US equity futures reversed earlier losses and are now trading higher despite disappointing guidance from NVDA’s earnings after the market close which led to some pressure in equities this morning. As of 8:00am S&P futures are are up 0.2%, erasing an earlier loss of 0.4%, as traders weighed a lackluster forecast from Nvidia against Snowflake’s 20% premarket surge, which also lifted its peers. Nasdaq futures were up 0.1% with Nvidia erasing its earlier loss of as much as 3.2% after its 4Q forecast fell short of the most optimistic expectations, and even rising 1%. With Bitcoin rising as high as $98,000 MicroStrategy rallied as much as 11% in early hours trading. Bond yields are 2-3bp lower this morning and the USD is unchanged. Fears the Russia-Ukraine war is escalating helped lift oil and gold prices, while European natural gas futures hit the highest in a year. Ukraine reported that Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile during an overnight attack, while a Kremlin spokesman called Kyiv’s earlier use of UK Storm Shadow missiles a new escalation. Gold was flat and base metals are largely unchanged. Meanwhile, Trump’s search for a Treasury secretary remains in flux, with no candidate having emerged as the clear favorite. Today, key macro data focus will be Leading Index, Jobless Claims and Existing Home Sales
In premarket trading, the world's biggest company Nvidia dropped 1%, erasing an earlier loss as much as 3%, after the company assured investors that its new product lineup can maintain the company’s artificial intelligence-fueled growth run, though the rush to get the chips out the door is proving more costly than expected. Softward company Snowflake gained 22% after the company gave a better-than-expected sales outlook, suggesting newly launched products are receiving a strong reception from customers. Here are some other notable movers:
Traders will be watching US initial jobless claims later Thursday for signs on the strength of the economy and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. An expected decision on President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary is also in focus.
“Trump’s win has brought with it an increase in geopolitical uncertainty and that too is weighing on sentiment,” said Daniel Murray, Zurich-based chief executive officer of EFG Asset Management in Switzerland. “Ukraine now has an incentive to gain as much strategic advantage as possible ahead of Trump’s inauguration.”
On Wednesday, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said more rate cuts are needed, but policymakers should proceed carefully to avoid moving too quickly or too slowly. Swaps market pricing indicated a chance of around 50% that the Fed will cut rates again in December.
Europe's Stoxx 600 was flat, erasing an earlier loss of 0.6%, as investors sentiment was dampened by fears of an escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war and a disappointing revenue forecast from Nvidia. Autos and consumer stocks are the biggest laggards, while insurance is the only sector in the green. Here are some of the biggest movers on Thursday:
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks fell, heading for back-to-back losses, as some of the region’s tech heavyweights slid following Nvidia’s lackluster revenue forecast. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined as much as 0.4%, with TSMC and Sony Group among the biggest drags. Indian benchmarks underperformed as Adani Group units’ shares tumbled after US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani with helping to drive a $250 million bribery scheme. Adani’s units were among the worst performers on MSCI’s Asian equity gauge, with flagship unit Adani Enterprises Ltd. down as much as 23%. Sentiment has been week this month as investors brace for Donald Trump’s second presidency and the potential for higher tariffs, particularly on China. The dollar’s recent strength and concerns that the Federal Reserve may be less aggressive in easing also have sapped demand for Asian assets. MSCI’s regional benchmark is down more than 7% from its late September peak.
In FX, the dollar gained and the Japanese yen outperformed G10 peers on haven demand after Ukraine said Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, ratcheting up geopolitical tensions. The USD/JPY fell as much as 0.9% to 154.09 after BOJ Governor Ueda earlier reiterated that he’s closely watching currency impacts on the economy and inflation, though said it’s not possible to predict the outcome of the central bank’s policy meeting. “Direction of travel remains skewed to the downside as Fed, BOJ’s policy normalization takes different form,” Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore, said of dollar-yen moves. “Risk to this view is a case of slowing BOJ policy normalization and/or Fed in no hurry to cut, alongside Trump policy uncertainties.”
