Futures Surge Over 4,000 As Yields And Dollar Slide On Positive US-China Sentiment, Solid Earnings

US futures jumped from Monday’s shallow dip, which in turn followed the S&P 500’s best week since June, boosted by a triple-whammy of positive news out of China, including the Xi-Biden meeting which pointed to easing tensions between Washington and Beijing, China’s Covid pivot and property measures, and solid earnings from Walmart which boosted guidance and announced a new $20BN buyback. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 extended earlier gains and were up 1.1% as of 7:1 a.m. ET while S&P 500 futures surged above 4000, rising almost 1.0%. Treasury yields and the dollar slipped while bitcoin resumed its modest rise. At 8:30am we get another inflation read in the form of the latest PPI Print, which is also expected to ease modestly.

In premarket trading, chipmakers AMD, Nvidia and Intel Corp. rose between 1.3%-2% while Tesla Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., and Alphabet Inc. all added about 1% each. Coinbase and Marathon Digital led cryptocurrency-linked stocks higher as Bitcoin extended gains with investors waiting for more details about an industry-recovery fund promised by Binance Holdings Chief Executive Officer Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao. Chinese stocks listed in the US were set to rise for a fourth day, after a triple-whammy of positive news including Xi-Biden meeting, Covid pivot and property measures. Alibaba (BABA US) soared 11% in premarket trading. Lithium-exposed stocks edged lower following a selloff in Asian peers amid worries over potentially weaker demand from Chinese firms. Here are the other notable premarket movers:

Getty Images (GETY US) falls 12% in US premarket trading, after the media company reported third quarter earnings that missed the average analyst estimate.
Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA US) shares slip as much as 2.6% in US premarket trading as the cell-programming platform provider’s revenue beat was eclipsed by worries over how a tougher economic environment could impact prospects.
Harley-Davidson (HOG US) is initiated with an underperform rating, its only sell-equivalent recommendation, and a $39 PT at Jefferies, which says the strength in the motorcycle maker’s shares is overdone.
Lithium-exposed stocks edged lower in US premarket trading following a selloff in Asian peers amid worries over potentially weaker demand from Chinese firms.
Nubank (NU US) shares jump 15% in premarket trading after the Brazilian digital bank’s third-quarter results. Morgan Stanley said the lender delivered a strong print, showing beats for client net adds, revenue, gross profit and adjusted net income.
Shoals Technologies (SHLS US) shares soar as much as 22% in US premarket trading, on track for its biggest rise in five months, as analysts nudged their price targets higher after the solar energy products supplier narrowed its revenue forecast for the full year. Brokers said that the firm’s rising backlog and awarded orders bode well for the future and increase visibility for next year

Markets have turned risk-on in recent days, trading off a softer-than-expected US data print that many reckon will allow the Fed to raise rates in 50 basis-point increment, after consecutive 75 basis-point hikes. That view was encouraged by dovish comments from Vice Chair Lael Brainard who said on Monday it would probably be “appropriate soon to move to a slower pace of increases.”

“The issue the market has to wrestle with is how long is the Fed going to keep rates at that level and I think there is some positive sentiment out there that the Fed is going to pivot sometime in 2023,” Peter Kraus, Chairman and CEO at Aperture Investors, told Bloomberg Television.

Sentiment also got a solid boost overnight following signs of easing tensions between the US and China (even if Xi probably does not see it that way, and instead he delivered a speech at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in which he urged against politicizing food and energy issues, and called for scrapping unilateral sanctions and restrictions on technology cooperation in this area, something which won’t happen). In any case, after the meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping on Monday, Washington said the two sides would resume cooperation on issues including climate change and food security, and that Biden and Xi jointly chastised the Kremlin for loose talk of nuclear war over Ukraine.

Investors also remain focused on central banks: Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said equity markets are in “a vicious circle” as “investors want to feel better, but the Fed can’t let them feel much better as a market rally would play against its inflation fight.” Last week’s rebound was a “flash in the pan, but the downside risks have certainly eased,” she said.

