$FOUR

**@nytimesbusiness:** Regulators in California said on Thursday that they had fined Pacific Gas & Electric $125 million for its role in causing the Kincade fire, which injured four people and destroyed hundreds of buildings in 2019. https://t.co/ZbDvz83AjC https://twitter.com/nytimesbusiness/status/1467554407889965062

**@MichaelKitces:** The Four Phases Of Saving And Investing For Retirement - https://t.co/pblgYWJvq6 https://t.co/0X83p9pAq9 https://twitter.com/MichaelKitces/status/1467190184131317761

WisdomTree launches four cryptocurrency indices in US and Europe https://cointelegraph.com/news/wisdomtree-launches-four-cryptocurrency-indices-in-us-and-europe

**@APompliano:** The four most dangerous words in finance are "this time is different," but the five most dangerous words are "it always works this way." https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1466421173915426825

+Initiations 11/30: $ACHR $AES $ANF $ANNX $ARHS $ATAI $BOOT $BURL $CCSI $CIAN $CLLS $CRBU $CRNX $CTXR $CURV $DCGO $DECK $DHX $ENSC $FL $FLNC $FOUR $GAME $GES $GWH $IMRA $IOBT $MP $PETQ $RDBX $RGF $RKLB $SEAH $SGRY $SHOO $SMRT $TJX $TREB $URBN $VQS $VSCO $XPDI $ZD

UK Market A green day yesterday, as concerns over the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, faded. BT Group jumped 6.1%, even though India’s Reliance Industries refused a report that it was considering acquiring the telecoms group. Molten Ventures climbed 4.7%, after the company reported a rise in its interim net asset value. Johnson Matthey advanced 3.2%, following reports that India’s Tata Chemicals was interested in purchasing the company’s batteries business. Hammerson added 1.5%, after the property company confirmed that it is in discussions over the possible disposal of Silverburn. On the other hand, Amigo Holdings sank 28.7%, after the company announced that it expects court proceedings over its new rescue plan to take at least four months. The FTSE 100 advanced 0.9%, to close at 7,110.0, while the FTSE 250 rose 1.0%, to end at 22,756.3. . Europe Market Markets finished higher yesterday, amid optimism about economic growth. Deutsche Lufthansa rose 1.6%, after the airlines operator announced that it has not cancelled its schedule for flights to South Africa due to Omicron coronavirus variant. Infineon Technologies added 1.6%, after the company announced that it purchased Syntronixs Asia Sdn. Bhd., an electroplating company based in Melaka, Malaysia. On the flipside, Faurecia declined 7.9%, after the auto supplier company lowered its earnings guidance for the full year for the second time, citing a drop in European car production. Qiagen dropped 2.4%. The company confirmed the effectiveness of its SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction tests in detecting the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron. The FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.7%, to settle at 1,809.4. The German DAX Xetra rose 0.2%, to settle at 15,280.9, while the French CAC-40 added 0.5%, to close at 6,776.3. . US Market Closed higher yesterday, amid gains in technology sector stocks. Moderna soared 11.8%, after the company’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, stated that it would take months to distribute a Covid vaccine specifically targeting the omicron variant, but a booster shot could be ready “right away.” Meanwhile, Merck declined 5.4%, after a top broker downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’. Bristol Myers Squibb dropped 3.3%, even as the pharmaceutical company announced that the US Food and Drug Administration approved its application for a psoriasis-treating drug, deucravacitinib and the European regulators validated its application. Twitter fell 2.7%, following news that the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jack Dorsey, is stepping down with immediate effect. eBay shed 2.7%, after the e-commerce giant announced that it is acquiring Sneaker Con’s authentication business. The S&P 500 gained 1.3%, to settle at 4,655.3. The DJIA rose 0.7%, to settle at 35,135.9, while the NASDAQ added 1.9%, to close at 15,782.8. Asian Market Asia was trading mostly lower this morning. In Japan, Advantest and Keisei Electric Railway have advanced 3.4% and 3.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, NEXON and stellas Pharma have dropped 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively. In Hong Kong, WH Group and Longfor Group Holdings have fallen 2.4% and 2.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, Country Garden Holdings and Wharf Real Estate Investment have added 0.9% and 1.0%, respectively. In South Korea, Inbiogen and E Investment & Development have declined 6.7% and 6.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, NeXT Science and LG Innotek have climbed 6.0% and 6.3%, respectively. The Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.7% higher at 28,473.8. The Hang Seng index is trading 1.1% down at 23,591.7, while the Kospi index is trading 1.1% lower at 2,878.0.

`Investors` **@nytimesbusiness:** President Biden opted for continuity at the Fed, nominating Jerome Powell to a second four-year term. A new virus variant shook the stock market. And it’s that time of year -- for shopping. https://t.co/WVIJJCPxbS https://twitter.com/nytimesbusiness/status/1465319906166124554

`Investors` **@CNBC:** Concerns over prescription drug prices have grown into a big political issue, with nearly one in four Americans saying it's difficult to afford their medications. Here's how the system works and what customers can do to save money. https://t.co/Q1hI2i9MH1 https://t.co/T3QWJKYCe6 https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1465048600417734659

UK Market Markets finished higher yesterday, amid gains in mining and energy sector stocks. Vivo Energy jumped 18.5%, after the company agreed to a $2.3 billion buyout offer by Vitol Investment. Hochschild Mining climbed 14.3%, after the Peruvian government indicated that it would not close the company’s mines if legal requirements were met. Capita advanced 9.6%, following a top broker upgraded its rating on the stock ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’. Mitchells & Butlers added 3.6%, after the company announced that it had returned to profitability and cash generation. InterContinental Hotels rose 2.8%, after a top broker raised its target price on the stock to 5,750p from 3,750p. On the other hand, Hill & Smith Holdings declined 8.6%, after the company announced it expects annual profit to meet market expectations, following robust trading in the previous four months. The FTSE 100 advanced 0.3%, to close at 7,310.4, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.5%, to end at 23,280.0. . European Market Also finished higher yesterday, amid concerns about surging coronavirus cases in Europe. Remy Cointreau jumped 13.4%, as the wine and spirits company raised its annual profit forecast, after reporting a rise in its interim net profit attributable to the Group. Jenoptik climbed 7.9%, after the company announced that it has inked a deal to sell the VINCORION division to a fund managed by private equity firm, STAR Capital Partnership LLP. Elekta advanced 5.7%, after it reported a smaller than expected drop in second quarter earnings. Swiss Life Holding added 3.6%, after the company announced plans to launch a new CHF1 billion buyback and raised its dividend payout ratio to more than 60%. The FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.4%, to settle at 1,865.3. The German DAX Xetra rose 0.2%, to settle at 15,918.0, while the French CAC-40 added 0.5%, to close at 7,075.9. . US Market Markets in the US were closed yesterday on account of Thanksgiving Day holiday. . Asian Market Are trading lower this morning. In Japan, Mitsui Chemicals, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Casio Computer have dropped 4.8%, 4.9% and 5.0%, respectively. Meanwhile, Osaka Gas, Nichirei and Taiheiyo Cement have added 0.1%, 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively. In Hong Kong, CK Asset Holdings, Hang Seng Bank and Hong Kong & China Gas have fallen 0.5%, 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively. In South Korea, Chinyang Holdings, Kum Yang and Dongyang Express have declined 4.8%, 4.9% and 5.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, Soosan Heavy Industries, Pyung Hwa Industrial and Isupetasys have climbed 5.9%, 6.1% and 6.6%, respectively. The Nikkei 225 index is trading 3.0% lower at 28,628.8. The Hang Seng index is trading 2.1% down at 24,213.6, while the Kospi index is trading 1.3% lower at 2,940.9.

UK Market Again closing mixed yesterday. Hochschild Mining jumped 6.6%, after a top broker upgraded its rating on the stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’. Intertek Group climbed 6.0%, as the company indicated that it was on track for robust annual growth, after reporting an increase in its revenue in the last four-month period. Britvic advanced 2.5%, as the company raised its dividend, following a rise in its annual profits. Land Securities Group added 1.0%, amid reports that the company was in discussions with Lendlease about the acquisition of a 25% stake in the Bluewater Shopping Centre in a deal worth £200 million. On the contrary, Johnson Matthey dropped 2.2%, after the chemicals company announced that it sold its advanced glass technologies business to Fenzi Holdings for a consideration of £178 million. The FTSE 100 advanced 0.3%, to close at 7,286.3, while the FTSE 250 fell 0.2%, to end at 23,167.1. . European Market Finished yesterday mostly lower, amid continued surge in coronavirus cases and fresh lockdown restrictions. Telecom Italia surged 15.6%, following reports that the US private equity giant, KKR, is considering raising its offer for the company. Enel added 2.0%, after the company announced plans to step up investment in renewable energy and infrastructure in the coming years. Aareal Bank rose 0.7%. The company announced that its supervisory board Chair, Marija Korsch, resigned from her role. Meanwhile, Draegerwerk dropped 7.5%, after the company announced that it expects a decline in net sales and earnings in 2022. Elior Group slid 0.1%. The catering company announced new growth and profit targets for 2022, after recording its best quarter since the pandemic began. The FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.1%, to settle at 1,858.6. The German DAX Xetra fell 0.4%, to settle at 15,878.4, while the French CAC-40 marginally shed, to close at 7,042.2. . US Market Closed yesterday mostly higher, following the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) November meeting. Pure Storage surged 13.5%, after the tech and data storage company’s third quarter earnings came in above analysts’ expectations and it issued a better than expected current-quarter revenue outlook. HP climbed 10.1%, after the company reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings and issued a strong revenue outlook for the first quarter. Deere & Co advanced 5.3%, after reporting higher than anticipated earnings in the fourth quarter. Chevron rose 0.8%, after a top broker upgraded its rating on the stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’. On the flipside, Booking Holdings slid 0.8%. The company announced the acquisition of Swedish travel agency, Etraveli, from CVC Capital for a consideration of $1.83 billion. The S&P 500 gained 0.2%, to settle at 4,701.5. The DJIA slightly fell, to settle at 35,804.4, while the NASDAQ added 0.4%, to close at 15,845.2. . Asian Market Are trading mostly higher this morning. In Japan, Fanuc and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings have advanced 2.6% and 2.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, Comsys Holdings and Mazda Motor have dropped 1.0% and 1.3%, respectively. In Hong Kong, AAC Technologies Holdings and Sino Biopharmaceutical have added 1.1% and 1.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, PetroChina and China Life Insurance have fallen 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively. In South Korea, Dongsuh and KEC Holdings have declined 4.9% and 5.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, Inbiogen and Sewon E&C have climbed 7.0% and 8.9%, respectively. The Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.8% higher at 29,526.6. The Hang Seng index is trading 0.1% up at 24,714.8, while the Kospi index is trading 0.4% lower at 2,981.7.

