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From Monday you will be receiving Morning Squawk, which is your daily look at the news shaping markets and business. If you would like to unsubscribe, you can click here.<\/a><\/p>\n It’s been a pleasure writing for you, truly, and thank you for reading.<\/p>\n \u2014 Lim Hui Jie, Leonie Kidd, Anniek Bao and Justina Lee<\/p>\n Halloween is still about a week away, but markets are already getting some of the heebiee-jeebees. <\/p>\n Investors saw a sell-off in U.S. markets<\/a> as renewed concerns around spending by artificial intelligence companies came to the fore, while oil prices jumped amid rising geopolitical tensions. <\/p>\n The tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled over 2%, marking its worst day since June, while the S&P 500 recorded it’s largest decline since July and dipped 1.2%. <\/p>\n One major tech name leading the losses was Meta, which slumped nearly 7% on Thursday as the social media giant showed negative free cash flow in its third-quarter earnings<\/a> and raised the floor of its full-year capital expenditures.<\/p>\n Meta said it expects its full-year capex to range from $135 billion to $145 billion, raising the bottom of the range from a previous $130 billion, while free cash flow came in at a negative $2.12 billion during the quarter.<\/p>\n The cash fleeing the stock markets seem to have found their space in the bond markets, where the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury<\/a> yield\u00a0slid more than 17 basis points to 4.972%. <\/p>\n This was the first time yields went below 5% in about a month, and the biggest one-day decline since March 2023.<\/p>\n Brent crude<\/a> futures gained 4% to close at $113.17 per barrel, the highest level for the international benchmark since May 4. U.S. West Texas Intermediate<\/a> gained 2.4% to settle at $99.47. Oil prices were up in early Asia trade. <\/p>\n The rise comes after the New York Times<\/a>, citing U.S. officials reported that U.S. and Israeli militaries have drawn up specific plans for renewed strikes on Iran after next month’s midterm elections. <\/p>\n Musk and midterms<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the Tesla CEO Elon Musk is still in the headlines as he spends record sums to help decide who controls the federal government<\/a> in the 2026 midterm election<\/a>.<\/p>\n SpaceX<\/a> has racked up at least $6.78 billion in federal work so far through Oct. 1 this year, according to FedScout, a research firm that tracks government spending and contracts, nearly twice its total for all of 2024.<\/p>\n At the same time, Musk has committed roughly $366 million to the 2026 election cycle across at least 40 races, making the world’s richest person the midterms’ biggest individual donor<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n At least $276 million of that money has flowed to Republican groups and Musk’s own political operation, America PAC, since July, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.<\/p>\n The billionaire has also invested roughly $1 billion<\/a> in Skydance, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n Musk’s commitment is part of a wider effort by Skydance to raise equity investments, according to Semafor, which first reported the news Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n A better 2027?<\/p>\n