Arab leaders cancelled their planned summit with Biden after the Gaza hospital blast, per Reuters. This is a precarious geopolitical situation with obvious devastating human consequences. The effect on the markets depends on the next stages of the war, which is simply an unknown. Biden is saying that the Pentagon confirms that Israel is not behind the blast. Stocks are down, oil is up. Iran is calling for an embargo against Israel.
$AMZN is buying from $MSFT its 365 Cloud productivity tools in a 5-year, $1B deal, per Business Insider.
OK, maybe that’s not what the story said, but BBG is covering recent studies on far-reaching benefits of Ozempic and other similar meds. They seem to help the heart, liver, kidneys, substance abuse, and maybe even Alzheimers? No wonder why lots of healthcare stocks are down, and a few (lookin’ at you, Novo) are up. Maybe stay long Novo, and add a long to BM-related stocks? All of this comes as health insurance premiums increased amid a post-pandemic spike in costs of care. The ave increased 7%, to almost $24k this year per KFF, versus a 1% increase last year.
Morgan Stanley is down hard after 3Q23 earnings showed sluggish ibank and wealth mgmt. results. Fixed income trading was down as well, and its net new assets was the lowest level in more than 3 yrs.
Twitter (does anyone really want to call it X?) is testing a $1/yr subscription model to reduce spam and bot accounts, per Bloomberg and Axios.
The House is still missing a speaker. There’s another vote coming this morning. Don’t expect much to get done until someone gets confirmed.
The US is going to consider lowering the cap merchants pay to banks when consumers shop with debit cards, per Bloomberg.
US mortgage applications fell to a near 3-decade low, with borrowing costs increasing for a 6th week. You jack up rates, and eventually people don’t buy/finance homes. US housing starts increased by 7% in Sep, a smaller-than-predicted rebound from Aug’s upwardly revised -12.5% drop. Building permits declined by -4.4%.
China’s GDP beat in the third quarter, increasing 4.9% y/y from better consumer spend. Industrial production and retail sales also outperformed, with fixed-asset and property investment falling short.
The BOJ announced an unscheduled bond-purchase op after benchmark yields touched a fresh decade high. JGBs are under pressure as traders are testing the central bank’s tolerance. Officials are saying that they may have to end negative rates by year end versus in 2024.