$FOUR on Put watch next week

Sandbox Metaverse Alpha to launch Nov. 29 after four years in development https://cointelegraph.com/news/sandbox-metaverse-alpha-launches-nov-29-after-four-years-in-development

Sandbox Metaverse Alpha launches Nov. 29 after four years in development https://cointelegraph.com/news/sandbox-metaverse-alpha-launches-nov-29-after-four-years-in-development

Deloitte announced a strategic partnership with Ava Labs, the team behind the blockchain network Avalanche. According to the announcement, Deloitte’s new cloud-based platform leverages Avalanche in order to “improve security, speed and [the] accuracy of Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements.” https://news.bitcoin.com/big-four-accounting-firm-deloitte-forges-partnership-with-ava-labs-to-leverage-avalanche-blockchain/

I threw my hat into the ring > @Pal said: And why are we waiting four days?

And why are we waiting four days?

BIDEN SAYS NEWS ON FED CHAIR COMING IN ABOUT FOUR DAYS

AMC Theatres to Accept Shiba Inu Within Two to Four Months https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/11/16/amc-theatres-to-accept-shiba-inu-within-two-four-months/

AMC Theatres to Accept Shiba Inu Within Two-Four Months https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/11/16/amc-theatres-to-accept-shiba-inu-within-two-four-months/

After slipping last week, U.S. stock futures are edging higher to start the trading week, with Treasury yields little changed as markets remain in “wait-and-see” mode regarding the timing of accelerated tightening by the Fed after last weeks sharply higher inflation readings. Investors also prepare for a busy week of quarterly earnings in the retail sector with results from WMT, LOW, TGT and HD among those expected this week as earnings season wraps up. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index gained +0.56% to 29,776, the Shanghai Index fell -5 points to 3,533, and the Hang Seng Index advanced +0.25% to 25,390, In Europe, the German DAX is up about +0.1% at 16,100, while the FTSE 100 is little changed at 7,340. Stocks finished Friday near the highs, but for the week, the S&P 500 500 fell 0.3%, the Dow fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%, as each snapped their 5-week winning streaks amid heightened inflation fears. Before the bell today, the November Empire State Manufacturing Index arrives, with economists predicting a small rise from the month before in the only main data point on the schedule today. The dollar is steady, oil prices are lower and Bitcoin/crypto assets are looking higher. Overall, it looks like a strong start to the trading week, but will gains hold? Events Calendar for Today 8:30 AM ET Empire Manufacturing for November…est. 21.2 Earnings Calendar: Earnings Before the Open: ACM, AYRO, BFLY, CMAX, CVSI, DMRC, DNA, GOED, JAGX, KALA, OEG, ONDS, PTN, RAIL, RMBL, SEAT, TLS, TSN, URGN, VVNT, WE, YOU Earnings After the Close: AAP, ASTG, AGIL, ATHX, AXON, BIOC, BKYI, BODY, CMP, COMS, COOK, CSPR, DM, EDR, ETON, FPAY, GLAD, IDEX, INVO, JJSF, LCID, LFG, MARK, MIRM, NRDY, PLBY, POWW, PRCH, RAX, RXT, SGBX, SNDX, TALK, UAVS, VTSI, XL, XSPA, ZEV Other Key Events: BTIG Digital Health Forum $virtual, 11/15 Stifel 2021 Healthcare Conference $virtual, 11/15-11/17 Wolfe Industrial Growth & Technology Conference 2021 $virtual, 11/15 Macro Up/Down Last Nymex -1.00 79.79 Brent -1.16 81.01 Gold -1.90 1,863.00 EUR/USD -0.0002 1.1443 JPY/USD -0.03 113.86 10-Year Note +0.006 1.554% World News China Oct Industrial O/P higher: 3.5% y/y vs 3% consensus; China Oct Industrial Production higher: 10.9% vs 10.8% consensus; China Oct Retail Sales higher: 4.9% y/y vs 3.5% consensus ECB’s Lagarde said this weekend that conditions for hike in rates unlikely to be met next year; GDP still expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels by year end; price pressures to normalize as supply bottlenecks unwind; no evidence of negotiated wages Hackers compromised a Federal Bureau of Investigation $FBI email system on Saturday and sent tens of thousands of messages warning of a possible cyberattack, according to the agency and security specialists. Jayson Albano reports. Sector News Breakdown **Consumer** Tesla $TSLA shares slipping -2%; CEO Elon Musk on Sunday asked Bernie Sanders on Twitter whether the U.S. senator wants him to sell more shares after Sanders demanded the wealthy pay their “fair share” of taxes. “Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word,” Musk tweeted. Meanwhile, “The Big Short” investor Michael Burry tweeted that “Musk doesn’t need cash, he just wants to sell Tesla Macy’s $M, Nordstrom $JWN and Signet Jewelers $SIG among mall-based retailers that are enjoying a revival on expectations consumers will spend a record $851 billion this holiday season, a 9.5% jump from last year, Barron’s reported, citing the National Retail Federation **Energy** Negotiators from almost 200 countries clinched a deal that seeks to keep the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement alive, breaking new ground in the fight against climate change but punting the hardest decisions into the future. After two weeks of often fraught United Nations COP26 talks, delegates agreed to reduce the use of coal **Financials** S&P Global $SPGI won U.S. antitrust approval to buy IHS Markit $INFO to create a financial data giant spanning everything from bond ratings and commodities prices to tracking trade flows across the world after the Justice Department cleared the $39 billion deal **Healthcare** Regeneron $REGN announces $3B share buyback plan Pfizer $PFE strong R&D makes stock a good long-term bet, according to Barron’s. Notes two years ago, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla asked investors to take a big gamble on the research-and-development operation, and that bet is looking smarter than ever **Industrials & Materials** Deere $DE and union officials reach a third preliminary contract agreement on a contract in a bid to end a four-week-old strike; the previous offer included 10% pay raises, a signing bonus of $8,500, made workers eligible for health insurance sooner, and maintained no-premium health insurance coverage. The United States said late Friday it will open talks with Japan over tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Japan last week asked the United States to abolish the “Section 232” tariffs imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in 2018. **Technology, Media & Telecom** American Tower Corp. $AMT is said to near an agreement to acquire CoreSite Realty $COR for about $10B in an all-cash deal according to a Bloomberg report saying they could announce the acquisition of the data center operator as soon as this week. The report comes after Reuters reported last week that CoreSite was exploring options after getting a takeover approach. Walt Disney $DIS stock tumbled to near a one-year low this week following high-profile misses in its streaming and theme-parks segments according to Barron’s, which could make for an attractive entry point for patient investors CrowdStrike $CRWD initiated at underweight with a $247 target at Morgan Stanley saying the firm’s early leadership position is becoming increasingly challenged Shopify $SHOP downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Wall Street was headed for a steady start on Friday, helping stocks to consolidate record highs in Europe on the back of strong earnings and shrug off renewed selling in U.S. Treasury markets. The dollar was set for it biggest weekly rise in five months, helping to send crude oil prices down nearly 2% a barrel. U.S. Treasury markets were closed on Thursday for a holiday, but selling resumed on Friday, driven by Wednesday's news of the biggest annual rise in U.S. inflation in 31 years. Worry over interest rate hikes to quell inflation could catch up with riskier assets like stocks, analysts cautioned. "It's all about the June Fed meeting in my mind, which is almost priced in as a hike," said Peter Chatwell, head of multi-asset strategy at Mizuho in London. "We're at the inflection point whereby any further hawkish repricing of dollar rates markets is likely to weigh much more heavily on risk assets than it has in the past." In Europe, euro zone money markets priced in two full European Central Bank rate hikes by the end of next year. A Reuters poll showed the Bank of England is expected to be the first major central bank to raise rates, probably next month. U.S. stock futures were slightly firmer as shares in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) rose before the bell on news it was planning to break up into two companies. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sold more shares of the electric carmaker, regulatory filings showed on Friday. The world's stock prices posted their biggest fall in over a month on Wednesday on data showing the U.S. consumer price index rose 6.2% year-on-year in October, the strongest advance since November 1990. However, European shares chalked up new highs on Friday, with the STOXX index of 600 companies up 0.08%, enough to eke out a new record high for a second day running. The CAC 40 French blue chip index in Paris also clocked up a new high, helped by a rise in luxury companies following strong earnings from Cartier-owned Richemont. The MSCI All Country stock index was up 0.1% at 752.79 points, recovering its footing after Wednesday's drop in the wake of the U.S. inflation data. The index is barely six points below Tuesday's record high. "Directionally, the line of least resistance is for lower bond prices and higher yields and the stock market does not seem to care that much," said Mike Hewson, chief markets analyst at CMC Markets. Bond yields ticked up on Friday, with the 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield at 1.57%. "Inflation is obviously a risk to watch. But stock prices will face a major crash only if the Federal Reserve turns out to be completely wrong in its assessment and is forced to raise interest rates rapidly. That's not where we are now," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ (NYSE:MUFG) Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Securities. OIL SLUMPS In the currency market, the dollar held firm after Wednesday's strong U.S. inflation reading fanned expectations the Fed would tighten monetary policy faster than previously thought. An index of the dollar against six other currencies was flat at 95.160, on track for its biggest weekly rise in five months. The yen was trading at 113.97 per dollar, down slightly on the day and near its four-year low hit last month, while commodity currencies such as the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar were on a back foot. Oil prices dipped as the market grappled with a stronger U.S. dollar, along with concern over increasing U.S. inflation, and after OPEC cut its 2021 oil demand forecast due to high prices. Brent crude futures were down 1.76% at $81.40 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures dropped 1.9% to $80.02 per barrel. Gold prices eased off Wednesday's five-month highs to $1,853 per ounce, down 0.4% on the day. Shares in Asia were largely steady, with Japan's Nikkei up 1.13%, helped by brisk earnings. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.62%, but mainland Chinese shares were softer, with CSI 300 index slipping 0.2%.

By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian share prices advanced on Friday as a shock from a surprisingly strong U.S. inflation reading ebbed, with investors hopeful that the worst price hikes could be soon over. Japan's Nikkei gained 1.1%, helped by brisk earnings. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.25% but mainland Chinese shares were softer, with CSI 300 index slipping 0.3%. European stocks are expected to edge higher, with Euro Stoxx futures up 0.15% and Britain's FTSE futures 0.1% higher. U.S. stock futures ticked up 0.1% in Asia after a mixed session on Thursday when the S&P 500 ended 0.06% higher while tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.52%. The world's stock prices posted their biggest fall in over a month on Wednesday following a surprisingly strong reading on U.S. inflation. The U.S. consumer price index rose 6.2% year-on-year in October, the strongest advance since November 1990. "Inflation is obviously a risk to watch. But stock prices will face a major crash only if the Federal Reserve turns out to be completely wrong in its assessment and is forced to raise interest rates rapidly. That's not where we are now," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ (NYSE:MUFG) Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Securities. While the inflation data suggested that the current wave of price spikes due to chronic worldwide supply constraints could have more staying power than many had hoped, many investors still think inflationary pressure will eventually ease, rather than strengthen. "If we get over the year-end holiday shopping season, when demand should be peaking, perhaps inflation could subside," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. "U.S. holiday sales are expected to rise 8.5% to 10% this year, with some consumers said to be starting to buy earlier than usual because of worries about supply glitches. If that's the case, we could see a pretty strong retail sales number next week, which would be positive for stocks," he added. U.S. retail sales for October are due next Tuesday. Bond yields ticked up, with the 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield rising 0.8 basis points to 1.565% on Friday after a market holiday on Thursday. Money markets have already priced in two rate hikes next year. In the currency market, the dollar held firm after Wednesday's strong U.S. inflation reading fanned expectations the Fed would tighten monetary policy faster than previously thought. An index of the dollar against six other currencies rose to a 16-month high of 95.264 as the euro slipped to $1.1436, its lowest since July last year. The yen softened to 114.30 per dollar, near its four-year low hit last month while commodity currencies such as the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar were on a back foot. The Australian dollar hit a five-week low of $0.7277 while the Canadian dollar slipped to C$1.2600 per dollar, a low last seen in early October. "It is interesting if a growing number of investors are selling commodity currencies on expectations that the Fed's tightening will drive down commodity prices," said Makoto Noji, chief FX strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities. Oil prices dipped as the market grappled with a stronger U.S. dollar along with concern over increasing U.S. inflation, and after OPEC cut its 2021 oil demand forecast due to high prices. Brent crude futures were down 0.65% at $82.33 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures dropped 0.58% to $81.12 per barrel. Gold prices stayed near Wednesday's five-month highs as investors sought inflation hedges. They last stood at $1,859 per ounce, near Wednesday's high of $1,868.5.