Meanwhile, markets are watching growing risks to earnings following corporate America’s weakest reporting season since the first quarter of 2020, and the outlook for stock markets in 2023. “The equity market will continue to rally until the end of the year with some volatility, but once you get to 2023 there will be some realization that interest rates will actually start to slow economic activity,” said Peter Kraus, chief executive officer at Aperture Investors. “In 2023, you will have more volatility and you’ll have a decline in equity markets,” Kraus said on Bloomberg TV.

The latest Bank of America’s global fund manager survey for November showed sentiment remains “uber-bearish,” with investors still crowded into the dollar and cash, while tech stocks remain unpopular. “My biggest concern is the market gets ahead of itself and we get into a situation where the Fed feels it needs to rein in, and tighten more than it otherwise would have, as markets became too frothy,” Kristina Hooper, chief global strategist at Invesco said on Bloomberg Radio.

In Europe the Stoxx 600 index swung between losses and gains, though the market is close to a three-month high and Germany’s Dax index is on the cusp of a technical bull-market, having narrowly missed that milestone on Monday. The Euro Stoxx 50 rises 0.1%. CAC 40 outperforms peers, adding 0.3%, FTSE MIB lags, dropping 0.3%. Utilities, food & beverages outperformed while retail and telecoms underperform as more sectors turn negative on the day. Here are some of the biggest European movers today:

Teleperformance shares rise as much as 9.4%, the third session of gains in a recovery from a recent drop suffered by the customer relationship management services firm following a report related to its content moderation business in Colombia.
UK utilities and energy firms advance after reports that UK’s Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering a new 40% windfall tax on the “excess returns” of electricity generators.
Drax rises 4.0%, Centrica +5.0%
BAE Systems shares gain as much as 4.1% after a trading update from the defense contractor that analysts said shows trading momentum remains solid.
Ambu falls as much as 16%, the most since May, after the Danish medical technology firm’s latest earnings and outlook disappointed, according to analysts.
Ocado shares plunge as much as 13% in Tuesday morning trading, paring the 30% rally in the previous two sessions after last week’s softer-than-expected US inflation data provided a boost to growth stocks.
Nexi shares fall as much as 11%, the most intraday since March 2020, after holder Intesa Sanpaolo sold its stake in the payment services firm.
Vodafone shares slump as much as 9.2% and are on track for their lowest close in 25 years after the telecom operator trimmed its outlook for Ebitda after- leases to the lower end of its previous range, citing higher energy costs.
Cellnex slides as much as 6.5% after a share placement of 25.6m shares at EU33.50/share.

Earlier in the session, Asian stocks rallied as China led the region higher, buoyed by more property easing measures and signs of reduced US-China tensions. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose as much as 1.9% to a two-month high, lifted by technology shares. Chinese stocks in the sector helped pace the benchmark’s gain as investors bet the worst may be over for some of the major players. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s TSMC surged after a filing showed Warren Buffett recently bought a stake of about $5 billion in the chipmaker. China and Hong Kong benchmarks extended their recent rebounds, with the Hang Seng Index entering a bull market, gaining as much as 4.2% as regulators moved to further ease a liquidity crunch faced by real estate developers. Sentiment was also lifted by Monday’s meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping that generated hopes of warmer ties between the two superpowers. That encounter offset the weak retail sales data that underscored the impact of Covid lockdowns on China’s economy. There’s “some easing of bilateral tensions from the Xi-Biden meeting,” said Marvin Chen, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, who added that China’s macro data, which came in below expectations, could “boost the probability of more easing measures in the near term.” 

Japanese equities erased earlier losses, as investors weighed Fed comments for clues on where rate hikes might go and as improvement in US-China ties lifted sentiment across Asia.  The Topix Index rose 0.4% to 1,964.22 as of market close Tokyo time, while the Nikkei advanced 0.1% to 27,990.17. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. contributed the most to the Topix Index gain, increasing 4.2% as the company raised its key profit forecast and announced a share buyback plan. Out of 2,165 stocks in the index, 1,308 rose and 766 fell, while 91 were unchanged. “The financial results are almost all done as of yesterday and the stock market is running out of materials,” said Hideyuki Suzuki, general manager at SBI Securities. “All the important indicators from the FOMC, US CPI data, and earnings are over. The question is what the future holds from here.”

