• Asia-Pac stocks were lifted by the tailwinds seen stateside; US equity futures overnight drifted higher
• SPX and DJIA both hit fresh all-time-highs whilst Tesla shot past the USD 1000/shr mark and USD 1tln market cap milestone
• Facebook announced a USD 50bln boost in share buyback authorisation but the outlook is dampened by Apple's new iOS
• US Treasury Secretary Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke on Oct 26th
• Russian Deputy PM Novak wants OPEC+ to stick to the agreement to increase oil production by 400k BPD at Nov 4th meeting
• Looking ahead, highlights include US Consumer Confidence, New Home Sales, supply from Italy, UK, Germany & US
• Earnings: ASM International, Logitech, Novartis, Orange; Whitbread; Alphabet, Microsoft, General Electric, 3M, Visa, AMD, Twitter

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

White House confirms it is issuing a new proclamation Monday to lift restrictions on travel effective November 8th. (Newswires)

ASIA

Asia-Pac stocks were lifted by the tailwinds seen stateside, whereby the SPX and DJIA both notched fresh all-time-highs, although the NDX outperformed as Tesla shot past the USD 1000/shr mark and USD 1trl market cap milestone. US equity futures overnight drifted higher with the NQ (+0.5%) narrowly outperforming the ES (+0.3%), RTY (+0.3%) and YM (+0.2%). European equity futures also posted mild gains. Back to APAC, the ASX 200 (+0.1%) was kept afloat by tech names as the sector saw tailwinds from the stateside performance. The Nikkei 225 (+1.9%) outperformed following the prior session’s underperformance, and as the JPY drifted lower during the session. The KOSPI (+0.7%) was also firmer with SK Hynix rising some 3% at the open as chip demand supported earnings. The Hang Seng (-0.4%) and Shanghai Comp (+0.1%) opened flat but the latter remained underpinned following another chunky CNY 190bln net liquidity injection by the PBoC. The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index fell almost 5% in early trade, whilst Modern Land noted that it will not be able to meet payments and shares were halted until future notice. Finally, 10yr JGBs were lower amid spillover selling from T-notes and Bund futures.

• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.3890 vs exp. 6.3875 (prev. 6.3924)
• PBoC injected a net CNY 190bln via 7-day reverse repos at a rate of 2.20%

Modern Land (1107 HK) said that principal amount of notes was not met on Oct 25th; the group is assessing financial conditions and cash position of the group. Trading is halted until further notice. (Newswires)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) Q3 revenue KRW 11.8trl vs exp. KRW 11.9trl. Operating profit KRW 4.2trl vs exp. KRW 4.1trl; net KRW 3.3trl vs exp. KRW 3trl. Q4 DRAM shipments are expected to rise in the mid-high single-digit %; NAND is expected to rise double-digit %. (Newswires)

• South Korean GDP Growth QQ Advance (Q3) 0.3% vs. Exp. 0.6% (Prev. 0.8%)
• South Korean GDP Growth YY Advance (Q3) 4.0% vs. Exp. 4.2% (Prev. 6.0%)

UK/EU

FX

In FX, DXY remained contained to a tight range amid a lack of fresh catalysts. From a technical standpoint, the index yesterday tested the 21 DMA to the upside before pulling back - which today stands at 93.966. Elsewhere, EUR/USD and GBP/USD were flat with the former probing the 1.1600 mark – with the psychological mark overlapping with the 21 DMA. Cable meanwhile remained within US ranges after finding mild support at 1.3755. The antipodeans once again outperformed in APAC hours amid the overall constructive tone, with AUD/USD regaining a 0.7500-handle whilst NZD-upside was capped as the AUD/NZD cross drifted further above 1.0450. USD/JPY inched closer towards 114.00, with participants also noting fresh USD buying from Japanese investors and asset hedging interest, some also flagged USD 1.3bln in OpEx between 113.55-85, which may keep price action somewhat contained.

Turkey President Erdogan said the statement by ambassadors on Kavala targets Turkey's judiciary and sovereignty and added that the Turkish judiciary does not take orders from anyone. (Newswires)

COMMODITIES

WTI and Brent Dec contracts consolidated overnight after prices declined heading into the European close yesterday. Russian Deputy Minister Novak thereafter voiced support for sticking to the current OPEC+ pact of increasing oil production by 400k BPD at next week's meeting - in line with recent commentary from the Saudi and Nigerian oil ministers, although prices were little swayed by Novak's comments. Elsewhere, spot gold and silver were lacklustre but the former held onto USD 1,800/oz+ status whilst the latter dipped under USD 24.50/oz. Overnight, thermal coal futures took another hit amid renewed jawboning by China, whereby the State Planner is studying ways to stabilise coal prices over the longer term. Copper prices were mildly positive overnight - in line with the risk sentiment, while Dalian iron ore futures rose around 3%.