**If you are late to the party** _Highly likely it's a correction soon_ The Avalanche price action has become unpredictable after reaching the $100 milestone on Monday and is typical of ‘price discovery’ when an asset makes a new high. With the AVAX price close to its all-time high, this article highlights the significant technical levels to keep an eye on. Avalanche (AVAX) has outperformed in October, gaining +35.70% so far this month, bringing its year-to-date performance to +2,700%. The layer-one blockchain’s market cap has grown significantly over the last few months and is currently around $19.14 billion, ranking Avalanche the 13th most-valuable cryptocurrency behind Terra (LUNA). The impressive performance of the AVAX token follows the blockchain’s growth in Decentralized Finance. Avalanche currently has a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $10.18 billion and is the 5th-largest DeFi blockchain. But whilst the fundamental growth is encouraging, we should remember the AVAX price has increased over 620% in the last four months, which leaves it vulnerable to a violent correction.

**OK, it's starting to get weird!** For Universal’s NFT Band, Music Is Second to Brand Identity- Kingship is a little like Gorillaz, but without the musicians. On Thursday, Universal Music Group (UMG) announced it had signed Kingship – not a musician, but a collection of four anthropomorphic non-fungible tokens (NFT). Billed as a “metaverse group,” Kingship is a partnership between UMG and the NFT investor Jimmy McNelis, who owns the four tokens in question. Conceptually, it’s a little like Gorillaz, the “virtual band” created by electronic musician Damon Albarn in the late 1990s. Each image comes along with its own fabricated backstory. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/11/11/for-universals-nft-band-music-is-second-to-brand-identity/

By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC on Thursday cut its world oil demand forecast for the last quarter of 2021 as high energy prices curb the recovery from COVID-19, delaying the timeline for a return to pre-pandemic levels of oil use until later in 2022. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in a monthly report also raised its supply forecast from U.S. shale producers next year, a potential headwind to the efforts of the group and its allies, known as OPEC+, to balance the market. OPEC said it expects oil demand to average 99.49 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter of 2021, down 330,000 bpd from last month's forecast. The year's demand growth forecast was trimmed by 160,000 bpd to 5.65 million bpd. "A slowdown in the pace of recovery in the fourth quarter of 2021 is now assumed due to elevated energy prices," OPEC said in the report. OPEC also cited slower-than-expected demand in China and India for the downward revision. Oil has risen to a three-year high above $86 a barrel this year as OPEC+ only gradually ramps up supplies and demand rises, boosting pump prices to the highest in years in some markets. Natural gas, power and coal prices have also soared. Governments, companies and traders are closely monitoring the speed with which demand recovers. A slower pace could ease upward pressure on prices and bolster the view that the impact of the pandemic will curb demand for good. OPEC now sees world consumption surpassing the 100 million bpd mark in the third quarter of 2022, three months later than forecast last month. On an annual basis according to OPEC, the world last used over 100 million bpd of oil in 2019. The producer group stuck to its forecast that demand will rise by 4.15 million bpd next year. This will take consumption to an average of 100.6 million bpd, above the 2019 level. Oil was little changed just below $83 a barrel after the report was released, up from an earlier decline. SHALE REBOUND SEEN The report also showed higher output from OPEC and forecast more supplies from U.S. shale producers in 2022. OPEC+ is gradually unwinding record output cuts put in place last year. In July, the group agreed to gradually boost output by 400,000 bpd a month from August. The report showed OPEC output rose in October by 220,000 bpd to 27.45 million bpd with top producer Saudi Arabia providing half the increase. Four of the 13 OPEC members pumped less due to a lack of capacity. OPEC sees output of U.S. tight oil, another term for shale, rising by 610,000 bpd in 2022, up 200,000 bpd from last month's forecast, after a contraction this year, as higher prices prompt more investment. Still, OPEC left its growth forecast for 2022 non-OPEC overall supply steady due to downward revisons in other producers. With lower demand now seen, OPEC expects the world to need 28.7 million bpd from its members in 2022, down 100,000 bpd from last month but still allowing for higher OPEC production.

$FOUR moving on a payments deal with starlink. The boss of FOUR was recently in space with dragon crew

By Peter Nurse Investing.com -- Oil prices edged higher Tuesday, with traders awaiting the latest U.S. inventory numbers and a potential move by the Biden administration to combat soaring gasoline prices. By 9:25 AM ET (1425 GMT), U.S. crude futures were up 0.6% at $82.39 a barrel, after gaining 0.8% on Monday, while Brent futures rose 0.3% to $83.69, after rising 0.8% during the previous session. U.S. Gasoline RBOB Futures were up 1.2% at $2.3495 a gallon. Crude has been on a tear this year, with the Nymex contract climbing to a seven-year high last month and the equivalent Brent contract rising to a three-year peak on the back of the global economic recovery and supply restraint by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+. Only last week OPEC+ decided to stick to its existing pace of easing the record output cuts put in place at the start of the pandemic, agreeing to increase supply by just 400,000 barrels a day, rebuffing requests from the U.S., among others, to pump more. This prompted U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to say on Monday that U.S. President Joe Biden may take measures as early as this week to address the country’s high gasoline prices, a political hot potato. “The most obvious tool for the U.S. administration to use is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” said analysts at ING, in a note. “Outside of mandated and SPR modernization sales (and a test sale in 2014), the last sale was part of a coordinated IEA release back in June 2011, which saw 30.6MMbbls released.” The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute is set to release later Tuesday its weekly estimate of U.S. oil and product stockpiles. The market is expecting another build in crude inventories, but gasoline supplies, already at the lowest level in four years, are expected to show a fifth weekly draw. Also due later in the session is the weekly petroleum status report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Remember how, a few weeks back, there was chatter about inflows “rolling over” after a single, large weekly outflow? Well, consider that “LOLed,” for lack of a more poignant way to put it. The four-week average is now back above $22 billion, and the YTD haul is approaching $870 billion (figure above). There’s some interesting nuance. US equities are seeing a bit of “spot up, VIX up,” a dynamic that’s amenable to ominous headlines. It can be ominous, but what’s important is what’s driving it. McElligott on Friday pointed to buying and selling of calls and puts in Tesla on Wednesday. Specifically, he detailed the knock-on effect of 185k January 2024 options. “Those trades bot an ENORMOUS amount of long-dated two-year Vega, so the iVol on TSLA Jan2024 1400 line went from 50% to 61% by late Thursday, while TLSA 60-day ATM iVol went from ~50% to 70% in the past week,” he wrote, adding that “because of the magnitude of this move and the impact that TSLA and other mega-cap ‘weaponized Gamma’ names are having on Index per their explosion higher in market cap, we’ve seen broad Nasdaq Index / QQQ iVol reset higher across the entirety of the surface [and] it also impacted SPX iVol because of the significance of mega-cap growth” in the index.

By Katanga Johnson and Lawrence White WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. and European shares resumed their rally and the dollar index hit a one-year peak on Friday as U.S. jobs data surprised on the upside. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 531,000 jobs last month as the surge in COVID-19 infections over the summer subsided, offering more evidence that U.S economic activity was regaining momentum early in the fourth quarter. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six rivals, rose as high as 94.634 after the jobs report, its highest level since Sept. 25, 2020. The greenback, which has strengthened around 1% in the past fortnight, was last up 0.22% at 94.534. "If these numbers continue at this pace, we could probably see full employment at the end of the first quarter," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Securities, said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.75 while the S&P 500 gained 0.71%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.58%. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.33%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.43%, keeping pace to continue a four-day streak of record closing highs in a week in which central banks around the world refrained from hawkish surprises. Friday's advances came even after the U.S. Federal Reserve finally announced on Wednesday that it would begin tapering its massive asset purchase programme, though Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he was in no rush to hike borrowing costs. "Even though it transpired as expected, it is a significant milestone. The direction of travel is now clearly towards policy normalisation, though the Fed emphasised that tapering is not tightening," said Stefan Hofer, chief investment strategist for LGT in Asia Pacific. "It was really expert communication and very well handled." In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.24% lower, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.61%. Hong Kong had weighed on the regional index, falling 1.25% as index heavyweight and rate-sensitive HSBC fell 3.6% following a dovish call from the Bank of England (BoE) and anxiety over property stocks. Trading in shares of Chinese developer Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd was suspended a day after the company said a subsidiary had missed a payment on a wealth management product, the latest sign of a deepening liquidity crisis in the Chinese property sector. An index tracking Hong Kong-listed mainland Chinese developers slipped 2.8%, and an onshore China property index lost 2%. More broadly, Shanghai shares lost 1% and Chinese blue chips slipped 0.5%. "MISLEADING SIGNALS" While investors were happy with the Fed's communications, several felt that they had been misdirected by policymakers at the BoE. The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold on Thursday, wrong-footing investors who had been convinced that it would be the first of the world's big central banks to raise borrowing costs after the pandemic. On Friday, the pound was near a month low having tumbled 1.36% the previous day following the central bank's decision, which also roiled bonds in Britain and across Europe more broadly. Germany's 10-year bond yield looked set for its biggest weekly drop since June last year, down 15 basis points as central banks left policy rates unchanged. Oil prices rose, staging a partial recovery after OPEC+ producers rebuffed a U.S. call to raise supply and instead maintained plans for a gradual return of output halted by the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. crude recently rose 1% to $79.60 per barrel and Brent was at $81.13, up 0.73% on the day, above month lows hit a day earlier following a report that Saudi Arabia's output would soon surpass 10 million barrels per day for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic.[O/R] Spot gold added 0.4% to $1,797.90 an ounce.