Stocks in India advanced as easing inflation boosted investors’ sentiment while the country’s corporate earnings season ended. A rally in lenders boosted the benchmark Sensex to a new high while pushing the NSE Nifty 50 Index near its record level. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.4% to 61,872.99 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by an similar measure. Thirteen of the 19 sector sub-indexes advanced, led by oil and gas and telecom companies.    ICICI Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.9%. Out of 30 shares in the Sensex index, 19 rose and 10 fell, while 1 was unchanged. The consumer-price index for October rose 6.77%, easing from the 7.4% rise in September, which was the highest level in nearly two years, while the pace of wholesale inflation slowed to 8.4%, its first single digit reading in 19 months.

In FX, the dollar resumed its decline, giving G-10 FX some relief. The yen trades at around the level of 139/USD, while pound rises to $1.18.  The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index swung to a loss early in the European session as the greenback weakened against all of its Group-of-10 peers. Treasury yields fell, led by the belly of the curve. The five-year yield was down around 5bps.

The euro rose to a four-month high of $1.0437. Most European bond yields fell, led by the long end of the curve; Italy’s 10-year yield fell by 10bps and Germany’s by 4bps. Germany Nov. ZEW investor expectations rise to -36.7; est. -51.0
The pound rose against both the dollar and the euro after UK wages grew at the fastest pace in more than a year. Investors will also be watching inflation data Wednesday and the UK’s fiscal announcement Thursday
UK investors are facing the biggest glut of gilts in nearly a decade. Government bond sales will hit £185 billion ($217 billion) for this fiscal year to April, according to the median estimate of 10 banks surveyed by Bloomberg. The bid-to- cover on a UK 10-year gilt sale fell to its lowest level since Oct. 2019 at 2.11, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
The Aussie and Kiwi touched fresh two-month highs. RBA minutes showed policy makers were prepared to return to larger rate hikes if needed. Australia’s bond curve twist-flattened.
The yen rebounded on broad-based dollar weakness. The Japanese currency earlier dropped after data showed Japan’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter.

In rates, Treasury and bunds 10-year yields are about 1.5bps lower, gilts 10-year yield little changed. Treasury futures topped Monday’s highs in early US trading, led by bunds after ECB’s Villeroy said a slower pace of hikes is likely after next month’s meeting. Into the move 10-year yields drop below 50-DMA for the first time since August.  The US Treasuries’ advance was led by the belly, with 5-year yields richer by nearly 6bp on the day, steepening 5s30s spread by ~3bp; 10-year, lower by 4.5bp at ~3.81%, trails bunds by more than 2bp.US auctions resume Wednesday with $15b 20-year bonds, followed by $15b 10-year TIPS Thursday.

In commodities, WTI crude futures ease to below $85; as benchmarks are pressured with the overarching COVID headwind weighing on the demand side and overshadowing any potential upside from the USD & G20. Currently, WTI Dec’22 and Brent Jan’23 are lower by just over USD 1/bbl and have printed fresh November troughs of USD 84.06/bbl and USD 91.52/bbl respectively. Precious metals have lost their initial shine but spot gold remains in proximity to yesterday’s USD 1775/oz high. Ags. are in focus on the above reports, though initial pressure has eased a touch as Russia says it will make a decision at an appropriate time.

To the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include October’s PPI reading and the Empire state manufacturing survey for November, while in Europe there’s UK employment data for October and the German ZEW survey for November. Central bank speakers include the Fed’s Harker, Cook, Barr and the ECB’s Elderson. Finally, earnings releases include Walmart and Home Depot.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures up 0.6% to 3,990.50
STOXX Europe 600 little changed at 432.94
MXAP up 1.9% to 154.34
MXAPJ up 2.3% to 500.95
Nikkei little changed at 27,990.17
Topix up 0.4% to 1,964.22
Hang Seng Index up 4.1% to 18,343.12
Shanghai Composite up 1.6% to 3,134.08
Sensex up 0.3% to 61,785.91
Australia S&P/ASX 200 little changed at 7,141.63
Kospi up 0.2% to 2,480.33
German 10Y yield down 2.1% to 2.13%
Euro up 0.6% to $1.0394
Brent Futures down 1.3% to $91.89/bbl
Gold spot up 0.2% to $1,774.81
U.S. Dollar Index down 0.35% to 106.29

