌟Hold onto your steering wheels, because $Tesla(TSLA.US)is reporting its Q3 26 earnings after the bell this week.

The Forecast:

Wall Street consensus is braced for a slightly down quarter. Analysts expect EPS of USD 0.44 to USD 0.45 on around USD 27.8 billion to USD 27.9 billion in revenue. That represents a 10% to 12% dip in earnings YoY.

The Silver Lining:

Tesla managed to deliver 486,532 vehicles in Q3, beating muted analyst expectations even though it is slightly down from last year.

The Fear:

Wall Street is worried about Tesla's massive capital expenditure. It is projected to spend a huge USD 25 billion in 2026 on AI infrastructure and factory buildouts. This means free cash flow is feeling a big squeeze.

The Analyst Target Prices:

Wall Street is wildly divided on what Tesla is actually worth. Is Tesla a car company or a robotics and AI powerhouse?

The Consensus Average Target Price is USD 404.87, representing a modest 12% upside potential.

My Take:

If Elon Musk gives a masterclass on Superintelligence, Cybercabs and Robotics Economies, Tesla's share price may rocket to the moon. I was thrilled watching the Flying Tesla Roadster last week, doing mid air gymnastics and flying over a row of semi trucks. One thing for sure, there is never a dull moment with Elon Musk and $Tesla(TSLA.US).

Dear Fellow Investors, what do you think about the shiny new Tesla Roadster?

Why $VanEck Semiconductor ETF(SMH.US)Is Still A Buy?

🌟🌟🌟The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has just wrapped up its 8th straight losing session. To make matters worse, hedge funds have sold off AI stocks for 5 consecutive sessions. Headlines are screaming "AI bubble". But let's pause.

Is $VanEck Semiconductor ETF(SMH.US)still a buy?

Yes it is because this isn't a structural collapse of AI. It is a textbook inventory and valuation sanity check.

SMH has taken a 9.70% haircut over the past week, testing crucial technical floors around the USD 537 to USD 539 mark.

The Culprits: A nasty cocktail of debt financing drama at AI cloud companies like Coreweave, sticky inflation spiking capital costs and macro jitters.

The Smart Money Exit: Hedge funds are fleeing to lock in profits, considering SMH was still up 44.6% YTD.

Why Is SMH Still A Buy?

SMH's foundation still remains rock solid for the following reasons:

The Infrastructure Inertia:

Data centers do not stop construction midway because of a bad week on Nasdaq. Billions of Capex are already locked in. Power contracts are signed. GPUs are ordered.

The Monopoly Board:

SMH is concentrated in the crown jewels of tech: $NVIDIA(NVDA.US)$Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US)and $Broadcom(AVGO.US). They are the money printing moat heavy monopolies. If you believe the world needs more computation tomorrow than it does today, you buy the chipmakers.

Overdone Bubble Fears:

Analysts noted that this pullback is pricing in a catastrophic tech crash that is not actually supported by the high enterprise demand.

Concluding Thoughts

When Wall Street is panicking, the long term compounding machines go on sale. Keep you head cool while everyone else runs for the exit.

As Warren Buffett famously said:

"The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient".

Dear fellow investors, do you agree with the Oracle of Omaha?

Why Did the US Markets Fall On Friday Despite What Kevin Warsh Said At The IMF Meeting In Bangkok?

🌟🌟🌟The stock market has just pulled a classic "good news is bad news" routine, leaving investors holding bags of expensive tech stocks.

The market dropped because Warsh refused to confirm that a interest rate pause was coming at the October 27 to 28 FOMC meeting. Warsh also said that AI is hitting the demand side of the economy, before it is hitting the supply side. This means that the capex spending is happening before any real productivity gains.

Moreover the Producer Price Index or PPI has reached 6.3%, showing that wholesale inflation has reached that multi year high.

This is why I prefer to dollar cost average into $Schwab US Div Eq(SCHD.US). This is because SCHD's strict selection rules required its 100 holdings to have at least 10 consecutive years of dividend payments.

The top 10 Holdings include $Coca Cola(KO.US)$Unitedhealth(UNH.US)$Texas Instruments(TXN.US). These are companies that produce physical products, have excellent cash flow and trade at reasonable P/E ratio.

SCHD is up 23% year todate and pays a dividend yield of 3.2%.

With fear and growth stocks stumbling, investing in SCHD is one of the smartest ways to wait out the storm.

As the legendary Ray Dalio often reminds us:

"Inflation is a tax in holding cash, but hot inflation is a death sentence for overvalued growth".

Dear Fellow Investors, what is your strategy in tackling this volatile market?

Is $STI ETF(ES3.SG)A Buy?

🌟🌟🌟$STI ETF(ES3.SG)isn't a high flying tech fund and it won't give you 10x crypto thrills overnight. This ETF is the quintessential defensive workhorse of the Singapore economy.

Lately the index has experienced a sharp reality check. After climbing to a historic roaring record high in September, the STI ETF price is down by 5%.

So after this cooling period is $STI ETF(ES3.SG)a buy?

Yes if your strategy prioritises reliable dividend payouts and you are buying for the long haul. In the short term, the market is a voting machine but in the long term, it is a weighing machine.

What about you fellow investors? Are you buying $STI ETF(ES3.SG)during this correction?

