• European bourses are modestly firmer, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.2%, though fresh developments have been limited and the upside itself is tentative at best.
• USD has lost overnight recovery momentum with peers benefiting across the board with the Kiwi leading ahead of the RBNZ
• Rangebound trade for core fixed income, though intraday boundaries have extended on both sides
• Comparably contained session for the crude complex after yesterday’s pronounced OPEC+ related price action, further pushback to Monday's production reports
• Looking ahead, highlights include Australian PMIs Flash, Speeches from Fed's Bullard, George, Mester & ECB's Nagel, Supply from the US.

EUROPEAN TRADE

EQUITIES

• European bourses are modestly firmer, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.2%, though fresh developments have been limited and the upside itself is tentative at best.
• Sectors are mixed with the likes of Energy outperforming after yesterday's noted pressure, no overarching bias present in the European morning.
• Stateside, US futures are near the unchanged mark but have, similar to European peers, been modestly firmer/softer throughout the morning, ES +0.1%.
• Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) is to jointly develop 3nm chips with five-six fabless clients for large quantity supply as soon as 2023, via Korea Economic Daily citing sources; names include Nvidia (NVDA), Qualcomm (QCOM), IBM (IBM) & Baidu (BIDU).
• Baidu Inc (BIDU) Q3 2022 (CNY): EPS 16.87 (exp. 15.29), Revenue 32.5bln (exp. 31.79bln).
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FX

• Dollar loses recovery momentum as risk appetite picks up, DXY drifts between 107.810-300 bounds and retests a Fib retracement level just over 107.500
• Kiwi rebounds to top 0.6150 vs Buck irrespective of worrying NZ trade data, as RBNZ looms amidst expectations of a larger 75bp hike in the OCR
• Aussie recovers alongside Yuan and amidst comments from RBA Governor Lowe reaffirming guidance for further tightening, AUD/USD eyes 0.6650 from around 0.6600 at the low
• Loonie regains poise in tandem with oil and probes 1.3400 against its US rival pre-Canadian data and remarks from BoC's Rogers
• Yen, Franc, Euro and Pound all take advantage of Greenback fade plus yield convergence to Treasuries as USD/JPY reverses from 142.00+ and USD/CHF from almost 0.9600, while EUR/USD eyes 1.0300 and Cable 1.1900 vs sub-1.0250 and 1.0825.
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Notable FX Expiries, NY Cut:

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FIXED INCOME

• Rangebound trade for core fixed income, though intraday boundaries have extended on both sides throughout the European morning as the complex struggles for firm direction.
• Bund unreactive to a well-received Bobl auction while USTs are a handful of ticks firmer ahead of the week's last US auction, with volumes currently fairly light.
• Note, final orders for the UK's 0.125% 2073 Gilt I/L exceed GBP 16.8bln, according to a bookrunner, with pricing set 20bp below the 2068 comparable.
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COMMODITIES

• Comparably contained session for the crude complex after yesterday’s pronounced OPEC+ related price action; benchmarks currently firmer by around 0.5% amid further pushback to the production increase report.
• White House Press Secretary said President Biden is committed to further lowering gasoline prices.
• Kuwait Oil Minister has pushed back against reports of any discussions over OPEC+ raising production at its next meeting, according to the State news agency; Iraq's SOMO says no discussions have taken place over an increase at the next OPEC meeting.
• China has reportedly paused the purchase of some Russian oil, awaiting details of the price cap to see if it provides a better price, via Bloomberg citing sources.
• German gas price break will apply retroactively from January, via der Spiegel; reduction in gas and heat prices is not expected to take effect until March 1st.
• European Commission proposes to introduce a gas price correction mechanism for one-year from January 1st 2023, via Reuters citing draft legislation; proposal leaves the actual price cap blank for now. Diplomats say that EU gov'ts want the gas price cap at EUR 159-180/MWh, vs the much higher cap expected to be proposed by the Commission.
• UK officials visited Brazil in October to assess the regions beef standards, via Politico; a visit which has fuelled hopes in Brazil of a future trade deal.
• Spot gold and silver are firmer, with the yellow metal at session highs just below the USD 1750/oz mark as risk sentiment struggles to find firm direction and the USD continues to pullback
• For reference, the current spot gold peak of USD 1748/oz is shy of the 10-DMA at USD 1755/oz and still some way from the 200-DMA at USD 1801/oz.
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NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES