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

Signs of inflation peaking in the US are a relief for policy makers around the world who’ve been raising interest rates at a record pace to combat price pressures, ECB Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said
UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering a new 40% windfall tax on the “excess returns” of electricity generators as part of his sprawling package of tax rises and spending cuts this week, according to a person familiar with the proposal
Oil inventories in developed nations have sunk to the lowest since 2004, leaving global markets vulnerable as sanctions on Russian exports take effect, according to the International Energy Agency
Global investors reduced their holdings of China government bonds in the onshore market for a ninth-month running in October amid concerns over policy uncertainty spurred by President Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks traded mixed following a weak lead from Wall Street with newsflow also quiet overnight. ASX 200 saw pressure from its Metals & Mining sector, whilst the RBA minutes provided little in terms of hints for the upcoming meeting and left all options open. Nikkei 225 saw some downside after Q3 Japanese GDP unexpectedly fell into contraction, but losses were trimmed as the JPY weakened. KOSPI was contained whilst Taiwan’s Taiex outperformed as TSMC was boosted by a Berkshire Hathaway stake in the name. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp cheered the meeting between US President Biden and Chinese President Xi, which was telegraphed as candid, whilst Chinese stocks saw little action to the Retail Sales contraction and sub-forecast IP metrics.

Top Asian News

China reports 1,661 new confirmed COVID cases in mainland (prev. 1,794 a day earlier), via Reuters.
PBoC injected CNY 850bln via 1yr MLF at a maintained rate of 2.75%; PBoC injected CNY 172bln via 7-day reverse repos with the rate at 2.00% for a CNY 170bln net injection.
PBoC said longer-term fund injection exceeds Nov MLF maturities, according to Bloomberg.
Chinese Vice President Wang said China will maintain strong policy continuity, according to Bloomberg.
China’s Stats Bureau said will actively expand demand, stabilise employment and prices; will consolidate the foundation of economic recovery; economic recovery slows due to COVID flare-ups, via Reuters.
China’s stats bureau spokesman said the property market shows some positive changes but the downward trend continues; expects China’s CPI to remain benign, via Reuters.

European bourses are mixed overall, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.2%, as opening gains scale back after a mostly constructive APAC session. Stateside, US futures are firmer across the board with Tech leading after strong APAC tech trade and in wake of Fed’s Brainard, ES +0.7%. Home Depot Inc (HD) Q1 2023 (USD): EPS 4.24 (exp. 4.12), Revenue38.9bln (exp. 37.95bln); Comps sales +4.3% (exp. 3.1%); reaffirms FY22 guidance.

Top European News

UK PM Sunak will accept an official recommendation to increase the living wage from GBP 9.50 an hour to about GBP 10.40 an hour — a rise of nearly 10%, according to The Times.
UK Chancellor Hunt is considering a 40% windfall tax on “excess returns” made by electricity generators as part of his Autumn Statement, according to Bloomberg sources.
ECB’s Villeroy said ECB will probably continue to hike rates but may do so in a more flexible and less rapid manner; jumbo hikes will not become a new habit. We are clearly approaching the normalisation range of around 2%, via Reuters.
EU Parliament and member states agreed on an EU budget for 2023, according to dpa.
G20 draft declaration noted that central banks will continue to appropriately calibrate the pace of monetary policy tightening, via Reuters.