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**FOMC Takeaway** The FOMC decision left IR UNC but they decided to start tapering. Here is some comments from the experts. IR increases by Sept 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/03/fed-will-start-tapering-bond-purchases-four-experts-weigh-in.html

By John McCrank and Tommy Wilkes NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar edged higher on Wednesday, holding near recent peaks versus the euro and the yen, as traders awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's expected announcement on unwinding its pandemic-era stimulus and any word from Chair Jerome Powell on inflationary pressures. The Fed's policy statement, which will likely kick off the tapering of its $120 billion-a-month asset purchase program, is due at 2 p.m. Eastern time (1800 GMT), followed by a news conference with Powell. "Markets will be on the lookout for any discussion about the pace of tapering and any signs that the recent inflation surge has spooked the Fed," said Mark McCormick (NYSE:MKC), global head of FX strategy at TD Securities. Any signal that Powell is open to responding with rate hikes to inflation, if the case for it being transitory keeps weakening, would reinforce the supportive U.S. dollar backdrop, he said. The dollar index was 0.027% higher at 94.135, close to its 2021 peak of 94.563 hit last month. Moves were small in the overnight session in the middle of a busy week for central banks, with the Bank of England meeting on Thursday. European Central Bank Christine Lagarde said an interest rate rise in 2022 was very unlikely because inflation was too low, sending government bond yields lower. But the euro barely budged. Against the euro the greenback was down marginally at $1.15715. That was not far from the $1.1522 low for the euro reached in October, which was the strongest level for the dollar since July 2020. Dollar/yen traded at 113.955, near a four-year high. INFLATION QUESTION The Fed announcement follows meetings of the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday and the ECB last Wednesday, both of which pushed back against market pricing of tighter policy. "The dollar bearish case today is that the tapering is widely expected and an inherently dovish Fed, concerned about upsetting the bond market, does not change its statement substantially," ING strategists wrote. "Yet, at some point, the Fed is going to have to acknowledge that elevated inflation does not 'largely reflect transitory factors'. Many dovish central banks around the world are already doing this and should the Fed start to show greater concern about this today, U.S. rates and the dollar could get a boost." The RBA on Tuesday abandoned its short-term yield target and dropped its expectation of holding rates at record lows until 2024, though the Aussie fell because the bank also pushed back on aggressive pricing for 2022 hikes. The Aussie dropped 1.2% against the dollar on Tuesday and sat at $0.74275 on Wednesday, down 0.01% from the session open. The New Zealand dollar was also dragged 1% lower on Tuesday, but found support on Wednesday from strong labor data and was up 0.37% at $0.7134. [AUD/] Money markets have dialed back expectations for a 15 basis point hike from the Bank of England on Thursday but still expect one before 2022. "The key question is how effective an interest rate hike will be in controlling inflation, mainly driven by supply chain issues, as we emerge from the pandemic," said Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM. The BoE is also focused on labor data and may decide to hold off on rate increases on Thursday, as "they will not want to hike rates too soon and risk crippling businesses’ recoveries," he said. Sterling recovered from a two-week low to trade 0.22% higher $1.3642.

U.S. futures are holding steady, only moderately lower from yesterday’s closing all-time highs for the major averages as investors brace for the FOMC meeting, with results expected tomorrow afternoon. Bitcoin prices surging to highs, up over 4% around $63,400 in another broad spike for crypto assets; Ethereum +3.25% at $4,450. House Speaker Pelosi is planning to go ahead with plans to vote this week on President Biden’s two bills even though Democratic moderates are echoing Senator Manchin’s complaints that they don’t know full cost & economic impact. In corporate news, JNJ, TEVA, ENDP and ABBV win the first case for pharmaceutical companies in the four-year litigation over the drugs in a $50B opioid litigation case. In commodity prices, gold holds below $1,800, oil is little changed around $84 per barrel and Wheat hit $8.00 a bushel Monday, highest levels since 2012 as world reserves declined following extreme weather. The Aussie dollar drops and the curve bull steepens after the RBA scraps its April 2024 yield target and signals openness to earlier rate hikes. Tesla $TSLA falls over 4%, is falling off a record high close of $1,208.59 – follows tweet from CEO Musk overnight saying there has been no contract signed yet with Hertz and that the Hertz deal has zero effect on Tesla’s economic. Wall Street’s main indexes notched record closing highs again on Monday, adding to the big totals in October as Tesla $TSLA shares surged and the energy sector gained on rising oil prices while investors looked ahead to a major Federal Reserve meeting later in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly eclipsed 36,000 points for the first time before slipping just below. Along with the barrage of earnings again this week, the Federal Reserve is expected to approve plans to scale back its $120 billion monthly bond-buying program on Wednesday. The small-cap Russell 2000 index was a standout, rising 2.7% for its biggest daily percentage gain since late August. Economic data was mixed as the ISM U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in October, with all industries reporting record-long lead times. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index slipped -0.43% to 29,520, the Shanghai Index dropped -1.1% to 3,505, and the Hang Seng Index fell -0.22% to 25,099. In Europe, the German DAX is up +0.4% at 15,875, while the FTSE 100 declines around -0.6% below 7,250. Events Calendar for Today · 7:45 AM ET ICSC Weekly Retail Sales · 8:55 AM ET Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales Earnings Calendar: · Earnings Before the Open: AME, APO, ARCB, AVNS, BBGI, BCC, BHC, BLD, BLMN, CEIX, CLW, CMI, COP, CRSR, CTLT, DD, EL, EPD, ESPR, ETN, EXLS, EXPD, EXTR, GNRC, GPN, HEES, HEP, HSC, HSIC, IART, IDXX, INCY, IPGP, IT, KKR, LCII, LDOS, LEA, LGIH, LPX, MIME, MLM, MMP, MPC, MPLX, MYGN, NRZ, NXST, NYMT, OMCL, PFE, PINC, RL, ROK, SABR, SAGE, SEE, TMX, TNC, UAA, VAL, WEC, WLK, XHR, XYL ZBRA · Earnings After the Close: ACT, AFG, AIZ, AKAM AMGN, ANDE, ATVI, AWK, AYX, BFAM, BGFV, BKH, BRY, BXC, CASA, CDK, CERS, CHK, COUR, CRK, CSLT, CZR, DCO, DCPH, DEI, DENN, DOX, DRRX, DVN, EGHT, EIX, ENLC, EXAS, EXEL, FMC, FNF, FRSH, GAIN, GNW, GPOR, HALO, HCC, HLF, HRB, HURN, INFI, INSP, KAI, KAMN, KAR, LPI, LSCC, LSI, LYFT, MANT, MDLZ, MG, MGNX, MOD, MRCY, MTCH, NP, NSA, OKE, OVV, PAA, PAGP, PAYC, PKI, PRO, PRTS, PRU, RAMP, RARE, RCKY, RM, RRR, SGRY, SKY, SRC, STE, TCS, TMUS, TVTY, UIS, UNM, VECO, VOYA, VRSK, WTTR, WU, ZG Other Key Events: · China Caixin Services PMI for October · Wolfe Research Wealth Symposium, 11/2-11/3 $virtual · Senator Manchin says he is prepared to support a Build Back Better plan that combats inflation, is fiscally responsible, and will create jobs. The plan the House is finalizing meets those tests-it is fully paid for, will reduce the deficit, and brings down costs for health care, child care, elder care, and housing

By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar traded near a 2 1/2-week high to major peers on Monday as quickening inflation in the United States boosted the case for earlier Federal Reserve interest rate hikes ahead of a policy decision on Tuesday. The greenback approached a 1 1/2-week top to the yen . The safe-haven Japanese currency weakened after a strong showing for the ruling party in weekend elections eased doubts about the new prime minister's popularity. The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was little changed at 94.161, hovering close to Friday's peak of 94.302, a level not seen since Oct. 13. The U.S. currency traded 0.16% stronger at 114.205 yen, reaching as high as 114.315. Above 114.41 would be the strongest since Oct. 20, when it hit an almost four-year high of 114.695. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party defied expectations and held its strong majority in Sunday's parliamentary election, solidifying his position in a fractious party and allowing him to ramp up stimulus. "The reduction in political uncertainty is playing out with slight yen weakness this morning," said Shinichiro Kadota, senior FX strategist at Barclays (LON:BARC) in Tokyo. "The bigger driver of dollar-yen direction going ahead remains the Fed." Monetary policy in the United States and elsewhere is in sharp focus this week, with the Federal Open Market Committee widely expected to announce a tapering of stimulus. A 4.4% surge in the government's index of core personal consumption expenditures - the Fed's preferred inflation measure - solidified market expectations for a rates lift-off around the middle of next year. Following the data, futures on the fed funds rate, which track short-term rate expectations, priced in a 90% chance of quarter-point tightening by June 2022, factoring in another rate increase by December. Those bets could be shaken again this Friday, with the release of the closely watched monthly payrolls report. The dollar "looks well-positioned to build on gains through a potentially decisive week of event risk," Westpac strategists wrote in a note to clients, predicting a "brisk" $15 billion per month tapering of asset purchases and a jobs number "at least as strong as consensus." Any dips in the dollar index to the mid-93 level are a buying opportunity, they said. The Reserve Bank of Australia also decides policy on Tuesday, with markets challenging the central bank's contention that rates won't rise until 2024. "There is a chance the guidance for hiking in 2024 will change to 2023," Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne, wrote in a client note. "There is a strong chance the statement attempts to push back on rate hikes which have gone so hard – effectively pricing the first hike by May 2022 and two hikes by July." The Aussie dollar slipped 0.13% to $0.7511, continuing its retreat from a nearly four-month high $0.75555 reached last week. The Bank of England announces its policy decision on Thursday, with markets weighing whether the monetary authority will raise rates at the meeting. Sterling was mostly flat at $1.3680, and earlier dipped to $1.3663 for the first time since mid-October. Meanwhile, the euro was about flat at $1.15605, staying close to Friday's low of $1.1535, the weakest since Oct. 13.

By Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices slumped to their lowest in two weeks on Thursday after Iran said talks with world powers on its nuclear programme would resume by the end of November and U.S. crude inventories rose by much more than expected. Brent crude was 69 cents, or 0.8%, lower at $83.89 a barrel by 1325 GMT, having hit a two-week low of $82.32 earlier and fallen by 2.1% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 53 cents, or 0.6%, at $82.13 having earlier touched a two-week low of $80.58 and dropped 2.4% on Wednesday. Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani on Wednesday said the country's talks with six world powers to try to revive a 2015 nuclear deal will resume by the end of November. A deal could pave the way to lifting harsh sanctions imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump on Iran's oil exports in late 2018. "Even if the talks resume and turn out to be successful, it is still likely to be quite some time before any agreement is reached and Iranian oil exports return to the market," Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) said. Crude stocks rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Department said, more than double the 1.9 million barrel gain forecast by analysts. [EIA/S] The hefty stocks build was because of a large jump in net imports of crude oil while refinery processing remained sluggish, Citi Research analysts said in a note. Yet gasoline stocks fell by 2 million barrels to their lowest in nearly four years, even as U.S. consumers contend with rising pump prices. [EIA/S] At the WTI delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, crude storage is the most depleted for three years, with prices for longer-dated futures contracts indicating supplies will remain low for months. Outbreaks of coronavirus infections in China and record deaths and the threat of lockdowns in Russia, along with rising cases in western Europe, also weighed on prices.