• ECB's Centeno sees conditions for rate hikes to be less than 75bps in December and said they "really have to reverse" the trend of rising inflation to have greater visibility on monetary policy, according to Bloomberg.
• ECB's Holzmann said he supports a 75bps hike in December and noted there are no signs that price pressures are easing, according to FT.
• ECB's Rehn says they will probably hike rates again, pace depends on how the economy develops.
• ECB's Nagel says a 50bp rate hike is "strong", rates are still "relatively far" from restrictive territory, via Reuters; calls for commencing a gradual APP unwind in Q1-2023.
• Italy approved a EUR 35bln budget law for next year which plans to increase an energy windfall tax, according to Bloomberg.

NOTABLE EUROPEAN DATA

• EU Current Account SA, EUR (Sep) -8.06B (Prev. -26.32B)

NOTABLE US HEADLINES

• OECD World Economic Outlook: Global growth seen at 3.1% in 2022 (prev. view of 3.0%), 2023 seen at 2.2% (prev. view of 2.2%).
• US Investor home purchases fell 30.2% year over year nationwide in the third quarter, the largest decline since the Great Recession aside from the second quarter of 2020, according to Redfin.

GEOPOLITICS

• Moscow considers a search necessary for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue after Turkey's strikes in Syria and believes Turkey should restrain from the use of excessive military force, according to RIA citing Moscow's Syria envoy.
• N. Korea will take an ultra strong response to anyone that interferes with its sovereign rights, via KCNA; US will face a greater security crisis the more it insists on taking hostile actions.

APAC TRADE

EQUITIES

• APAC stocks were mostly positive as the regional bourses attempted to recover from the recent China COVID woes but with price action contained amid quiet newsflow and a lack of fresh macro drivers.
• ASX 200 was positive amid strength in the commodity-related sectors in which energy led the advances after oil prices rebounded following Saudi’s denial that it was considering a production increase.
• Nikkei 225 higher and reclaimed the 28,000 level with early outperformance in Shionogi after its COVID-19 therapeutic drug was presumed effective by Japan’s PMDA.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp traded mixed with Hong Kong pressured by weakness in the tech sector, while losses in the mainland were reversed after the latest policy support pledges by China including measures to sustain the recovery momentum of the industrial economy and with the PBoC to release CNY 200bln worth of loan support for commercial banks to ensure near-term delivery of homes.

NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES

• US Defence Secretary Austin met with Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe in Cambodia, according to a US official cited by Reuters. US Defence Secretary Austin discussed the need for dialogue on reducing risk and improving communication with his Chinese counterpart, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. Furthermore, Austin raised concern about increasingly dangerous behaviour by Chinese aircraft which increases the risk of an accident and he reiterated that the US remains committed to the longstanding Once China Policy.
• Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman said the main reason for the current situation faced by China and the US is because the US made the wrong strategic judgement. In relevant news, Global Times' Hu Xijin tweeted that the meeting between the two defence ministers must be supported and that no matter how many frictions, China and the US cannot fight militarily which is the bottom line and the two sides’ due responsibility to the world.
• EU is poised to renew sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights violations in Xinjiang for an additional year, according to SCMP.
• RBA's Lowe say the Bank is not on a pre-set path and could return to 50bps increase or keep rates unchanged for a time. The Board expects to increase interest rates further over the period ahead. Understand that many people are finding the rise in interest rates difficult. It is necessary, though, to ensure that the current period of higher inflation is only temporary.
• Beijing City reports 634 (prev. 274) COVID infections on November 22nd as of 3pm, according to a health official, via Reuters. Subsequently, Beijing will tighten COVID testing requirements as of November 24th, according to an official; COVID tests within 48 hours will be required to enter public venues.

DATA RECAP

• New Zealand Trade Balance (NZD)(Oct) -2.1B (Prev. -1.6B, Rev. -1.7B)
• New Zealand Annual Trade Balance (NZD)(Oct) -12.9B (Prev. -12.0B)
• New Zealand Exports (NZD)(Oct) 6.1B (Prev. 6.0B, Rev. 5.9B)
• New Zealand Imports (NZD)(Oct) 8.3B (Prev. 7.6B, Rev. 7.6B)