FX

DXY continues to slip after a pronounced move which occurred prior to the European cash open, currently near sub-106.00 lows to the broad benefit of peers.
USD/JPY has been touted by some as a key driver of the above move given its quick move from above-140.00 to sub 139.00.
GBP benefits from the USD weakness and perhaps firm wage metrics though this was accompanied by an unexpected unemployment uptick, ahead of Wednesday’s CPI and Thursday’s fiscal update.
Yuan remains in keen focus as it moves comparatively closer to the 7.00 handle, though proved resilient to soft overnight data with focus firmly on the broader USD move.
SEK was unfased by soft-headline but hot-core vs exp. CPIF metrics, though this has prompted SEB to raise the risk of a 100bp Riksbank hike.

Fixed Income

BTPs are leading the fixed income complex with upside in excess of a point to a session peak of 117.26 vs trough 116.04 on supply-side dynamics.
Bunds are similarly bid though to a lesser extent than periphery counterparts, having incrementally surpassed yesterday’s 139.26 peak.
Well-received German 7yr supply sparked limited upside while a softer UK outing caused Gilts to temporarily pullback to near-unchanged.
USTs move in tandem with EGBs with yields lower as such in wake of Fed’s Brainard, who backed the FOMC downshifting to a lower increment of rate hikes in December.
Retail orders for the November 2028 BTP Italia reach EUR 4bln, via Reuters citing Bourse data.

Commodities

Crude benchmarks are pressured with the overarching COVID headwind weighing on the demand side and overshadowing any potential upside from the USD & G20.
Currently, WTI Dec’22 and Brent Jan’23 are lower by just over USD 1/bbl and have printed fresh November troughs of USD 84.06/bbl and USD 91.52/bbl respectively.
IEA Monthly Oil Market Report: 2023 global oil output is to grow 740k BPD to 100.7mln BPD. Demand growth will slow to 1.6 mb/d in 2023, down from 2.1 mb/d this year, as mounting economic headwinds impede gains.
Russia is reportedly expected to agree to extend the Black Sea grain-export deal, via Bloomberg. Subsequently, Russia says it will announce its decision on extension of Black Sea grains deal in an appropriate time, TASS reports.
Precious metals have lost their initial shine but spot gold remains in proximity to yesterday’s USD 1775/oz high.
Ags. are in focus on the above reports, though initial pressure has eased a touch as Russia says it will make a decision at an appropriate time.

G20

Australian PM says there were positive discussions on trade embargoes levelled on Australia by China. Adds, the meeting with Chinese President Xi was another important step towards stabilising the relationship, will cooperate where possible with China. Many steps yet to take.
Chinese President Xi says Sino-Australian relations have encountered difficulties in recent years and this is not what we wanted to see, according to State Media
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says he has proposed to the G20 the removal of discriminatory barriers on energy markets; UN will deal with the removal of barriers for Russian grain and fertilizers; the G20 draft declaration has reference to an exchange of views re. Ukraine, West added phrase that many delegations condemned Russia. Russia highlighted alterative points of view.

Geopolitics

Chinese President Xi said China advocates a ceasefire in the Ukraine crisis and calls for peace talks, via state media.
Chinese President Xi told US President Biden that China will make all efforts for peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan, according to the Chinese Foreign Minister. China upholds the “one country, two systems” proposal for Taiwan, according to Reuters
Chinese President Xi told French President Macron that China and Europe should expand two-way trade and investments, via state media.

US Event Calendar

08:30: Oct. PPI Final Demand YoY, est. 8.3%, prior 8.5%
Oct. PPI Final Demand MoM, est. 0.4%, prior 0.4%
Oct. PPI Ex Food and Energy YoY, est. 7.2%, prior 7.2%
Oct. PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.3%
Oct. PPI Ex Food, Energy, Trade YoY, est. 5.6%, prior 5.6%
Oct. PPI Ex Food, Energy, Trade MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.4%

08:30: Nov. Empire Manufacturing, est. -6.0, prior -9.1

Central Banks

09:00: Fed’s Harker Discusses the Economic Outlook
09:00: Fed’s Cook Discusses Post-Covid Challenges Facing Women
10:00: Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Barr Speaks Before Senate Panel

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

I appreciate the EMR is often a medical bulletin as well as a market report and today’s there’s a new entry on the former. It looks like I’m going to have a back operation in the next few weeks. My sciatic nerve has no room to move and while I’m not in pain at the moment (unlike earlier this year) due to two injections in recent months, I have constant tingling and pins and needles down my leg. All conservative approaches have hit the end of the road and the worry is that if I leave it too long I’ll do permanent damage to the nerve. If anyone wants to make a late intervention to help sway me one way or the other in terms of back surgery feel free to do so. I think my mind is made up though as I don’t see an alternative. All a bit scary but all with the aim of getting me 30 more years (minimum) on the golf course and the chance to reach my goal of getting to scratch before the ageing process prevents that!!