In rates, treasuries are slightly richer on the day across front-end and belly of the curve, but TSY futures are off session highs as WTI crude oil futures rise more than 2%. Investors flocked to safe-haven assets with the bid in Treasuries pushing US 10-year yields as much as 3 bps lower to 4.38%, with bunds and gilts also gaining, after Ukraine said Russia launched a intercontinental ballistic missile. At 8:00am ET, rates were ~1bp lower across the front-end with 10-year little changed near 4.40%, outperforming comparable bunds and gilts by around 1bp; curve spreads are little changed. US session includes weekly jobless claims data, four scheduled Fed speakers and an auction of 10-year TIPS. The TIPS auction at 1pm New York time, a $17b second reopening of the July new issue, is the final coupon sale this week; next week’s auctions, to be confirmed at 11am, are anticipated to span Monday to Wednesday ahead of US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday
In commodities, oil prices gained with WTI up 1.6% to $69.80 a barrel. European natural gas prices also jump. Spot gold climbed $18 to $2,668/oz.
Bitcoin topped $98,000 for the first time on optimism Trump’s support for crypto heralds a boom for the industry as the US pivots to friendly regulations in place of a crackdown. Trump’s transition team has begun to hold discussions over whether to create a White House post dedicated to digital-asset policy.
Looking at today's calendar, US economic data calendar includes November Philadelphia Fed business outlook and jobless claims (8:30am), October Leading index and existing homes sales (10am) and November Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (11am). Fed speaker slate includes Hammack (8:45am, 12:30pm), Goolsbee (12:25pm), Schmid (12:40pm) and Barr (4:40pm).
Market Snapshot
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A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks were mostly subdued after the indecisive lead from the US where geopolitics and Nvidia earnings were in the spotlight. ASX 200 lacked firm direction amid weakness in the consumer-related sectors and after Westpac pushed back its forecast for when the RBA will begin cutting rates to May next year from a prior forecast of February. Nikkei 225 underperformed and tested the 38,000 level to the downside as the Japanese currency nursed some of its recent losses and despite a report that Japan is planning an economic package of around JPY 21.9tln. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were uninspired as participants digested recent earnings releases although support was seen in automakers after a MOFCOM official said they are planning the continuation of car trade-in incentives for next year to stabilise market expectations.
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European bourses began the session on a mixed footing, but gradually teetered lower soon after the cash open. A further extension of the downside was seen following updates via the Kremlin’s spokesperson who noted that the storm shadow attack at Russia is a new escalation, via TASS. Thereafter, ABC News reported that it is not confirmed that Russia used a ICBM last night, which helped to lift bourses incrementally off lows. European sectors opened with a slight positive bias, before sentiment soured to show a strong negative bias in Europe. Insurance manages to stay in mild positive territory, largely attributed to gains in Zurich Insurance after the co. announced their 2025-27 targets. Autos are Europe’s worst sector, joined closely by Consumer Products; seemingly weighed on by the defensive bias. US equity futures are modestly lower across the board, and with slight underperformance in the tech-heavy NQ after NVIDIA reported its Q3 results; the Co. is down 3.4% in pre-market trade, despite reporting strong headline metrics, but its Q4 guidance ultimately disappointed on the top-end of analyst expectations. NVIDIA (NVDA) - Shares -3% in pre-market trade; despite top- and bottom line beats, some analysts were seeking firmer guidance for Q4, and were disappointed by slowing growth rates, while some also continue to cite production concerns. Nvidia reported Q3 adj. EPS 0.81 (exp. 0.75), Q3 revenue USD 35.08bln (exp. 33.12bln). Q3 adj. gross margin 75% (exp. 75%), Q3 adj. operating expenses USD 3.05bln (exp. 2.99bln), Q3 adj. operating income 23.28bln (exp. 21.9bln). Exec said Blackwell production continue to ramp into fiscal 2026. Ahead, it sees Q4 revenue at around USD 37.5bln+/- 2% (exp. 37.1bln), and sees Q4 adj. gross margins between 73-74% (exp. 73.5%).
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FX
Fixed Income
Commodities
Geopolitics: Middle East
Russia-Ukraine
US Event Calendar
DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
Nvidia’s results overnight drew a tepid reaction despite a solid Q3 beat by the world’s most valuable company as its guidance failed to match some of the loftiest expectations. Q3 sales came in at $35.1bn (vs $33.2bn est.) and the earnings surprise the strongest in three quarters. However, the Q4 sales guidance at $37.5bn, was “only” a touch above the average analyst estimate of $37.1bn. The company’s earnings call talked of “very strong” demand for its new Blackwell chips that will begin to ship this quarter, but overall it was deemed to be a slightly underwhelming outcome with Nvidia’s shares down -2.5% in post-market trading. Of course, this has be to put in perspective of the stock’s +195% rally YTD.
