• APAC stocks traded higher across the board following the positive lead from Wall Street; China outperformed
• US equity futures were mixed overnight with the NQ underperforming after Microsoft and Alphabet both fell 6.7% after-market following earnings
• Major Chinese state-owned banks sold USD in both onshore and offshore markets in late trade on Tuesday to prop up the weakening yuan, according to Reuters sources
• UK PM Sunak is reportedly mulling a delay to next week's fiscal statement (Oct 31st), according to The Times
• Looking ahead, highlights include  EZ M3, US New Home Sales, BoC Announcement, earnings from Meta, Boeing, BASF, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz, Barclays, and more

US TRADE

• US stocks rose across the board despite a lack of a clear catalyst to spur the gains, although futures were hit after the bell as Microsoft and Alphabet tumbled post-earnings.
• SPX +1.63% at 3,859, NDX +2.10% at 11,670, DJIA +1.07% at 31,837, RUT +2.73% at 1,796
• Click here for a detailed summary.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Q3 2022 (USD): EPS 1.06 (exp. 1.25), Revenue 69.1bln (exp. 70.61bln). Google advertising revenue 54.48bln (exp. 56.98bln). Google Cloud revenue USD 6.87bln (exp. 6.61bln). Shares fell 6.7 after-market%
• Microsoft Corp (MSFT) Q1 2023 (USD): EPS 2.35 (exp. 2.30), Revenue 50.1bln (exp. 49.61bln). Sees Q2 Intelligent Cloud Revenue 21.25-21.55bln (exp. 22.01bln); More Personal Computing Revenue 14.5-14.9bln (exp. 16.92bln); Productivity and Business Processes Revenue 16.6-16.9bln (exp. 17.19bln). Shares fell 6.7 after-market%
• Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) Q3 2022 (USD): EPS 2.47 (exp. 2.39), Revenue 5.24bln (exp. 5.13bln). Co. expects most of its end markets to decline, potentially with the exception of the automotive market. Shares fell 5.1% after-market
• Visa Inc (V) Q4 2022 (USD): Adj. EPS 1.93 (exp. 1.86), Revenue 7.8bln (exp. 7.56bln). Raises dividend 20% to USD 0.45/shr and announces USD 12bln buyback programme. Shares rose 1.4 after-market%
• "Equity investors in Elon Musk's take-private of Twitter (TWTR) have received paperwork from his lawyers at Skadden Arps in order to prepare for closing the deal. It's another sign deal is on track for Friday close", via CNBC's Faber

APAC TRADE

EQUITIES

• APAC stocks equities traded higher across the board following the positive lead from Wall Street.
• ASX 200 opened firmer following the Aussie budget, but gains were capped by hotter-than-expected Australian CPI data which resulted in a modest uptick in RBA pricing for a 50bps hike at the next meeting.
• Nikkei 225 topped 27,500 with gains led by the pharma and manufacturing sectors.
• KOSPI held onto mild gains whilst chipmaker SK Hynix missed earnings expectations and cut its 2023 capex by over 50% vs 2022.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp opened firmer as the bourses conformed to the gains across global peers, while the PBoC also injected CNY 280bln via reverse repo, with the former eventually outperforming.
• US equity futures were mixed with the NQ (-1.8%) underperforming after Microsoft's guidance missed expectations, whilst Alphabet shares also slumped after advertising revenue printed below forecasts and dragged peers lower in sympathy. On the flip side, the RTY (+0.1%) held a flat/modestly positive bias overnight.
• European equity futures were flat/mixed with the Euro Stoxx 50 future -0.1% after cash markets closed higher by 1.6%.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

FX

• DXY traded with gains on either side of 111.00 after falling from a 112.13 peak yesterday; 50 DMA resides at 110.78 on Wednesday.
• USD/JPY topped 148.00 in the run-up to Friday’s BoJ announcement, whilst Japan’s top FX diplomat again hit the wires and emphasised that they will continue to take bold steps against excessive currency moves.
• GBP/USD held onto most of yesterday’s gains with overnight price action dictated by the Dollar.
• EUR/USD remained in a tight range under yesterday’s 0.9976 high.
• Antipodeans were firmer with the NZD leading the gains, whilst AUD saw some brief upside after Q3 Aussie CPI printed hotter-than-expected across almost all metrics
• CNH immediately strengthened after the PBoC opted for a firmer-than-expected Yuan fix - which saw USD/CNH fall from 7.3400 to 7.3160 before paring back half of the move at the time.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1638 vs exp. 7.1983 (prev. 7.1668)
• Major Chinese state-owned banks sold USD in both onshore and offshore markets in late trade on Tuesday to prop up the weakening yuan, according to Reuters sources
• Click here for a detailed summary.

