Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Plus, a glance at news about Disney+, Boeing's 737 Max and Alphabet's "Project Nightingale."

Google's Project Nightingale exemplifies the headline risk facing big-cap tech names.

There are always various trends at work in the stock market and they often have little to do with the movement of the major indices.

Everywhere I go I hear the smart money is betting on a recession, that earnings will be down, but every day something contradicts these bears.

Compared with prior Singles Day events, Alibaba got a bigger sales lift this year from 'lower-tier' Chinese cities, and saw stronger promotional activity from big brands.

The Chinese e-commerce giant crushes even Amazon Prime Day, but it still needs some political wins to get where it wants to go; here's how to play the stock now.

At some point the market's inconsistency will resolve itself either way.

Caterpillar is a prime example.

While U.S. and Chinese firms are trying to fully disengage with each other, many are trying to guarantee that they have options should economic tensions worsen.

Quite a few loud bears are predicting downside but that seems to work as a contrary indicator.

For a market that is this close to all-time highs there's a remarkably poor ratio of new highs to new lows.

Do I think the shares go higher later? Probably.

Let's see if the charts are overbought or if there is still room to run.

Market leadership outside Apple, big banks, and now, Disney, is nearly nonexistent.

But the indexes are still in good shape, as the main problem lately has been in individual stocks.

With near-term expectations high, a disappointing Q4 sales outlook is overshadowing Roku's strong account and usage growth figures.

But despite earnings beat, guidance was a bit soft for the tech company.

If an investor were dead set committed to purchasing these shares, my inclination would be to wait for the noted type of selloff.

The mobile chip and patent-licensing giant delivered better-than-feared results and guidance, and talked up 5G's expected impact on its chip business next year.

As for pressure on the Chinese side, I think a September 17.8% decline in exports to the U.S. compounded on top of a 22% decline in August speaks for itself.

While this action isn't offering much in the way of opportunities, it is healthy.

OPEC forecasts declining demand for OPEC oil, not a decline in global demand. That distinction is key.

Softbank's founder Masayoshi Son had established a reputation for perceptive decision-making on tech investments. Has the firm lost its way?

Many charts have developed nicely in recent weeks, but now they need to reboot and develop new entry points.

The RMPIA's 3.8% jump even beat the Nasdaq Composite Index's 3.7% October climb.

As the indexes touch all-time highs, remember the challenges thrown at us lately are typical of what bull markets thrive on.

But the question is what the Chinese are going to do to show they mean business ahead of the talks.