Off the back of this, S&P 500 and NASDAQ futures are trading -0.16% and -0.25% lower as I type which overall means this potential high-volatility event has broadly passed without major incident. However, it has dampened sentiment a touch in Asia with the Nikkei (-0.65%) is leading losses with the Hang Seng (-0.14%) also lower. As I type, Chinese equities are reversing losses though with the Shanghai Composite (+0.25%) joining the KOSPI (+0.35%) higher. Also higher is Bitcoin (+3.40%) as it shows no signs of slowing, advancing for a fourth consecutive session, and trading at $97,670 as I type.
Ahead of Nvidia’s results, markets had managed to mostly shake off the negative mood that had dominated the session, with the S&P 500 ending the session flat (+0.002% to be precise) with more than 60% of its constituents higher on the day. The index had traded in the red almost all of the day, having been down nearly -1% early in the session as several concerns weighed on sentiment. Matters weren’t helped by a very weak earnings release from Target (-21.97%), which was the worst performer in the entire index after they cut the earnings outlook. The Magnificent 7 (-0.54%) also dragged on the broader market, with an uptick in volatility seeing the VIX Index (+0.81pts to 17.16pts) rise to its highest closing level since the US election. And there were modest declines in Europe, where the STOXX 600 (-0.02%) fell narrowly back to a fresh 3-month low, while the DAX (-0.29%), CAC (-0.43%) and FTSE 100 (-0.17%) saw slightly larger declines.
The earlier negative market driver was fears of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The geopolitical risk-off tone saw gold (+0.70%) post a third consecutive increase, while the dollar index rose +0.41%. Another related market theme was a notable rise in near-term inflation expectations, with the US 2yr inflation swap up +5.1bps to 2.72%. That’s its highest level since March 2023, right before SVB’s collapse, and it shows how investors have adjusted their expectations relative to early September, when it fell beneath 2%.
With inflation expectations moving higher, markets continued to pair back near-term Fed rate cut expectations, with the market odds of a December rate cut falling to 52% from 59% the previous day. The 13bps of easing now priced for the December meeting is the lowest that it’s been since April. This came as Fed officials continued to strike a patient tone. Fed Governor Bowman said she “would prefer to proceed cautiously” with further easing and Boston Fed’s Collins said that while “some additional policy easing is needed”, the cuts delivered so far “enable the FOMC to be careful and deliberate going forward”.
Global bonds mostly sold off yesterday, with the 2yr Treasury yield up +3.5bps to 4.32%, whilst the 10yr yield was +1.5bps higher at 4.41%. The Treasury sell-off was reinforced by a weak 20yr auction that saw bonds issued 3bps above the pre-sale yield. European yields also saw similar moves, with those on 10yr bunds (+1.3bps), OATs (+2.9bps) and BTPs (+2.8bps) all rising. Meanwhile in the UK, 10yr gilts (+2.7bps) sold off after the latest CPI print was above expectations in October. For example, headline CPI rose to a six-month high of +2.3% (vs. +2.2% expected), whilst core CPI was up to +3.3% (vs. +3.1% expected). So that led investors to dial back their expectations for rate cuts from the BoE, with the likelihood of another cut by February down to 78% now.
Over in the US, there was still no sign of who Donald Trump would appoint as his new Treasury Secretary. The four names widely reported to be in the frame include former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent and Senator Bill Hagerty. Bloomberg reported that Trump was scheduled to hold interviews yesterday with Warsh and Rowan, and that Hagerty had spent much of the day with Trump on Tuesday.
To the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include the weekly initial jobless claims, existing home sales for October, and the Conference Board’s leading index for October. In the Euro Area, we’ll also get the European Commission’s preliminary consumer confidence indicator for November. From central banks, we’ll hear from the Fed’s Hammack, Goolsbee and Barr, the ECB’s Knot, Holzmann, Cipollone, Escriva, Patsalides, Elderson, Lane, Kazimir, Vujcic, and the BoE’s Mann.
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