Industrials & Materials CH Robinson Worldwide ($CHRW) 3Q EPS $1.85 vs est. $1.42 on revs $6.3B vs est. $5.43B; said revs beat driven primarily by higher pricing and higher volume across most of our services; Operating expenses increased 26.7% to $533.4M and personnel expenses increased 32.0% to $399.9M; IDEX Corp. ($IEX) 3Q adj EPS $1.63 vs est. $1.59 on sales $712Mm vs est. $697.4Mm; narrows FY adj EPS to $6.30-6.33 from prior $6.26-$6.36 and vs est. $6.31 Technology, Media & Telecom Alphabet ($GOOGL) Q3 EPS $27.99 vs. est. $23.48; Q3 revs $65.11B vs. est. $63.34B; qtrly google advertising rev $53,130 mln vs $37,095 mln; qtrly operating margin 32 % vs 24 %; says Google Play sales growth in current qtr will be muted due to fee, usage changes; and expects sales and marketing expenses to be elevated during holiday season AMD Inc. ($AMD) 3Q adj EPS $0.73 vs est. $0.67 on revs $4.3B vs est. $4.12B, gross margin 48% in-line with estimates; qtrly computing and graphics revs $2.4B +44%; qtrly enterprise revs $1.9B +69%; guides 4Q revs about $4.4-4.6B vs est. $4.25B, sees 4Q adj gross margin about 49.5% vs est. 49.6% Microsoft Corp. ($MSFT) 3Q EPS $2.71 vs est. $20.7 on revs $45.3B vs est. $44B; azure and other cloud services revs +50%; server products and cloud services revs +35%; LinkedIn revs +42%; productivity and business process +22%; guides Q2 revenue $50.15-$51.05B vs. est. $48.92B as sees Q2 Productivity and Business Processes revenue $15.7B-15.95B, Intelligent Cloud revenue $18.1B-18.35B and More Personal Computing revenue $16.35B-$16.75B Texas Instruments (TXN) 3Q EPS $2.07 vs est. $2.05 on revs $4.64B vs est. $4.66B; guides 4Q revs $4.22-4.58B vs est. $4.44B Twitter ($TWTR) 3Q adj EPS ($0.54) vs est. $0.15 on revs $1.28B vs est. $1.14B; guides 4Q revs $1.5-1.6B vs est. $1.44B; 3Q avg MDAU 211Mm (US 37Mm, Int’l 174Mm); expect 4Q MDAU to grow at/above 3Q rate of 13% yoy Agilysys, Inc. (AGYS) 2Q adj EPS $0.18 on revs $37.9Mm; guides FY revs $160-170Mm vs est. $167.2Mm F5 Networks (FFIV) Q4 adj EPS $3.01 vs est. $2.75 on revenue $682M vs est. $671.7M; sees Q1 adj EPS $2.71-$2.83 vs est. $2.76, revenue $665M-$685M vs est. $667.2M; sees FY22 revenue +8-9% Juniper Networks (JNPR) Q3 EPS $0.46, in-line w ests; Q3 revs rose 4% to $1.189B vs. est. $1.2B; sees Q4 revs about $1.265B plus/minus $50M vs. est. $1.2B Littlefuse (LFUS) 3Q adj EPS $3.95 vs est. $3.15 on revs $539.6Mm vs est. $518.8Mm; guides 4Q sales $503-517Mm vs est. $494.75Mm, sees 4Q adj EPS $2.80-2.96 vs est. $2.69 Tenable Holdings (TENB) shares rise 10%; Q3 EPS $0.07 vs. est. $0.02; Q3 revs $138.7M vs. est. $134.53M; sees FY21 EPS $0.31-$0.32 vs. est. $0.28 and revs $535.1M-$537.1M vs. est. $530.08M; sees Q4 EPS $0.02-$0.03 vs. est. $0.04 and revs $143M-$145M vs. est. $141.99M Teradyne (TER) Q3 adj EPS $1.59 vs. est. $1.43; Q3 revs rise 16% to $951M vs. est. $932.9M; sees Q4 revs $820M-$900M vs. est. $850.6M; sees Q4 EPS $1.14-$1.40 vs. est. $1.18 Manhattan Associates (MANH) 3Q adj EPS $0.71 vs est. $0.54 on revs $169.2Mm vs est. $164.2Mm; guides FY adj EPS $2.12-2.14 vs est. $2.04, sees FY revs $653-655Mm vs est. $648.4Mm Spotify Technology SA ($SPOT) Q3 revenue rose 27% to 2.50 billion euros, beating the 2.45 billion expected; reported a 19% jump in paid subscribers for its premium service to 172 million, just beating analysts’ expectations of 171.7 million; total monthly active users rose 19% to 381 million. Arteris ($AIP) 5M share IPO priced at $14.00 Informatica ($INFA) 29M share IPO priced at $32.00 REITs Digital Realty ($DLR) 3Q core FFO/share $1.65 vs est. $1.62 on revs $1.1B vs est. $1.1B; raised FY core FFO/share view to $6.50-6.55 from $6.45-6.50 vs est. $6.50 Equity Residential ($EQR) Q3 EPS $1.15, normalized FFO $0.77 vs est. $0.75, revenue $623.2M vs est. $606.3M; achieved positive Q/Q same-store revenue growth for first since pandemic began; sees Q4 FFO $0.76; now sees FY FFO $2.98-$3 from $2.89-$2.99, also raised FY guidance ranges for same-store revs, NOI, EPS Essex Property ($ESS) Q3 core FFO/share $3.12 above guidance range $2.98-$3.10, EPS $1.82 vs est. $1.01; same-property revs +2.7% YoY, +3.2% sequentially due to increase in scheduled rents and lower levels of concessions and delinquencies; sees Q4 EPS $0.99-$1.09, raised FY EPS view to $6.39-$6.49 from $5.42-$5.66; raised midpoints of FY guidance for same-property revs by 0.2%, NOI by 0.3%, and core EPS by $0.11 to $12.44 Four Corners Property ($FCPT) 3Q FFO/share 0.38 vs est. $0.38, EPS $0.28 vs est. $0.27; proposes 3Q dividend $0.3175/share UDR Inc. ($UDR) Q3 adj FFO $0.46 vs est. $0.51 on revs $329.8M vs est. $319.9M; sees Q4 adj FFO $0.46-$0.48, full-year adj FFO $1.82-$1.84 from $1.79-$1.83 (est. $2.01)

By Tom Westbrook SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday with new regulatory worries sparking the steepest sell-off in seven weeks for Chinese tech shares, while short-term Treasury yields spiked as investors wagered on inflation pulling forward interest rate rises. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8% led by a 3.5% decline on the Hang Seng tech index after China's internet watchdog said it plans stricter registration rules for younger net users. (HK) Japan's Nikkei fell 0.6%. U.S. stock markets are at record highs but futures were listless amid creeping worries about central bankers' responses to inflation. FTSE futures were flat and European futures fell 0.3%. The latest evidence of worldwide pressure on consumer prices came from Australia, where data showed core inflation hit a six-year high last quarter. The Aussie dollar rose and bonds dived to reflect bets the central bank cannot hold rates at record lows. [AUD/] Two-year U.S. Treasury yields surged to a 19-month high of 0.5010% ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting. [US/] "There are a couple of things that are of concern to investors, and inflation news is everywhere," said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ Bank in Singapore. "This is where expectations of when the Fed might start to lift interest rates is starting to come in to focus. The announcement of tapering next week is pretty much a done deal - markets have moved past tapering and are focused on tightening." The Fed has all but confirmed it will soon start to whittle back its asset purchases, though has said that shouldn't signal rate hikes are imminent. Nevertheless, Fed funds futures are priced for a lift-off in the second half of next year. "We updated our Fed call to show a hike in Q4 2022 and four hikes in 2023," analysts at NatWest said in a note. "The inflation overshoot has been persistent," they said. "There is (only) so much the Fed can tolerate before reacting ... it feels inevitable that that conversation will be brought up more and more as we go into next year." EARNINGS SUPPORT In China, besides a further tightening of rules over online access for the young, energy stocks suffered with new measures to curb zooming coal prices which also dropped 10% and have fallen 40% from record peaks. That seemed to cap gains in the Australian dollar, which settled around 0.3% higher at $0.7526. Three year Australian government bond futures plunged about 19 basis points to their lowest since mid-2019. Broader currency markets were quiet as traders look to central bank meetings over the next week or so for guidance, with Canada first up at 1400 GMT. The Canadian dollar hovered just below last week's four month high. [FRX/] The European Central Bank meets on Thursday, when Bank of Japan also concludes its two-day meeting. No changes are expected from Tokyo, but traders are expecting the ECB to push back on market inflation forecasts and are looking for hawkish clues from the Bank of Canada as prices put pressure on rates. Earnings reports from Ford, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) and Boeing (NYSE:BA) are due later in the day. Solid results have helped Wall Street to fresh records this week, though on Tuesday Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) shares fell after the company warned of a hit from changes to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s privacy rules. "Earnings are enough to hold the big three indexes at record highs, but not enough to reinvigorate the rally onto new highs," said Jeffrey Halley, senior analyst at broker OANDA. Oil prices eased from overnight peaks, with Brent crude futures down 0.5% at $85.92 a barrel and U.S. crude down 0.7% to $84.05 a barrel. [O/R] Gold was steady at $1,788 an ounce and bitcoin held above $60,000 after a late-session drop on Tuesday. [GOL/]

By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks slipped on Thursday as the upbeat mood that carried the Dow Jones and bitcoin to records a day earlier fizzled out, while a pause in the oil rally stalled rising global bond yields. Other major action saw Turkey's lira backflip to new lows after the country's central bank slashed interest rates again and default-threatened China Evergrande's shares plunged 11.5% after a $2.6 billion stake sale fell through. Other risk and commodity-sensitive currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars and South African rand also hit the skids, giving the safe-haven Japanese yen a rare lift after it had fallen to a four-year low versus the dollar. [/FRX] "There is little bit of risk aversion," said Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY)'s Kit Juckes, who pointed to the higher yen and the fact that both European stocks and Wall Street S&P 500 futures were both in the red. On the lira's woes, veteran emerging market watcher Tim Ash at BlueBay said the message Turkey's central bank head had delivered with the rate cut was, "I listen to Erdogan and no one else. Screw you guys!" Commodities also eased, with Brent crude futures down 1.2% after touching a three-year top and Chinese coal futures extending a sharp pullback after Beijing had signalled it would intervene to cool prices. "The U.S. stock market has gone up for six days in a row, bitcoin's made a record and the U.S. bond market is calm. On the surface it looks benign," said Andrew Ticehurst, a rates strategist at Nomura in Sydney. "But below the surface, we are uncomfortable about a number of things," he added, chiefly the slowdown in China's economy seen in data earlier this week and concerns about potential fallout from Evergrande's troubles. Evergrande will default on $19 billion of international market bonds if it doesn't make an already overdue coupon payment by Monday. It would the biggest ever Chinese default and one of the world's largest too. Lehman Brothers' collapse added up to $35 billion. Late on Wednesday, Evergrande confirmed it had abandoned plans to sell a $2.6 billion stake in its property services unit. Its shares ended down 11.5% in Hong Kong. Rival developer Kaisa, which was the first Chinese firm to default in 2015, was seeing its bonds hammered again too as worries mount about its fate. It wasn't all bad news though. Financial news provider REDD reported that Evergrande had secured an extension on one of its lower-profile bonds. Shares in some other Chinese developers also drew support after a number of top Chinese officials had given reassurances that the troubles would not be allowed to spin out of control. [.SS] " onerror="this.style.display='none'" class="msg-img" /> TALKING TURKEY Turkey's lira dropped 2% against the dollar and was by far the worst performer in FX markets as the central bank cut interest rates down to 16% from 18%.The policy rate had been cut by a percentage point last month, with the lira already on a run of record lows, after another major ousting of policymakers underlined worries about the bank's independence from the government. "We have seen strong outflows from debt in the last three weeks, probably due to uncertainty with the currency and increased risk perception," IIF economist Jonathan Fortun told Reuters. " onerror="this.style.display='none'" class="msg-img" /> Wall Street futures were down 0.3% after a blizzard of earnings had helped the Dow Jones touch an all-time high on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 finishing within touching distance of a record too. The VIX volatility index, sometimes referred to as Wall Street's "fear gauge", also ticked up having dropped to a two-month low the previous day. But a soft finish on the Nasdaq had flowed through to tech-stock selling in Tokyo which fell 1.9% and in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng fell 0.5%. In the government bond markets that drive global borrowing costs, longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields were just starting to stir again steadied after rising with inflation and growth expectations on Wednesday. After a groggy start, the benchmark 10-year U.S. yield was nudged the previous day's five-month high of 1.6730% again, while Germany's 10-year yield, the benchmark for Europe, was fractionally higher at a still negative -0.10%. "The strong focus on the volatile (bond) curve environment in the euro area looks set to stay, at least until next week's ECB Governing Council meeting," UniCredit analysts told clients. Investors have figured that surging energy prices and tightening job markets will pressure top central banks such as the U.S. Fed and ECB to either raise interest rates or at least rein in the stimulus. Fed funds futures have priced a 25 basis point U.S. rate hike in the third quarter of 2022 while eurodollar markets expect higher rates as soon as the second quarter. Graphic: Global asset performance http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/#section/assets " onerror="this.style.display='none'" class="msg-img" /> Graphic: World FX rates http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/