FIXED INCOME

• 10yr UST futures traded sideways in APAC hours after rallying as part of a broader global sovereign bid in US hours, with the belly outperforming while the front-end underperformed amid a weak 2yr auction.
• Bund futures were similarly flat on either side of 138.00 in the run-up to the ECB policy announcement on Thursday.
• 10yr JGB futures were firmer after taking the lead from western counterparts, whilst the yields in the 20yr and 30yr JGBs fell after the BoJ increased its bond-buying in the long-end to curb the recent surge in yields.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

COMMODITIES

• Crude traded with losses overnight after settling modestly firmer yesterday, with upside capped by the larger-than-expected build in the Private Inventory crude stockpiles, although the internals were mixed.
• US Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude +4.5mln (exp. +1.0mln), Cushing +0.7mln, Gasoline -2.3mln (exp. -0.8mln), Distillate +0.6mln (exp. -1.1mln).
• Spot gold found support around the USD 1,650/oz overnight but remained within yesterday's range.
• Copper gained alongside the risk appetite seen in Chinese markets.
• Chilean government calls for a flat 1% ad valorem tax rate for copper producers above 50k tonnes per year, according to the ministry cited by Reuters.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

CRYPTO

• Crypto markets were on a firmer footing overnight with Bitcoin holding onto a USD 20k+ status, whilst Ethereum traded on either side of 1,500, and Dogecoin outperformed with some citing the nearing Elon Musk/Twitter deal as a catalyst.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• China's Hanyang district (900k population) in Wuhan city, entered a five-day temporary lockdown until October 30th, according to Chinese press.
• Universal Studios in Beijing temporarily closed amid COVID measures, according to a notice cited by Reuters.
• PBoC injected CNY 280bln via 7-day reverse repos at a maintained rate 2.00% for a daily injection of CNY 278bln.
• BoJ raised the purchase amounts for 10-25yr and 25yr+ JGB maturities in a bid to curb the surge in yields, via Reuters.
• Japan's Top FX Diplomat Kanda reiterated that they will continue to take bold steps against excessive FX moves, and are in close contact with G7 everyday, including on FX and geopolitics.
• Japanese life insurers' investment plans show a preference to cut holdings of foreign debt, mainly US Treasury bonds, in the second half of the fiscal year ending March amid elevated FX hedging costs, according to Nikkei citing investment plan release.
• Hong Kong Futures Exchange has temporarily suspended the volatility control mechanism for futures products in derivatives market; halt due to external vendor software issues.
• SK Hynix (000660 KS) Q3 2022 (KRW): Revenue 10.98tln (exp. 11.1tln). Operating Profit 1.66tln (exp. 1.87tln). Net Profit 1.1tln (exp. 1.37tln), Q3 average DRAM and NAND selling prices -20%; cuts 2023 investment spending by over 50% vs 2022.
• Australian Treasurer Chalmers expects inflation to peak at the end of the year.

DATA RECAP

• Australian CPI QQ (Q3) 1.8% vs. Exp. 1.6% (Prev. 1.8%)
• Australian CPI YY (Q3) 7.3% vs. Exp. 7.0% (Prev. 6.1%)
• Australian RBA Trimmed Mean CPI QQ (Q3) 1.8% vs. Exp. 1.5% (Prev. 1.5%)
• Australian RBA Trimmed Mean CPI YY (Q3) 6.1% vs. Exp. 5.6% (Prev. 4.9%)
• Australian RBA Weightd Medn CPI QQ (Q3) 1.4% vs. Exp. 1.5% (Prev. 1.4%)
• Australian RBA Weightd Medn CPI YY (Q3) 5% vs. Exp. 4.8% (Prev. 4.2%)

GEOPOLITICS

• The Biden administration is expected to unveil more sanctions on Iran related to the protests this week, according to Politico.
• Japan's Vice Foreign Minister intends to further deepen trilateral cooperation between Japan, South Korea, and the US.

EU/UK

NOTABLE EU/UK HEADLINES

• UK PM Sunak is reportedly mulling a delay to next week's fiscal statement (Oct 31st). Sunak is to meet Chancellor Hunt on Wednesday to discuss proposals to increase taxes and cut public spending, according to The Times.