US futures are higher even as European and Asian markets fail to stay positive, as traders waited for fresh pointers on growth and the future of interest rates. As of 8:00am ET, S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.3% as Tesla shares surged 8% in premarket trading on speculation Trump’s team will ease self-driving car rules; the boost was enough to offset the 2% drop in NVDA ahead of its earnings Wednesday. Bond yields resume their trek higher (10y 4.47%, +3bp this morning) after sliding on Friday, while the USD is trading near session highs erasing an earlier drop. Commodities are mostly higher led by oil (+0.9%), aluminum (+5.3%) and precious metals (gold +1.1%, silver +1.5%). Gold rose more than 1% after Goldman analysts predicted the precious metal would hit a record by the end of next year. Bitcoin recovered from its biggest two-day retreat since the US vote to trade past the $90,000 mark. This week, the key focus will be earnings (NVDA, WMT, TGT) and global PMIs.
In premarket trading, Tesla gained 7% after Bloomberg reported that members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have told advisers they plan to make a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles one of the Transportation Department’s priorities. Nvidia falls 2% after the Information reported that the chip giant has asked its suppliers to change the design of the server racks for its new Blackwell graphics processing unit due to an overheating problem. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
While the S&P 500 has given up more than half its rally since Trump’s election win, Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson - best known for being bearish and wrong for much of 2023 and 2024 - is now predicting gains will resume over the longer term. Wilson, once considered a prominent bear on Wall Street, sees the S&P 500 ending next year up around 11% from Friday’s close amid improving economic growth and further Fed interest-rate cuts. Goldman Sachs analysts, meanwhile, said gold will reach a record $3,000 an ounce by December 2025 due to central-bank buying and US interest rate cuts.
“It should be a quieter week as the recent relentless wave of US macro and political news flow in theory slows down,” said Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank’s global head of macro and thematic research. “The main story on this front being on potential political appointments for the new Trump administration with Treasury secretary the one creating most interest.”
Indeed, Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary is in focus this week along with Nvidia earnings on Wednesday that are set to test the sustainability of AI-led stock gains. US financial leadership under incoming Trump administration remains unclear, with Robert Lighthizer, Senator William Hagerty, Apollo Global Chief Executive Officer Marc Rowan and Kevin Warsh now among the candidates for Treasury secretary.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was down 0.3% amid continued worries about potential US tariffs under the new administration and weakness in China. Real estate and technology stocks declined the most, while miners outperformed after iron ore rebounded on signs of robust Chinese steel output in the short term. Here are some of the biggest movers on Monday:
Earlier, Asian equities gave up gains, as initial advances in China disappeared as traders weigh the outlook for more stimulus measures. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.1%, with TSMC and SK Hynix among key losers. China’s CSI 300 Index fell 0.5%, while the Japanese benchmark slipped to a near two-week low. Stocks in Taiwan also declined, while Korean equities rose the most in about two months as Samsung shares rose more than 5% on Monday in response to a $7.2bn share buyback plan - the first since 2017 - aimed at boosting its stock, which had fallen to four-year lows last week. Investors are waiting to see if Chinese authorities are inclined to issue more stimulus measures while President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs looms over the region’s sentiment. Chinese state-owned companies’ stocks received a boost Monday after the country’s securities regulator issued a supportive guideline, urging them to come up with clear and executable plans to boost their valuation.
In FX, the Dollar Spot Index erases a 0.2% drop and traded near session highs while 10-year US Treasury yields edge two basis points higher to 4.46%. The Japanese yen weakened as much as 0.5% to 155.14 against the greenback after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda avoided giving a clear hint that he will raise interest rates at a December meeting. EUR/USD +0.1% at 1.0548.