By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares advanced on Wednesday and U.S. long-dated bond yields edged up to a five-month high on rising optimism about the global economy and corporate earnings, while the yen slipped to a four-year low on the dollar. European stocks are expected to trade steady to slightly lower. Euro Stoxx futures were down 0.2% and Britain's FTSE futures was almost flat. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan arose 0.65%, led by 1.3% gains in Hong Kong, while Japan's Nikkei was almost flat and so were mainland Chinese shares, weighed down by more weak data on the property sector. "Earlier this month, stagflation was the buzzword on Wall Street. But now excessive pessimism is receding, especially after strong U.S. retail sales data on Friday," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ (NYSE:MUFG) Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Securities. In New York, the benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.74% to finish just 0.4% below its early September record close while the CBOE market volatility index fell 0.6 point after earlier hitting 15.57, its lowest level since mid-August. "Tech shares and other high-growth shares that would have been sold on rising bond yields are rallying, which clearly shows that there is now strong optimism on upcoming earnings," Fujito said. Earning reports will be in full swings in many countries over coming weeks. Dutch chip-making machine maker ASML Holdings and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are among those that will release results later on Wednesday. The positive mood saw U.S. bond yields rising further, with the 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield climbing to as high as 1.673%, a level last seen in May, at one point. It last stood at 1.650%. Shorter yields dipped, however, with the two-year yield slipping to 0.395% from Monday's peak of 0.448% as traders took profits for now from bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will turn hawkish at its upcoming policy meeting in early November. Investors expect the Fed to announce tapering of its bond buying and money markets futures are pricing in one rate hike later next year. "The Fed is likely to become more hawkish, probably tweaking its language on its assessment that inflation will be transient. While the Fed will maintain tapering is not linked to a future rate hike, the market will likely try to price in rate hikes and flatten the yield curve," said Naokazu Koshimizu, senior strategist at Nomura Securities. In the currency market, rising U.S. yields helped to boost the U.S. dollar to a four-year high against the yen of 114.695. In addition to U.S. yields, the yen was dented by expectations of a wider trade deficit in Japan due to rising oil prices and on views the Bank of Japan will stick to loose monetary policy even as other central banks move to tighten their policies. The Chinese yuan held firm, trading at 6.3760 per dollar in the offshore trade, near Tuesday's 4-1/2-month high of 6.3685. The currency was helped by improving sentiment after China's central bank said spillover effects from China Evergrande Group's debt woes were controllable. Risk-sensitive currencies held firm, with the euro ticking up 0.1% to $1.1643. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin stood at $63,699, near its all-time peak of $64,895 as the first U.S. bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund began trading on Tuesday. Oil prices eased slightly in Asia but held near multi-year peaks as an energy supply crunch persisted across the globe. U.S. crude futures traded at $82.59 per barrel, down 0.45% on the day but near Monday's peak of $83.18, its highest level since 2014. North Sea Brent was off 0.4% at $84.71.[O/R] China's coal futures slumped 8% in early Wednesday trade, a day after they fell 8% to their downward limit in night trading, as the state planner said it was looking at ways to intervene and bring record high prices of the fuel back down to a "reasonable range".

By Karen Brettell NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar dipped on Tuesday as the rapid rise in U.S. Treasury yields paused and other currencies, including sterling, were boosted by expectations of sooner-than-previously expected interest rate hikes. The greenback reached a one-year high against a basket of other currencies last week as Treasury yields surged and as investors bet the Federal Reserve may need to increase rates to address stubbornly high inflation. Yields appeared to stabilize on Tuesday, however, which reduced demand for the greenback. The dollar’s move lower on Tuesday was also likely exaggerated by technical factors as investors unloaded long positions. “The movement in rates hardly explains extent of the USD drop,” analysts at Scotiabank said in a report. “Rather, it seems USD long liquidation has snowballed into a broader clear out of positioning, triggering a technical reversal in the USD generally,” they said. The dollar index against a basket of other currencies was last down 0.27% on the day at 93.67, after earlier dropping to 93.50, the lowest since Sept. 28. The euro gained 0.29% to $1.1644. Currencies, including sterling and the New Zealand dollar, are benefiting from rising interest rate increase expectations. The British pound jumped 0.60% to $1.3810 as money markets priced in a cumulative 35 basis points in rate hikes by the end of the year. New Zealand's dollar gained 0.95% to $0.7152 after data on Monday showed the fastest consumer-price inflation in more than a decade. Britain and New Zealand have led a rise in short-term bond yields, with short-dated yields climbing comparatively more than in the United States. The Aussie touched a six-week high of $0.7476, shrugging off dovish minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's last meeting. The yuan hit a four-month high as fears about contagion from property giant China Evergrande's debt troubles receded and some of its peers made bond coupon payments. Policymakers said late last week the situation was controllable. The offshore yuan strengthened to as much as 6.3788 per dollar, the strongest since June 10. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin rose as high as $63,338 for the first time since mid-April, closing in on the all-time high of $64,895.22. Graphic: World FX rates https://graphics.reuters.com/GLOBAL-CURRENCIES-PERFORMANCE/0100301V041/index.html ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 9:30 AM (1330 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 93.6740 93.9360 -0.27% 4.104% +93.9360 +93.5010 Euro/Dollar $1.1644 $1.1611 +0.29% -4.69% +$1.1670 +$1.1609 Dollar/Yen 114.2300 114.3100 -0.07% +10.59% +114.3500 +113.9150 Euro/Yen 132.99 132.71 +0.21% +4.78% +133.1800 +132.6300 Dollar/Swiss 0.9202 0.9239 -0.39% +4.02% +0.9239 +0.9185 Sterling/Dollar $1.3810 $1.3728 +0.60% +1.08% +$1.3833 +$1.3725 Dollar/Canadian 1.2365 1.2377 -0.09% -2.89% +1.2382 +1.2312 Aussie/Dollar $0.7462 $0.7413 +0.64% -3.02% +$0.7476 +$0.7408 Euro/Swiss 1.0713 1.0723 -0.09% -0.87% +1.0734 +1.0711 Euro/Sterling 0.8429 0.8456 -0.32% -5.68% +0.8463 +0.8424 NZ $0.7152 $0.7085 +0.95% -0.40% +$0.7155 +$0.7085 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 8.3730 8.4230 -0.83% -2.72% +8.4185 +8.3325 Euro/Norway 9.7506 9.7739 -0.24% -6.85% +9.7830 +9.7159 Dollar/Sweden 8.6142 8.6471 -0.27% +5.10% +8.6641 +8.5883 Euro/Sweden 10.0310 10.0581 -0.27% -0.45% +10.0619 +10.0158

Interactive Brokers launches crypto trading in US for four tokens https://cointelegraph.com/news/interactive-brokers-launches-crypto-trading-in-us-for-four-tokens

$FOUR in an interesting spot

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Stocks advanced on Friday as strong earnings kicked off a new results season on Wall Street and fears that inflation will trigger earlier-than-expected interest rate rises eased for now. The MSCI All World Share Index was up 0.31%. U.S. stock futures were about 0.4% higher, with investors waiting for the latest U.S. retail sales figures, and inflation expectations from the University of Michigan. Earnings from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) were expected to be in line with strong results on Thursday from several of its U.S. peers which propelled shares higher. "The overall mood is buy the bid, there is no alternative to equities. We have come out with this enthusiasm about earnings coming back and optimism coming through," said Kit Juckes, global fixed income strategist at SocGen. In Europe, the STOXX index of 600 European shares was up 0.3%, hitting a three-week high. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, with the UK blue-chip index recovering all ground lost since the coronavirus pandemic began in March last year, but analysts warned over complacency in markets. "Markets have been trying to make up their mind on whether inflation is transitory, are supply chain disruptions are going to translate into higher costs," said Mike Hewson, chief markets analyst at CMC Markets. "But this week's earnings from various companies are assuaging some of those concerns that companies won't be able to pass on some of these cost rises to consumers, and that's why we are seeing the increase in risk," Hewson said. The return of optimism will be tested by next week's anticipated weaker growth data from China and the impact of strengthening oil prices on consumers going into the winter months, Hewson said. European car registrations slumped by more than a quarter in September, and Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) Corp said it would cut global output in November as chip shortages and supply chain problems continued to dog the sector. Investors were also trying to figure out where bonds go next. "With no strong case for either direction and many investors likely to be sitting on a dismal performance as major fixed income indices are in the red year-to-date, yield volatility is likely to remain elevated in the coming months," UniCredit told clients in a note. " onerror="this.style.display='none'" class="msg-img" /> BRENT AND BITCOIN Oil prices were at multi-year highs, a drag on growth in energy-importing markets in north Asia, but good news for some energy-exporting markets in Southeast Asia. U.S. crude gained 0.9% to $82.05 a barrel, back near Monday's seven-year high of $82.18. Brent crude rose 1% to $84.91 per barrel, around its three-year high hit on Monday. [O/R] Bitcoin hit a six-month high of $60,000 on Friday, approaching the record hit in April, as traders became increasingly confident U.S. regulators would approve the launch of an exchange-traded fund based on its futures contracts. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.2%, and was set for a 1.7% weekly gain, which would be its best weekly performance since early September, while Japan's Nikkei surged 1.81%, led by tech stocks. Analysts largely attributed the gains in Asia to the U.S. rally. Chinese shares rose more cautiously than elsewhere with blue chips up 0.38% ahead of next week's growth figures. "We expect GDP growth to slow to 4.6% year-on-year in the third quarter from 5.6% previously, in view of persistent weakness in consumption and services amid repeated COVID outbreaks, and the fading of the low year-earlier base," said Barclays (LON:BARC) analysts in a note. In currency markets, the dollar rose again to a near three- year high versus the yen with one dollar buying 114.32 yen, the most since late 2018. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was marginally lower on the day, at 93.89 and set for its first weekly decline versus major peers since the start of last month, having lost a little ground to sterling and the euro. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was 1.5388%, slightly higher on the day, after trending downwards this week from Tuesday's four-month high of 1.631%. Graphic: Bitcoin on the rise https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/

