Morning wrap (02.11.2020)

• Stocks in Asia gained during the first trading session of the week. Nikkei jumped 1.4%, S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4% and Kospi gained 1.5%. Indices from China trade higher

• DAX futures point to a slightly higher opening of the European cash session

• Boris Johnson announced that the United Kingdom will head into lockdown from November 5 to December 2. However, lockdown could be extended into 2021 if virus spread is not contained

• Betting markets project Biden will beat Trump by a huge margin (64 vs 35)

• Oil price is dropping today as new lockdowns could hamper demand further

• Reserve Bank of Australia is exploring benefits and risks of a state-backed cryptocurrency. RBA is in talks with potential partners

• South China Morning Post reports that China may ban Australian copper and sugar this week

• Negotiators from UK and EU have reportedly moved closer to an agreement on fisheries

• Official Chinese PMIs for October turned out to be better than expected. Manufacturing gauge came in at 51.4 (exp. 51.3) and services index reached 56.2 (exp. 56)

• Final Japanese manufacturing PMI for October came in at 48.7 (exp. 48)

• Final Australian manufacturing PMI for October came in at 54.2, in-line with flash release

• AUD, GBP and CAD are top laggards among majors while NZD and USD gain the most

A new daily coronavirus case record was reached on Friday and now we are observing a regular weekend dip. Source: worldometers, XTB