In rates, Treasury futures were near lows of the day in early US trading following similar losses in bunds ahead of several speeches by ECB policymakers this week. US curve steepens as long-end leads losses, pushing 2s10s and 5s30s spreads beyond Friday’s highs. US session has little economic data and no scripted Fed speeches slated. Yields were cheaper by 1bp-4bp across the steeper curve, with 2s10s and 5s30s spreads both ~2.5bp wider on the day; 10-year around 4.465% is ~3bp higher with bunds underperforming by around 0.5bp in the sector. German bonds fall, led by the short-end, as traders remove some ECB interest-rate cut premium ahead of a number of speeches from policymakers this week. German two-year yield climbs 6bps to 2.18%, sector underperforms Treasuries and gilts
In commodities, oil rebounded, with Brent crude trading near $72 per barrel. Bitcoin fell almost 3% over Saturday and Sunday before rising back to $92,000 on Monday morning. Trump has made various pro-crypto pledges, but there are open questions about the timetable for implementation and whether all are feasible — such as setting up a US Bitcoin stockpile.
Today's US economic data calendar includes November New York Fed services business activity (8:30am), NAHB housing market index (10am) and September TIC flows (4pm). Fed speaker slate includes Goolsbee at 10am. Schmid, Cook, Bowman, Hammack and Barr are scheduled to appear later this week. Eurozone and UK inflation readings due on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, will help investors gauge the outlook for Bank of England and European Central Bank policy. A swathe of officials from the respective institutions are also due to speak.
Market Snapshot
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A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks began the week with a mildly positive following last Friday's tech-led declines on Wall St which were triggered by hot US data and with quiet newsflow from over the weekend aside from Russian geopolitical-related headlines. ASX 200 was contained as losses in tech, healthcare and financials offset gains in utilities, commodities and consumer stocks. Nikkei 225 declined at the open after last Friday's currency strength and with a surprise contraction in Machinery Orders, although was off today's worst level with some mild support seen as the yen weakened following BoJ Governor Ueda's comments. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp traded higher amid a focus on recent earnings releases and after the PBoC continued its liquidity efforts, while Chinese President Xi said that China is 'ready to work' with Trump during a meeting with US President Biden.
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European bourses began the session on a mixed/flat footing, and initially lacked any firm direction. Soon after the cash open, sentiment improved, however, this upside quickly dissipated to show a mostly negative picture across Europe. European sectors hold a strong negative bias, with only a couple of sectors in positive territory. Basic Resources tops the pile, benefiting from strength in underlying metals prices. Real Estate & Tech are found at the foot of the pile, hampered by the relatively high yield environment. US Equity Futures are mixed, with slight outperformance in the tech-heavy NQ, attempting to pare back some of the hefty losses in the prior session. Barclays cuts Europoean Healthcare to underweight, Utilities to Market weight, Luxury, Insurance to Overweight
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FX
Fixed Income
Commodities
Geopolitics: Middle East
Geopolitics: Ukraine
US Event Calendar
DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
I went to bed at 7:30pm last night as a bout of suspected food poisoning has left me drained. I had a fever in the night which probably explains why I had the most peculiar dream where I was flying on a magic carpet. So please read the rest of the daily below this morning in that context.
At least it should be a quieter week as the recent relentless wave of US macro and political news flow in theory slows down with the main story on this front being on potential political appointments for the new Trump administration with Treasury secretary the one creating most interest with a huge amount of jockeying for position over the weekend between what are perceived to be the front runners, namely Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick. Elon Musk endorsed the latter over the weekend suggesting he would be a disruptor. Indeed one of his recent quotes is that "When was America great? 125 years ago. We had no income tax, and all we had was tariffs." So this will be a fascinating race.
Although the macro world will be much quieter this week just when you thought it was a good point to have a lie down after a busy few weeks, the biggest global earnings event happens after the bell on Wednesday with $3.48 trillion of market cap at stake. Yes you guessed it Nvidia reports after the bell. For context, the entire FTSE, DAX and CAC have a market cap of £2.08tn, €1.71tn and €2.31tn, respectively. So it's like a whole G7 country's stock markets reporting at exactly the same time.
The next most important event might be the global flash PMIs on Friday. The reason being that they may capture some of the initial sentiment impact from around the world regarding Trump's victory. Europe will be especially interesting on this front as the continent awaits their trade fate.