Four Steps Banks Need To Take To Prepare For Crypto, CBDC Disruption https://cryptonews.com/news/four-steps-banks-need-to-take-to-prepare-for-crypto-cbdc-disruption.htm

welcome 👋 to the group. There are four sessions in the Forex market: New York is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST Tokyo is open from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am EST Sydney is open from 5:00 pm to 2:00 am EST London is open from 3:00 am to 12:00 noon EST

Thursday, October 14, 2021 Futures Up/Down % Last Dow 205.00 0.60% 34,461 S&P 500 28.25 0.67% 4,384 Nasdaq 116.50 0.79% 14,880 Stock futures are jumping overnight, extending yesterday’s gains ahead of key earnings reports and inflation data. Stocks advanced on Wednesday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq outperformed after a choppy session, with Big Tech doing much of the heavy lifting, led by shares of Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia. Minutes from the September Federal Reserve policy meeting showed central bankers signaled they could start reducing crisis-era support for the economy in mid-November, although they remained divided about how soon they may need to raise interest rates. Inflation data was in-line with forecast for consumer prices ahead of today’s producer price index at 8:30 AM ET. Banks the other top story with earnings this week, with JPMorgan falling after its third-quarter earnings beat expectations. Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley are set to report results this morning. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index rose 410 points to 28,550, while the Shanghai Index was little changed at 3,558. In Europe, the German DAX is rising 130 points to 15,380, while the FTSE 100 gains about 50-points to move just below the 7,200 level. Market sentiment improving after a rough start to the week, helped yesterday on news Port of Los Angeles to go 24/7 joining neighboring Port of Long Beach as the expanded operations would nearly double the hours that cargo can move and help remove the glut at ports and improve inventory for retail and food stores. Oil prices rose by about 1% after the International Energy Agency said that record natural gas prices will boost demand for oil and top oil producer Saudi Arabia dismissed calls for additional OPEC+ supplies. Market Closing Prices Yesterday The S&P 500 Index gained 13.15 points, or 0.30%, to 4,363.80 The Dow Jones Industrial Average little changed, or 0.00%, to 34,377.81 The Nasdaq Composite jumped 105.71 points, or 0.73%, to 14,571.63 The Russell 2000 Index advanced 7.70 points, or 0.34% to 2,241.97 Events Calendar for Today 8:30 AM ET Weekly Jobless Claims…est. 319K 8:30 AM EST Continuing Claims…est. 2.675M 8:30 AM ET Producer Price Index (PPI) Headline MoM for September…est. +0.6% 8:30 AM ET PPI Core: Ex Food & Energy MoM for September…est. +0.5% 8:30 AM ET Producer Price Index (PPI) Headline YoY for September…est. +8.7% 8:30 AM ET PPI Core: Ex Food & Energy YoY for September…est. 7.1% 10:30 AM ET Weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventory Data 11:00 AM ET EIA Weekly Inventory Data Earnings Calendar: Earnings Before the Open: BAC, C, CMC, DPZ, MS, PGR, UNH, USB, WBA, WFC Earnings After the Close: AA, DCT, TACO Other Key Events: Piper Insurance Summit in New York, 10/14 Macro Up/Down Last Nymex 0.87 81.31 Brent 0.97 84.15 Gold 4.90 1,801.60 EUR/USD 0.0014 1.1606 JPY/USD 0.17 113.41 10-Year Note -0.017 1.532% World News China sept. consumer prices rise7% y/y vs. est. 0.8%; China sept. producer prices rise 10.7% y/y vs. est. 10.5% Oil demand is set to jump by half a million barrels per day (bpd) as the power sector and heavy industries switch from other more expensive sources of energy, the IEA said, warning that the energy crunch could stoke inflation and slow the world’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In its monthly report, the IEA increased its global oil demand growth forecast by 170,000 bpd to 5.5 million bpd for 2021 and by 210,000 bpd to 3.3 million bpd for 2022. The agency now expects total oil demand in 2022 to reach 99.6 million bpd Sector News Breakdown Consumer Bed Bath & Beyond ($BBBY) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley Wayfair ($W) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley Esports Entertainment Group ($GMBL) rises after forecasting higher revenue in FY22 saying it expects net revenue to increase by at least 490% to $100 mln to $105 mln in FY22 driven primarily by the multiple acquisitions completed in calendar 2021 Good Times Restaurants ($GTIM) said Q4 YoY same store sales ended sept. 28, 2021 decreased 0.2% for its good times brand & increased 22.8% for its Bad Daddy’s brand Hyzon Motors ($HYZM) said in 2022, expects to increase capacity to up to 1,000 trucks/year through operational updates, addition of second shift in Europe facility Winnebago ($WGO) announces new $200M share repurchase authorization Energy, Industrials and Materials Occidental ($OXY) agreed to sell its interests in two Ghana offshore fields for $750 million to Kosmos Energy (KOS) paying $550M and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation paying $200M, prior to closing adjustments to reflect an April 1, 2021 effective date The American Petroleum Institute (API) WD-40 ($WDFC) approves new $75M share repurchase plan Matrix Nac ($MTRX) awarded multiple contracts for electrical infrastructure work that, in aggregate, totals about $50 mln The American Petroleum Institute (API) showed a build of 5.21M barrels of oil for the week ending October 8, a draw of 4.58M barrels, distillate inventories show a draw of 2.71M barrels and Cushing inventories show a draw of 2.28M barrels. Steel Dynamics ($STLD) CEO said steel prices, driven to nosebleed highs by surging demand, should start to “erode” by the first part of next year as COVID-related supply bottlenecks ease and new domestic production comes online. UPS ($UPS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel The Biden administration unveiled plans to hold as many as seven government auctions of offshore wind development rights in the next four years (watch shares of AGR, RDSA) Financials S.-listed Chinese online brokerages Futu Holding ($FUTU) and UP Fintech Holding ($TIGR) face regulatory risks as China’s personal data privacy law takes effect Nov. 1, the official People’s Daily said in an analysis on its website. Such brokerages could violate data privacy rules and also runs compliance risks, the article said. S. Bancorp ($USB) Q3 EPS $1.30 vs. est. $1.16; Q3 revs $5.89B vs. est. $5.77B; return on average assets 1.45% vs. 1.17% y/y; return on average equity 15.9% vs. 12.8% y/y; net charge-offs $147 million, -71% Yoy Healthcare UnitedHealth ($UNH) Q3 adj EPS $4.52 vs. est. $4.41; Q3 revs $72.34B vs. est. $71.19B; Q3 beat helped by a jump in revenue from its Optum unit that manages drug benefits, rising 14%; raises FY21 adjusted EPS view to $18.65-$18.90 from $18.30-$18.80 (est. $18.75) Perrigo ($PRGO) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James with a $59 price target saying the recently announced acquisition of leading branded consumer play HRA Pharma is expected to immediately boost the company’s profitability back to 2019 levels while delivering on its goal of becoming a pure-play consumer health company by 2023 Sarepta ($SRPT)17M share secondary priced at $81 per share Lucid Diagnostics ($LUCD) 5M share IPO priced at $14 per share Agilent Technologies Inc. ($A) said its Ki-67 IHC MIB-1 pharmDx (Dako Omnis) is now FDA approved as an aid in identifying patients with early breast cancer (EBC) at high risk of disease recurrence Turning Point Therapeutics ($TPTX) and EQRx announced a clinical collaboration to evaluate elzovantinib or TPX-0022, Turning Point’s drug candidate targeting MET, SRC, and CSF1R, in combination with aumolertinib, EQRx’s drug candidate targeting EGFR for NSCLC Technology, Media & Telecom Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ($TSM) lifted its revenue growth forecast for 2021, citing an “industry megatrend” of strong chip demand after Q3 rev climbed 22.6% to $14.88B, in line with co’s prior estimated range of $14.6B-$14.9B and vs. est. $14.83B; Q3 profit rose 14% from a year earlier to 156.26 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$5.57 billion) AT&T ($T) upgraded to Sector Weight from Underweight at KeyBanc saying that it appears more difficult to justify further downside from current levels given simplification of the business, reduced leverage, and peers that trade at premiums GitLab ($GTLB)4M share IPO priced at $77.00 Rambus ($RMBS) announced that Rahul Mathur, senior vice president and CFO, will resign from Rambus effective November 15 to pursue another opportunity outside of the semiconductor industry; co affirmed its previously issued guidance for the third quarter fiscal year 2021. E2open ($ETWO) raises FY22 revenue view to $470M-$474M from $369M-$371M (est. $417.13M); adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $161M-$163M vs. prior guidance of $158M provided at the announcement of the BluJay transaction.

