Morning wrap (19.10.2020)

• Most of the major indices from Asia Pacific trades higher. Nikkei gains 1.2%, S&P/ASX 200 trades 1.1% higher, Kospi adds 0.6% and Nifty jumps 1%. Indices from China trade lower

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

• Donald Trump said he wants an even bigger stimulus deal than Democrats. However, it looks unlikely that Republicans in Senate will approve such a big deal

• Negotiations over US stimulus deal did not make any significant progress. Nancy Pelosi has set a 48-hour deadline for reaching agreement if a deal is to be passed before elections (deadline runs by the end of Tuesday US time).

• Prime Minister Ardern and her Labour Party won New Zealand elections. Her party looks to have won an outright majority in parliament and will be able to rule alone

• Chinese GDP report for Q3 showed 2.7% QoQ growth (exp. 3.3% QoQ). Monthly industrial production and retail sales data for September turned out to be better than expected

• Media reports suggest United Kingdom is readying to back down on a bill that violates last year's agreement with the European Union

• Bloomberg reports that Taiwan will make stricter rules for transferring technology to Chinese companies

• Italy has granted local authorities powers to shut down public spaces from 9pm. Gambling sites must be closed by 9pm. Amateur sports events as well as all festivals were cancelled.

• Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 40 million. More than 1118k people died. Number of active cases surpassed 9 million for the first time

• AUD, GBP and NZD are top moving major currencies while CHF, EUR and JPY lag the most

Total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases jumped above 40 million over the weekend. Source: worldometers, XTB