The injection of optimism inserted into the limbs of the financial market after last week’s US CPI report showed some signs of fading yesterday although there’s been a recovery in Asia as China continues to support the economy and the interpretation of Biden/Xi meeting yesterday is spun a bit more positively in Asia.

Yields have risen across the Treasury curve to start the week as investors moved to dial back some of their more dovish post-CPI expectations for next year. In part, that was prompted by some pretty hawkish comments from Fed Governor Waller on Sunday night that we mentioned in yesterday’s edition. But that trade was then given further momentum by the New York Fed’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations, which showed inflation expectations moving higher across all horizons, and echoes the uptick we saw in the University of Michigan’s reading last Friday as well. Consistent with that, our US economist’s composite measure of inflation expectations has increased. They’ve published their latest series in a full update, available here.

Diving into those inflation expectations from yesterday, the New York Fed’s latest survey showed the 1yr expectation moving up half a point to 5.9%, 3yr expectations rising two-tenths to 3.1%, and 5yr expectations up two-tenths as well to 2.4%. To be fair, all those measures are still below their levels as recently as Q2, but the upticks over the last couple of months will raise some fears that the longer inflation remains elevated, the more difficult it’ll be to keep expectations anchored around target levels. For now you would have to say that long-run expectations have held in remarkably well in the face of 40-yr highs in actual inflation. October’s US PPI will be an important release today, especially the health care component that feeds directly into core PCE – the Fed’s preferred gauge.

A notable push back on the slightly more hawkish momentum to start the week were comments as Europe closed from Fed Vice Chair Brainard, who struck a far less hawkish tone than Governor Waller had the previous day. For instance, Brainard said that it would “probably be appropriate soon to move to a slower pace of increases”, which gave further support to the idea the Fed will slow down its hikes to a 50bp pace next month (fully priced now though). That wasn’t too out of line with the rest of Fed speakers since the November meeting, but where the Vice Chair did separate herself was by noting the step down in pace need not be explicitly tied to a higher terminal rate, something Chair Powell argued during his Press Conference, and she did not explicitly rule out interest rate cuts next year, which would be more of a ‘pivot’ rather than the recently communicated ‘pause’ for the Fed. That gave risk assets a bit of support, but it appears she is out of consensus from the rest of the Committee, so the gains were not sustained.

With all said and done, investors ended the day expecting a slightly more aggressive Fed, with the rate priced in by Fed funds futures for end-2023 up +6.2bps to 4.46%. As a result, US Treasury yields rose across the board as trading resumed after Friday’s Veterans’ Day holiday. The 10yr yield was up +4.1bps to 3.85% (3.87% in Asia), and the more policy-sensitive 2yr yield saw an even larger move of +5.7bps to 4.39%. Those moves were driven by real yields, with the 10yr real yield up +8.4bps on the day to 1.49%. As you’ll see from my CoTD yesterday, 10yr US real yields had their second largest fall since the GFC on Thursday (link here). Only the intitial covid related fall in March 2020 beats it.

Against that backdrop, US equities struggled for momentum too, with the S&P 500 (-0.89%) losing ground after its massive +6.52% surge over the previous two sessions. The more cyclical sectors led the declines, and the NASDAQ (-1.12%) lost even more ground on the day. However in Europe there was a much more positive story, with the STOXX 600 up +0.14% to its highest level in over two months, alongside gains for the FTSE 100 (+0.92%), the CAC 40 (+0.22%) and the DAX (+0.62%). This European strength was evident in sovereign bond markets too, where yields on 10yr bunds (-1.5bps), OATs (-1.2bps) and BTPs (-3.0bps) all ended the day lower.