Shares of Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) slumped 6.1% toward a four-month low in afternoon trading Wednesday, enough to pace the S&P 500's decliners, after Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jonathan Block warned investors that his research suggests volumes deteriorated in recent months. Block's warning comes two weeks before the aesthetic dentistry products company is slated to report third-quarter results, after the Oct. 27 closing bell. Block said his past "quarterly diligence" was bullish, leading him to take aggressive stances heading into the previous four quarterly reports, all which beat both profit and revenue expectations. "However, our 3Q21 checks came back soft, and as a result, we view risk/reward for the upcoming print differently versus the last handful of quarters," Block wrote in a note to clients. Meanwhile, he reiterated the buy rating he's had on the stock for at least the past three years and kept his stock price target at $750. The current FactSet consensus for third-quarter earnings per share of $2.59 is the same as it was at the start of the third quarter, while the revenue consensus of $976.9 million has increased from $956.1 million. The stock has shed 8.4% over the past three months, while share of rival SmileDirectClub Inc. (SDC) have tumbled 20.0% and the S&P 500 has eased 0.1%.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021 Futures Up/Down % Last Dow 34.00 0.10% 34,295 S&P 500 5.75 0.14% 4,346 Nasdaq 61.75 0.42% 14,715 U.S. futures recover from overnight losses ahead of Dow component JPMorgan earnings and inflation data later this morning (CPI), reversing overnight losses despite weakness in Dow component Apple (AAPL), which is down about -0.5% after reports it expects to make 10 million fewer iPhone than planned and is poised to slash iPhone production goal due to chip crunch. Oil prices and Treasury yields decline, while gold rises ahead of a key reading of consumer price September inflation. Futures are getting a boost after better economic data in China as September exports rose 28.1% from last year as consumer demand outpace supply chain disruptions and power shortages, while last night’s passage of a debt ceiling extension by House lawmakers puts at least one market concern to the side until early December. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -90 points to 28,140, the Shanghai Index rose 14 points to 3,561 and the Hang Seng Index was closed. In Europe, the German DAX is up over 100 points to 15,250, while the FTSE 100 is slightly lower at 7,120. U.S. stocks ended lower following a choppy session on Tuesday, with investors nervous about upcoming third-quarter earnings reports. In addition to the CPI data, the Federal Reserve will release minutes from its last policy meeting, and investors are looking for further clues on when the central bank could begin tapering its bond-buying program. Market Closing Prices Yesterday The S&P 500 Index dropped -10.54 points, or 0.24%, to 4,350.65 The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -117.72 points, or 0.34%, to 34,378.34 The Nasdaq Composite slipped -20.28 points, or 0.14%, to 14,465.92 The Russell 2000 Index advanced 13.63 points, or 0.61% to 2,234.27 Events Calendar for Today 7:00 AM ET MBA Mortgage Applications Data 8:30 AM ET Consumer Price Index (CPI) Headline MoM for September…est. +0.3% 8:30 AM ET CPI Core: Ex Food & Energy MoM for September…est. +0.2% 8:30 AM ET Consumer Price Index (CPI) Headline YoY for September…est. +5.3% 8:30 AM ET CPI Core: Ex Food & Energy YoY for September…est.+4.0% 10:30 AM ET Weekly DOE Inventory Data 4:30 PM ET API Weekly Inventory Data Earnings Calendar: Earnings Before the Open: AYR, BLK, DAL, JPM, SOTK Earnings After the Close: ETWO, ODC Other Key Events: China CPI, PPO for September Macro Up/Down Last Nymex -0.56 80.08 Brent -0.60 82.82 Gold 11.60 1,772.80 EUR/USD 0.0034 1.1562 JPY/USD -0.04 113.56 10-Year Note -0.015 1.565% World News China September exports rose1% from last year as consumer demand outpace supply chain disruptions and power shortages Japanese Core Machine Orders (M/M) Aug: -2.4% (exp 1.4%; previous 0.9%); Core Machine Orders (Y/Y) Aug: 17.0% (exp 13.9%; previous 11.1%) The House on Tuesday voted along party lines to raise the U.S. borrowing limit into December, as Democratic lawmakers wrestled with how to set a new ceiling for U.S. debt later this year over Republican resistance. Sector News Breakdown Consumer Duckhorn Portfolio Inc ($NAPA) said selling stockholders are offering 12 mln shares of common stock Monster Beverage ($MNST) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies Energy, Industrials and Materials International Paper ($IP) announces up to $2B share repurchase program Boeing ($BA) is the latest federal contractor to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees by December 8 under the Biden administration’s new rules saying its 125K U.S. employees must show proof of vaccination or have an approved religious or medical exemption by the deadline. Yesterday, Chicago soybean futures fell to the lowest level in nearly a year following a U.S. Department of Agriculture report that showed larger than expected yields of soybeans and corn; the USDA showed an uptick of nearly 100M bushels to U.S. corn ending stocks Glencore Plc ($GLNCY) said that it had reached an agreement to sell its zinc business in Bolivia to Canada’s Santa Cruz Silver Mining for some $110M Rattler Midstream LP ($RTLR), a subsidiary of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (FANG) announces strategic midland basin gas gathering & processing joint venture; invested approximately $104 mln in cash to acquire a minority interest in joint venture Vistra ($VST) announces $2 billion share repurchase program Gran Tierra Energy Inc. ($GTE) said that Q3 production grew 53% and that it expects the gains to continue in Q4; said it has produced an average of 28,957 barrels of oil a day in the quarter, compared with 18,944 barrels a day in the prior year period and 23,035 barrels a day QoQ Greenbrier ($GBX) announced the acquisition of more than 3,600 railcars, a portion of which will be held in GBX Leasing Financials BlackRock ($BLK) Q3 adj EPS $10.95 vs. est. $9.35; Q3 revs $5.05B vs. est. $4.9B; qtrly long-term net inflows of $98 billion; assets under management at qtr-end were $9.46 trillion vs $7.81 trillion at end of Q3 AvidXchange ($AVDX)64M share IPO price $25.00 AllianceBernstein L.P. ($AB) preliminary assets under management decreased to $742 billion during September 2021 from $761B at the end of August. Firmwide net inflows were outweighed by market depreciation, resulting in a 2% decline in AUM. In the month of September, net inflows to Retail and Private Wealth were partially offset by net outflows from Institutions. Ellington Financial Inc ($EFC) commenced an underwritten public offering of 5 mln shares of common stock RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. ($RNR) estimates that losses from certain 2021 catastrophe events will have a net negative impact of approximately $725 million on the Company’s Q3 results of operations Manning & Napier ($MN) preliminary assets under management (AUM) of $22B for September, compared with $22.7B as of Aug.31. Healthcare Sarepta ($SRPT) announces $500M common stock offering and guiding Q3 revs about $166.9M vs. est. $172M; had approximately $1.6 bln in cash, cash equivalents and investments as of September 30, 2021 CRISPR Therapeutics ($CRSP) shares slipped after announcing updated results from the company’s early-stage trial of its CAR-T cell therapy CTX110 as two patients in the phase 1 trial experienced Grade 3 or higher infections, with one patient having HHV-6 encephalitis, and another developing pseudomonal sepsis that resolved in four days. CytoSorbents ($CTSO) receives full FDA investigational device exemption approval to begin U.S. star-d trial on apixaban and rivaroxaban removal by the DrugSorb-ATR™ antithrombotic removal system during urgent cardiothoracic surgery Homology Medicines ($FIXX) announced the pheEDIT Phase 1 clinical trial for HMI-103, a one-time, in vivo product candidate that utilizes a gene editing approach for phenylketonuria, or PKU, based on the investigational new drug application, or IND, clearance from the FDA Apollo EndoSurgery ($APEN)4M share Spot Secondary priced at $7.75 Bicycle Therapeutics ($BCYC)24M share Secondary priced at $54.00 Relay Therapeutics ($RLAY)21M share Secondary priced at $26.50 Biogen ($BIIB) announces results of a new analysis of immune response to the COVID-19 vaccine among people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe BV, a European affiliate of Teva ($TEVA) presents new analyses of the COBRA study, which concluded no evidence was found to suggest that infants were adversely affected by maternal exposure to glatiramer acetate (GA) during pregnancy and breastfeeding with use of COPAXONE Technology, Media & Telecom Apple ($AAPL) suppliers Broadcom ($AVGO), Texas Instruments ($TXN) struggling to deliver enough chips; Apple expects to make 10 million fewer iPhone than planned and is poised to slash iPhone production goal due to chip crunch – Bloomberg (watch shares of $AAPL suppliers including $CRUS, $QRVO, $STM, $AVGO, $SWKS) SAP AG ($SAP) raised its 2021 projections for non-IFRS cloud revenue at constant currencies to range from EUR9.4B to EUR9.6B, up from its earlier view of EUR9.3 billion and EUR9.5 billion; also boosts cloud and software revenue at constant currencies view to EUR23.8 billion to EUR24.2 billion from its earlier view of EUR23.6 billion to EUR24 billion. Qualcomm ($QCOM) announces new $10.0 billion stock repurchase authorization IAC Inc. ($IAC) reports September Angi Inc. total revenue up 18% from last year with Dotdash revenue up 25%, and its Search business revenue up 74% from last year and Emerging & Other revenue was up 33% from last year Vimeo Inc ($VMEO) total revenue for September 2021 up 33%; subscribers for September 2021 up 14%; ARPU for September 2021 up 16% Smart Global Holding ($SGH) Q4 adj EPS $2.16 vs. est. $1.60; Q4 revs $467.7M vs. est. $461.3M; sees Q1 adj EPS $1.80-$2.20 vs. est. $1.49; sees Q1 revenue $440M-$480M vs. est. $458.55M; GAAP gross margin of 25.2%, up 620 basis points versus the year ago quarter and non-GAAP gross margin of 26.4%, up 690 basis points versus the year ago quarter VOXX International ($VOXX) 2Q EPS $0.01 vs est. $0.07 on sales $143.1Mm vs est. $134.4Mm

UK Market UK closed mixed again yesterday, as concerns over rising inflation overshadowed gains in mining and energy sector stocks. Ferrexpo climbed 5.4%, after the company revealed its initial decarbonisation targets. Hargreaves Lansdown advanced 4.3%, after a top broker upgraded its rating on the stock to ‘Equal Weight’ from ‘Underweight’. XP Power added 3.4%, after the company reported a rise in its order intake in the third quarter. AstraZeneca rose 1.3%, after the pharmaceutical company announced that its antibody cocktail to combat Covid-19 reduced the severe risk of the virus or death in a phase 3 trial. On the other hand, Britvic fell 4.9%, after a top broker downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’. ASOS plunged 13.4%, after the company issued a profit warning and as its Chief Executive Officer Nick Beighton stepped down from his position. The FTSE 100 gained 0.7%, to close at 7,146.9, while the FTSE 250 fell 0.2%, to end at 22,487.5. . Europe Market Finishing mostly higher yesterday, supported by gains in mining sector stocks. CGG surged 17.6%, after the global geo-science technology provider announced in its trading update stated that it expects to report stronger than expected revenue in the third quarter. ABN AMRO Bank rose 1.90%, after the lender revealed plans to replace its existing four business lines with three new units organised around client segments. LEG Immobilise edged up 1.3%, after the company announced that it has signed a letter of intent for the acquisition of about 15,500 residential units of Adler Group. The FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.1%, to close at 1,773.5. Among other European markets, the German DAX Xetra 30 fell 0.1%, to close at 15,199.1, while the French CAC-40 advanced 0.2%, to settle at 6,570.5. . US Market Closed lower yesterday, amid concerns over rising inflation and ahead of third quarter earnings reports. Southwest Airlines dropped 4.2%, after the air carrier has cancelled more than 2000 flights over the weekend due to staff shortage, air traffic control issues and unfavourable weather. ConocoPhillips fell 1.3%, after a top broker downgraded its rating on the stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’. On the other hand, Aspen Technology climbed 12.3%, after the company announced that it has signed a deal Emerson Electric to merge with two of its software businesses. Cleveland-Cliffs advanced 4.0%, after the steel producer announced that it would acquire Ferrous Processing and Trading in a deal worth $775.0 million. The S&P 500 slipped 0.7%, to settle at 4,361.2. The DJIA fell 0.7%, to settle at 34,496.1, while the NASDAQ dropped 0.6%, to close at 14,486.2. . Asia Market Markets we’re trading lower this morning, amid concerns over rising inflation. In Japan, Z Holdings and Fast Retailing have dropped 2.6% and 3.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, JFE Holdings and Pacific Metals have advanced 2.6% and 4.9%, respectively. In Hong Kong, WH Group and CNOOC have fallen 2.3% and 2.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, Longfor Group Holdings and Sands China have risen 0.7% and 2.1%, respectively. In South Korea, Ascendio and NeXT Science have declined 6.2% and 7.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, UANGEL and Jico have climbed 10.1% and 29.7%, respectively. The Nikkei 225 index is trading 0.9% lower at 28,232.3. The Hang Seng index is trading 1.0% down at 25,074.2, while the Kospi index is trading 1.4% lower at 2,914.4.