Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch raised eyebrows in predicting Sweden could become a rare-earth “global powerhouse” based on the combination of “massive” rare-earth deposits in the northern Kiruna region and national expertise in mining technology (reliability and predictability). “It’s time for us to see the value of what we have in our own realms and for EU nations to find our own confidence again.”
President Trump and Treasury Secretary Bessent teased further details of the U.S./China trade talks: China will buy 12M tons of U.S. soybeans this year and a minimum of 25M tons annually for the next three years and may also execute a “very large-scale transaction concerning the purchase of oil and gas from Alaska.”
The AI wave displayed ongoing momentum with last night’s Amazon earnings report and Nvidia and Meta announcements. Amazon’s Web Services cloud unit reported Q3 revenue of $33B, a 20% yr/yr increase and largest since Q4 ’22. Meanwhile, Nvidia announced new partnerships with South Korea’s biggest firms in its push to expand global AI infrastructure and Meta announced plans for a $30B bond offering (its largest ever) to finance incremental AI spending.
In its seventh consecutive month in contractionary territory, China’s October manufacturing PMI dipped to 49.0 from 49.8 in September (vs. 49.6 est.). Softening was widespread, with declining readings in production, new orders, new export orders, buying activity, selling process and employment.
BOE policy dissension far exceeds the Fed with observers now forecasting either a 5-4 vote for a 25bps cut or a 5-4 vote to leave policy rate unchanged at 4%.
S&P futures +0.7% and Nasdaq futures +1.2%, spot gold -0.45% and spot silver +0.15%.
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