Asian equity markets are mostly trading higher this morning with the Hang Seng (+3.62%) sharply higher lifted by the outperformance of the Hang Seng Tech index (+6.81%) as Chinese listed tech stocks rose significantly. Stocks in mainland China are also up with the CSI (+1.47%) and the Shanghai Composite (+1.27%) extending their previous session gains despite a slew of disappointing economic data. As discussed at the top, the Asian interpretation is that we saw a slight easing of China-US tensions following the Biden-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia (more below). Elsewhere, the Nikkei (+0.10%) is modestly higher with the KOSPI (-0.11%) bucking the trend in early trade.

In overnight trading, US stock futures are pointing to a positive start with contracts on the S&P 500 (+0.52%) and the NASDAQ 100 (+0.74%) both rising.

Coming back to China, early morning data revealed that industrial production rose +5.0% y/y in October, lower than the market expected rise of +5.3% and much slower than September’s +6.3% increase indicating a further loss of momentum in the world’s second biggest economy. At the same time, retail sales unexpectedly contracted -0.5% y/y (v/s +0.7% expected), down from +2.5% growth in September as strict Covid restrictions along with a downturn in property markets pushed consumers to tighten their belts. Markets are largely ignoring this data as covid and property restrictions have subsequently been eased so the direction of travel should get more positive from here.

Elsewhere, Japan’s economy unexpectedly shrank for the first time in four quarters as Q3 GDP fell -0.3% q/q (v/s +0.3% expected) compared to an upwardly revised growth of +1.1% in the prior quarter as inflation and the weak yen hit the country.

In the geopolitical sphere, let’s now recap US President Biden and Chinese President Xi’s first meeting in person as the leaders of their respective countries yesterday. That took place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia, and the White House said afterwards that US Secretary of State Blinken would visit China to follow up on the discussions, which was taken by many as a positive sign towards de-escalating tensions. However, there were some points of tension, with the White House statement saying that Biden had “raised U.S. objections to the PRC’s coercive and increasingly aggressive actions towards Taiwan, and China’s statement said that “anyone that seeks to split Taiwan from China will be violating the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation”. So something for the hawks and doves but the conclusion might be that the summit beat low expectations coming into it.

Staying on politics, it’s now been a week since the midterm elections and we still don’t know which party will control the House of Representatives following the weekend confirmation that the Democrats took the Senate. It’s looking increasingly likely it will go to the Republicans, who currently have a lead in the vote count across enough of the outstanding districts to win a majority, and NBC’s forecast points to a narrow 220-215 Republican majority based on what we currently have as well. As we go to press, the current tally stands at 217 Republicans and 204 Democrats with Republicans just 1 win away from taking the House.

Tonight however, attention will turn towards the 2024 presidential contest, since former President Trump has said he’ll be making an announcement at 9pm EST, and speculation has centred around a potential 2024 announcement. Normally, the presidential announcements from the top-tier contenders happen around Q1 or Q2 of the year after the midterms. But if today does mark an announcement, the rationale for going early will be to clear the field of other potential contenders, with Trump hoping that the Republican primary is effectively uncontested like normally happens for sitting presidents. As it stands, Trump’s biggest rival for the nomination is widely considered to be Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was re-elected Governor last week with lead of almost 20 points over his Democratic opponent. He was seen to be the Republican’s big success story of the night.

The crypto saga continues, but there was some stabilisation in Bitcoin prices, which retreated just -0.57% after bouncing around all day. There’s certainly still more to come on the story as it becomes clear who was exposed to failed exchanges and funds, but Marion Laboure on my team has already contextualised the episode and looks ahead about what it implies in her piece out yesterday. Link here

To the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include October’s PPI reading and the Empire state manufacturing survey for November, while in Europe there’s UK employment data for October and the German ZEW survey for November. Central bank speakers include the Fed’s Harker, Cook, Barr and the ECB’s Elderson. Finally, earnings releases include Walmart and Home Depot.