Goldman Sachs Is The Winner of the Latest Q3 26 Earnings

🌟🌟🌟The latest Q3 earnings among the Big US banks showed that $Goldman Sachs(GS.US)has crushed Wall Street estimates. Its Q3 26 revenue was USD 18.68 billion, a big 23% jump year over year. Diluted EPS rocketed up 39% to USD 17.01, beating consensus estimate of USD 13.02.

The main catalyst for this blowout was an excellent performance in equities trading which surged 72% year over year to USD 6.44 billion. This was propelled by huge institutional derivatives demand and prime financing.

Combined with a 21% boost in investment banking fees as corporate M&A advisory hit a record USD 1.65 billion, Goldman Sachs listed its 2nd highest quarterly net revenue in history.

CEO David Solomon has done an excellent job in pivoting the bank back into elite investment banking and trading.

Exciting times are ahead for Goldman Sachs. Dear Friends, would you deploy your cash into Goldman Sachs or the other US banks?

Spotlight on TSMC Q3 26 Earnings: What To Expect

🌟🌟🌟On Thursday, October 15 2026, all eyes will be on $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US)when it reports its Q3 2026 financial results.

What to Expect:

TSMC has already confirmed record breaking Q3 revenue of NTD 1.49 Trillion (about USD 46.7 billion). This is an stunning 50% increase year over year that easily blew past its own corporate guidance.

Profit Expectations: Analysts expect a 6th consecutive quarter of record earnings, with net profit projected to rocket 64% higher to NTD 746 billion (about USD 23.4 billion).

The Margin Expectations: While profits are hitting records, the gross margin is expected to slide a little from last quarter's 67.7% to a guided 65% to 67%. This is due to the physical cost of ramping up its ultra advanced 2 nanometer nodes.

Forward Guidance:

This is important as investors want to know whether TSMC flags any slowdown in demand for HPC from tech hyperscalers. Industry reports note that TSMC's leading edge wafer capacity is effectively sold out through the first half of 2028. This tailwind could cushion any near term macroeconomic concerns.

The Bottom Line:

High expectations create a demanding environment where TSMC's routine beat isn't enough. But if you are a long term investor, any short term, margin driven pullback post earnings should be viewed as a rare gift to load up on TSMC, the most critical company in the global supply AI chain.

US Big Banks Report This Week

🌟🌟🌟The ultimate financial reality show returns on Tuesday October 13 as $JPMorgan Chase(JPM.US)$Goldman Sachs(GS.US)$Citigroup(C.US)and $Wells Fargo(WFC.US)report their latest Q3 26 earnings. This is followed by $Bank of America(BAC.US)and $Morgan Stanley(MS.US)on Wednesday October 14.

Wall Street will be keeping a close watch on Net Interest Income trajectories and credit loss provisions to evaluate how sustained high interest rates are impacting consumer credit and overall bank profitability.

My Top Pick would be $JPMorgan Chase(JPM.US)as Jamie Dimon's fortress remains the gold standard. JP Morgan is the King of retail banking, asset management and trading.

Why Buy JPMorgan?

It is arguably the most resilient business model in the world. When the economy is great, it wins. When regional banks panic, JPMorgan steps in, swallows them up and wins anyway. It is a " sleep well at night" compounding machine.

Dear Friends, which bank stock do you favour most? Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

Is It Time to Buy AI Stocks Or Say Bye?

🌟🌟🌟OpenAI's corrected USD 50 billion annualised revenue run rate (ARR) resulted in media screaming "AI Bubble" and suddenly every tech stock on the board looks like it is catching a cold.

But as an investor, this dramatic narrative has forced me to ask: Is this accounting drama going to drag down the entire AI sector or is the market handing me the buying opportunity of a lifetime?

Why This Controversy is A Gift For Smart Buyers

The AI Engine is intact : This isn't a demand problem. It is a math problem. Corporate enterprise adoption and generative AI growth are running at full throttle.

The Valuation Reset: Widespread market fear over temporary headline noise is a beautiful thing. It cools down overheated valuations, shake out the hot money and lets you accumulate shares of great quality AI companies like $Alphabet - C(GOOG.US)$Meta Platforms(META.US)and $Microsoft(MSFT.US)at a much fairer price.

For high conviction buyers, this noise does not mean the AI party is over. It just means the entries are getting attractive again.

Dear Friends, what do you think? Is it time to buy or bail out?

🌟🌟🌟The Singapore banks selloff was the biggest news of the week. Normally the banks move slightly up or down by 1% to 2% but a huge move like almost 10% for $OCBC Bank(O39.SG)is pretty alarming. It is easy to panic sell but I am holding strong.

When I step back and look at what underpins these local banks, I realise that letting go of these assets during a temporary pullback is not a good idea. Instead it is a great opportunity to accumulate them since now I can buy in lots of 10 rather than 100 shares.

As Warren Buffett famously said:

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful".

🌟🌟🌟A Big Thank You to @TheInvestingIguanafor sharing your investing journey and your valuable insights with a special focus on Singapore stocks. I like your concept of Forensic Income Investing. I am very much a dividend focused investor as it is a great way to earn passive income while I sleep.

What is your advice on Singapore SReits? Do we still invest in SReits even after they have been hammered in the market due to rising interest rates in Singapore?

What about the recent selloff of Singapore Banks?

Is it time to buy them?

Thanks for your help.