Outside of that there will be a focus on inflation with final Eurozone CPI (tomorrow), Canadian CPI (tomorrow), UK CPI (Wednesday), German PPI (Wednesday), and Japan CPI (Thursday) being the key ones. For the UK, our economist sees a mixed bag of inflation data, with headline CPI (DB forecast 2.07% YoY) and RPI (DB forecast 3.29%) picking up amid higher energy prices but core CPI is seen declining to 3.07% YoY and services CPI slowing to 4.78% YoY. His full preview is here. In Japan, our Chief Japan economist sees the nationwide CPI printing 2.1% YoY for core inflation ex. fresh food (2.4% in September) and core-core inflation ex. fresh food and energy at 2.2% (+2.1%).
There are also plenty of central bank speakers which you can see in the day-by-day week ahead at the end as usual which includes all the other data highlights this coming week.
Over the weekend, the war in Ukraine made headlines as President Biden authorised Ukraine to use US long-range missiles to strike targets hundreds of miles inside Russia for the first time, according to reports. That followed Russia embarking on its largest missile/drone attack on Ukraine in months on Saturday night. It seems ahead of Trump taking office both sides want to be in as strong a position as they can as any possible deal will be negotiated from their current position in the war.
Moving onto Asia, it's a mostly bright start to the week with the KOSPI (+1.90%) leading the way, driven by a rally in Samsung Electronics (a recent big laggard) after the company announced a surprise stock buyback plan. Chinese stocks are also higher, with the Shanghai Composite (+1.24%), the Hang Seng (+1.18%), and the CSI (+1.08%) all in positive territory following a call from China's securities regulator for listed companies to boost stock returns through share buybacks and other methods. Conversely, the Nikkei (-1.03%) is bucking the regional trend after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda indicated that the central bank would continue raising rates if the economy and prices evolve as expected. S&P 500 (+0.28%) and NASDAQ 100 (+0.73%) futures are strong for this time of day after a sizeable -2.24% slump for the latter on Friday.
Early morning data showed that Japanese core machine orders unexpectedly contracted -4.8% y/y in September (v/s +1.8% expected) as against a -3.4% drop in the previous month.
Recapping last week now, markets lost ground from their post-election surge as the week progressed, as concerns about inflation and a potential trade war dampened risk appetite. In particular, US core CPI came in at +0.3% for a third month running in October, whilst core PPI was also at +0.3%, raising fears that inflation was becoming stuck above the Fed’s target. Then on top of that, Fed Chair Powell himself said that the economy was “not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates”. So that led to growing doubts about a December rate cut, and futures dialled back the probability of a cut to 58%, down from 65% the previous week and a high of 82% last Wednesday.
With investors pricing in more hawkish policy, 2yr Treasury yields rose +5.0bps on the week, though they retreated -4.2bps amid a risk-off mood on Friday. The rise in yields was larger at the long-end, with the 10yr yield up +13.5bps (+0.3bps Friday) to 4.44%, its highest weekly closing level since May. That rise was led by real yields, with the 10yr real yield +15.9bps higher (+0.7bps Friday) to 2.11%. In turn, that meant the dollar index strengthened for a 7th consecutive week to a one-year high, having risen by +1.61% (+0.01% Friday). That dollar strength was partly as the rise in yields was not matched in Europe, with investors pricing a widening rate differential between the Fed and the ECB with the 10yr bund yield actually falling -1.1bps over the week (+0.3bps Friday) to 2.35%.
In the equity space, the S&P 500 fell -2.08% (-1.32% Friday), its worst performance in ten weeks, and erasing 60% of its post-election jump. The retreat was fairly broad, with weakness among chipmarkers and pushing the Philadelphia Semiconductor index -8.64% (-3.42% Friday), while the small-cap Russell 2000 was down -3.99% (-1.42% Friday). European equities saw a relative outperformance, with the STOXX 600 only down -0.69% (-0.77% Friday), but this still marked a 4th consecutive weekly decline for the index.
Finally, it was another strong week for Bitcoin, which was up by another +17.08% in the week ending Friday, with a closing value of $89,511. Moreover, at its intraday peak on the Wednesday, Bitcoin had risen as high as $93,462. However, for commodities it was a pretty poor performance, with Brent crude down -3.83% to $71.04/bbl, whilst gold suffered its worst weekly performance since June 2021, with a -4.53% decline last week to $2,563/oz.