• U.S. indices are posting slight losses following yesterday’s gains, which were driven by hopes for a fruitful meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Seoul. The meeting is scheduled for next week, and comments from the U.S. president have given markets hope for a de-escalation of tensions between the two economies. Riding the same wave, Chinese indices are also gaining today.
• Before the U.S. session, financial results will be released by General Motors, GE Aerospace, RTX Corp, Coca-Cola, and Lockheed Martin. After the session, Netflix will report its earnings — a release expected to be at the center of Wall Street’s attention. Texas Instruments will also publish its quarterly report. The macroeconomic calendar is light today; at 2:30 p.m. we’ll get inflation data from Canada.
• Japanese stocks fell after Sanae Takaichi, who advocates for loose fiscal policy, won the elections and became Japan’s prime minister. The USD/JPY pair is up more than 0.5% today. Gold is down over 0.7% from record highs, trading near $4,327 per ounce, while silver is losing more than 1%.
• The cryptocurrency market sentiment is rather weak today — Bitcoin is down over 2% to around $107,000, compared with nearly $111,000 reached yesterday. The dollar is strengthening, while EUR/USD has fallen to 1.162. Markets are hoping that the U.S. government shutdown will end this week, in line with comments coming from the White House.
• Senate Democrats blocked a Republican proposal to extend government funding — marking the eleventh failed attempt. The vote ended 50–43, falling short of the 60 votes required to pass the plan, which was intended to fund federal agencies until the end of November. Nevertheless, U.S. economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday that the government shutdown will “most likely” end this week. Investment funds Apollo, KKR, Carlyle, and Cerberus held talks with U.S. authorities regarding a $150 billion army modernization program, according to the Financial Times.vU.S. military officials met with representatives of private equity firms to discuss a plan for upgrading military infrastructure.
• Jamieson Greer accused China of pressuring foreign firms to avoid investing in key U.S. industries, saying that Beijing aims to disrupt supply chains and slow recovery, targeting shipbuilding and other vital US sectors. Greer pledged to protect U.S. companies and boost investment.
• CNN informed that the anticipated meeting between the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, has been suspended for the time being according to the White House official:
• Fitch Ratings noted that the rapid growth of non-bank lending in the U.S. increases the risk of higher losses for banks. Bank of America, meanwhile, believes the risk of the Fed losing balance sheet control in October is elevated. Australia will invest $2 billion in U.S.-integrated military systems and has also agreed to purchase Apache helicopters worth $2.68 billion.