Oil Falls as Apple and Palantir Shares Slide on Narrowing Profit Margins
Key Facts
Oil prices and shares of Apple and Palantir fell in Tuesday’s session, November 3, as investors assessed war risks and corporate outlooks after strong quarterly results. Invest reported that Brent crude fell 1.15% to $103.56 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell 0.50% to $95.99. EL7 data showed Brent closing at $103.08, compared with $104.77 in the previous session, while U.S. crude settled at $95.70, versus $96.46. Prices had moved across a wide range during the day: The Associated Press reported that Brent topped $107 overnight before briefly falling below $101 in the morning. The agency added that it was down 1.1% at $103.65 when its report was prepared, while closing data showed the session ending at lower levels.
Oil’s decline followed fluctuations tied to the course of the war with Iran, while Reuters reported that prices rose on Tuesday after falling in the previous session. The agency quoted an Iranian official as saying that a deal to end the war remained far off. It also reported that the United States carried out a strike on Iran’s Qeshm Island. In its report on morning trading, The Associated Press linked crude moves to uncertainty over the war with Iran. The divergence between the lower settlement and the rebound Reuters observed put the session in the context of a market that remained sensitive to developments in the conflict.
On the corporate front, Apple reported revenue of $114.5 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, ended September 26, up 12% year over year. Diluted earnings per share were $2.10, up 14% from the year-earlier period. But investors focused on the margin outlook for the quarter ending in December, after gross margin was 47.9% in the September quarter. The company said it expects gross margin of between 45% and 46% in the December quarter, citing memory costs and investment in Siri as factors weighing on it. Chief Executive John Ternus described the memory-pricing environment as “unprecedented,” adding that costs were expected to rise beyond the quarter ending in December.
The warning weighed on Apple shares during the session: Reuters reported a decline of about 4% in premarket trading, and The Associated Press later reported a 1.7% fall on Tuesday at the time of its report. EL7 data showed the stock closing at $331.665, compared with $338.32 on November 2. The Associated Press said higher memory-chip costs weighed on profit expectations for the holiday quarter, despite Apple’s latest-quarter revenue and earnings topping analysts’ expectations. The company also declared a cash dividend of $0.27 a share, payable on November 16 to shareholders of record on November 12. Those dates put the next cash dividend after the trading session, while the margin outlook remained the focus of the company’s operating figures.
At Palantir, third-quarter results showed revenue growth of 96% year over year to $2.31 billion, with U.S. commercial revenue rising 148% to $984 million. U.S. commercial revenue exceeded U.S. government revenue for the first time, with the latter at $953 million. The company reported GAAP earnings per share of $0.44, while adjusted earnings per share also came to $0.44. Reuters said the company beat third-quarter expectations and issued revenue guidance for the final three months of the year above estimates. Even so, the stock fell 6.3% in premarket trading, according to the agency, before EL7 data showed it closing at $174.7073, compared with $178.34 in the previous session.
Company data show its U.S. commercial customer base expanded to 686 during the 12 months ended September 30, 2026, up from 530 in the comparable period a year earlier, a 29% increase. Total customers reached 1,090 in the 12 months through September 30, up 20% year over year. For the fourth quarter of 2026, Palantir expects revenue of between $2.649 billion and $2.653 billion, and full-year revenue of between $8.530 billion and $8.534 billion. The guidance provides a numerical framework for the coming period after third-quarter growth, while the stock fell despite the higher revenue outlook. Ahead of Tuesday’s open, the Nasdaq-100 had closed Monday more than 10% below its record closing high, entering correction territory. At 1:24 p.m. Eastern time, the S&P 500 was up 0.6%, the Nasdaq Composite had gained 1.1%, while the Dow Jones was down 0.2%.
As stocks reacted to corporate results, investors were watching the outcome of the U.S. midterm elections, according to a Reuters report. The report said polls and nonpartisan analysts favored Democrats winning the House of Representatives, while control of the Senate remained uncertain. This political focus formed part of the session’s backdrop, as U.S. indexes showed mixed performance around midday. For companies, the near-term operating dates remained set out in Palantir’s fourth-quarter and full-year revenue guidance and Apple’s cash dividend payment date of November 16. Session data show Apple and Palantir shares both ended Tuesday below Monday’s close, alongside lower settlements for Brent and West Texas Intermediate.