Russian Deputy PM Novak expects oil demand to reach pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022; wants OPEC+ to stick to the agreement to increase oil production by 400k BPD at Nov 4th meeting. (Newswires)

China's State Planner is studying ways to stabilise coal prices over the longer term; looking at costs and profitability of the coal sector. (Newswires)

South Korea is to cut oil tax by 20% for 6 months and is to lower tariffs on LNG to 0%. (Newswires)

GEOPOLITICAL

US Treasury Secretary Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke on Oct 26th, according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry; China said it is important to strengthen US-China coordination on macroeconomic policies. Yellen raised issues of concern, according to a US Treasury Statement. (Newswires)

US State Department is to form a new cyberspace and digital policy bureau; intends to have organisational changes planned to confront international cybersecurity challenges, such as ransomware and waning global digital freedom, via WSJ citing US officials. (Newswires)

IAEA said Iran told them that it had fed uranium enriched to up to 20% purity into extra single-centrifuge and intermediate cascades at the above-ground plant at Natanz. (Newswires)

US State Department said the US will continue to engage in dialogue with Turkey to address any disagreements. (Newswires)

US

T-Notes had a choppy APAC Monday session with stock indices in the region mixed; China COVID cases continue to tick higher, hurting GDP estimates, although Australia is beginning to ease some restrictions in some areas. Sales of bonds were limited in European trade on the back of the mixed German Ifo survey, with the internal details pretty downbeat. However, it wasn't until late the NY handover that T-Notes got going, bouncing from session lows of 130-08 to highs of 130-22, before paring a few ticks into the NY afternoon and settlement. There wasn't any particular catalyst, rather just a seeming consolidation of recent selling pressures. The cash curve saw its early bull-steepening hold through the session too, with the rally in oil and nat gas supporting the widening in inflation breakevens, although it's worth stressing the thinner trading conditions made it hard to read too much into the price action. Indeed, with 2s, 5s, and 7s auctions on the horizon, the bid in that part of the curve might prove a red herring as trading activity picks up through the week. Data wise, Advanced Q3 GDP on Thursday serves as the highlight, where similar to NFP, some analysts suggest a too deeper dip could put headwinds on the Fed's taper plans/timeline. T-note (Z1) futures settled 7 ticks higher at 130-18.

FTC to restrict future acquisitions for firms that pursue anticompetitive mergers; puts industry on notice agency has restored practice of prohibiting acquisitive firms from merging again without FTC's prior approval. (Newswires)

US Senate Majority Leader Schumer said they had a productive meeting with Biden and Manchin as they close in on a deal on the social spending bill. (Newswires)

US Senator Wyden, on the billionaire's tax, said "We’re gonna get it done in the next few days", via Punchbowl's Cohen. (Twitter)

Apple (AAPL) is reportedly very likely to face DoJ antitrust suit, according to The Information. (The Information)

Facebook Inc (FB) Q3 2021 (USD): EPS 3.22 (exp. 3.19/3.18 GAAP), Revenue 29.01bln (exp. 29.57bln). Co. announced a USD 50bln boost in share buyback authorisation. Advertising Revenue: 28.276bln (exp. 29.02bln) Other: 734mln (prev. 349mln). Daily Active Users (DAU): 1.93bln (exp. 1.92bln). Monthly Active Users (MAU): 2.91bln (exp. 2.92bln). Q4 2021 Revenue View: 31.5-34bln (exp. 34.84bln); Outlook reflects significant uncertainty in Q4 in light of Apple (AAPL) iOS 14 changes and macroeconomic factors. (PR Newswire) Facebook (FB) executive expects supply chain issues and impacts to ads to carry over into Q4. (Newswires) Shares rose 1.6% after-market

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Musk said "short-term we are seeing strong inflationary pressure". (Twitter)

CRYPTO

US SEC has reportedly received the green light to overlook stablecoins, according to reports. (Newswires)

Coinbase (COIN) has identified an issue with debit card functionality for customers in the UK and EU. (Newswires)