Equity markets had a good night, with only the CSI 300 index in negative territory (-1.01%). HSBC Holdings Plc announced a fresh multi-billion dollar stock buyback as it reported better-than-expected earnings. HSBC will repurchase up to $3 billion of shares on the back of a 9.9% gain in pretax profit from a year earlier, reaching $8.48 billion. This positivity was reflected in the crypto world: Bitcoin rose 2.1% to $71,083.57, and Ether rose 4.1% to $2,618.19.
As for the day ahead, we have the U.S. JOLTS job openings, Conference Board consumer confidence, and Alphabet's earnings as the headliners. But I would like to draw your attention to USDJPY again. There is a Bank of Japan policy meeting on October 31, and any expectation that the BoJ may raise interest rates has disappeared. However, the meeting will be watched closely for any signals on whether rates could be hiked in December or January. Some encouragement for policy hawks came yesterday, as a government survey suggested that average monthly pay increased by 4.1% year-over-year. This is the third consecutive year that both the value and rate of wage growth have risen above the previous year. The monthly data suggest that real wages have been struggling to turn positive. BoJ Governor Ueda will have to choose his words carefully at his post-policy meeting press conference this week. A clear dovish tone would further expose the JPY to a test of the 155 resistance and then the double top at 162. I hope I am not getting too carried away.
Back to today: the yield on 10-year Treasuries opens at 4.27%, WTI opens at $68.00, and gold is at $2,755 per ounce.
