The market is focused on the convergence of financial reports, with the ongoing impact of ASML, Nasdaq, and European semiconductor stocks lagging behind. The luxury goods industry continues to face a harsh winter, with industry benchmark LVMH underperforming and European luxury concept stocks plummeting collectively. Data centers are power-hungry, leading technology giants to sign power purchase agreements with nuclear power companies, causing US nuclear power concept stocks to rise together. Morgan Stanley's earnings report exceeded expectations, boosting a general rise in bank stocks.

Internationally, UK September CPI rose by 1.7% year-on-year, reaching the lowest level since 2021. Inflation data in Europe and the UK weakened, boosting expectations for rate cuts by the Bank of England in November and the European Central Bank this Thursday. Collective declines in US and European bond yields, with US bond yields falling to over a week low, compounded by the LBMA Gold Industry Association's forecast that gold prices will rise to $2,917.40 per ounce within 12 months, pushing gold prices closer to their all-time high.

Expectations for minor rate cuts by major global central banks are increasing, with traders currently estimating a 94% likelihood of a 25-basis-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve in November. Investors are focusing on the retail sales data for September set to be released on Thursday to look for clues on rate cuts, with the market expecting a 0.3% month-on-month increase in September, higher than the previous 0.1%.

US stocks rose collectively and closed near daily highs, with the Russell Small Cap Index up 1.64% leading the gains. Investors shifted away from mega-cap stocks, driving small-cap stocks to near three-year highs. Dow hit a new high, ongoing concerns over ASML, Nasdaq closed up 0.28% with a lagging increase. Boosted by strong performance in Morgan Stanley's earnings, the financial sector performed well, with only the telecom and consumer staples sectors declining. Amazon signed a power purchase agreement with nuclear power companies, causing a significant overall rise in US nuclear power concept stocks. Most Chinese concept stocks rebounded, with Fangdd Network closing up 55.43%.

• All three major US indices rose. The S&P 500 rose by 27.21 points, up 0.47%, to 5842.47 points. The Dow, closely tied to the economic cycle, rose by 337.28 points, up 0.79%, to 43077.70 points. The Nasdaq, dominated by tech stocks, rose by 51.49 points, up 0.28%, to 18367.08 points. The Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.07%. The Nasdaq Tech Market Cap Weighted Index (NDXTMC), representing the performance of Nasdaq 100 tech components, fell by 0.09%. The Russell 2000 Small Cap Index, more sensitive to economic cycles, rose by 1.64%. The VIX fear index fell by 5.14% to 19.58.

• US industry ETFs closed up overall. Global Aviation industry ETFs rose by over 4%, Utilities ETFs by nearly 2%, Regional Banks ETFs and Financial ETFs each rose by over 1%, Consumer Discretionary ETFs, Energy ETFs, and Biotech indexes rose by around 0.5%.

• Most of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 index rose. The Telecommunications sector fell by 0.37%, Household Consumer Goods sector fell by 0.21%, Healthcare sector rose by 0.28%, Consumer Discretionary sector rose by 0.32%, Information Technology/Tech sector rose by 0.36%, Energy sector rose by 0.43%, Industrial sector rose by 0.77%, Basic Materials sector rose by 0.83%, Real Estate sector rose by 1.01%, Financial sector rose by 1.22%, Utilities sector rose by 2.03%.

• In terms of research strategy, a global survey conducted by Bank of America in October showed that after a package of stimulus measures was introduced in China, the net percentage of global fund managers expecting a strong Chinese economy in the next 12 months reached 48%, the highest since April 2023. However, global stock markets are now showing sell signals for the first time since February 2021. Goldman Sachs' trading department expects the S&P 500 index to rise to 6270 points by the end of the year.

• The 'Tech Seven Sisters' saw more declines than increases. Nvidia rose by 3.13% approaching its peak, while 'Soros comrade' Druckenmiller stated that selling Nvidia was a major mistake and he will buy again if the stock price falls. Tesla rose by 0.8%, while 'Metaverse' Meta fell by 1.62%. Amazon fell by 0.43% and has become a newly supporting tech company for nuclear energy, signing three related agreements to explore the development prospects of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Microsoft fell by 0.63%, Google A fell by 0.18%, Apple fell by 0.89%.

• Chip stocks saw mixed performance. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose by 0.21%, SOXX industry ETF was flat, Nvidia's two times long ETF rose by 6.12%. ASML ADR fell by 6.42% to its lowest in nearly a year, dropping by over 16% the previous trading day as the company's third-quarter orders were only half of the market's expectations, and they lowered next year's sales and profit targets. KLA Corp fell by 3.55%, Qualcomm fell by 1.5%, AMD fell by 0.33%, Intel fell by 1.54%, while Marvell Technology rose by 2.86%, Taiwan Semiconductor ADR rose by 0.19%, Arm Holdings rose by 1.21%, Micron Technology rose by 4.72%, Broadcom rose by 0.48%, Wolfspeed rose by 15.22%.

• AI concept stocks showed mixed performance. Snowflake fell by 3.13%, Palantir fell by 1.18%, C3.ai fell by 0.08%, BigBear.ai fell by 0.57%, Nvidia-backed AI voice company SoundHound AI fell by 1.13%, while BullFrog AI rose by 3.47%, CrowdStrike rose by 1.3%, Dell Technologies rose by 0.72%, Oracle rose by 0.39%, Serve Robotics rose by 3.93%, Super Micro Computer rose by 2.07%.

• China concept stocks mostly rebounded. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose by nearly 2.2% midday and closed up 0.93% at 7008.21 points. In terms of ETFs, the Invesco China Technology ETF (CQQQ) rose by 0.76%, the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) rose by 1.66%, the Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X Shares ETF (YINN) rose by 5.38%, the Direxion Daily FTSE **** 3X Shares ETF (YANG) fell by 4.87%, and the Roundhill Bitkraft Esports & Digital Entertainment ETF (NERD) rose by 1.24%. The FTSE China A50 Index Futures continued to rise in the night session, up by 0.71% to 13375.000 points.

• Among popular China concept stocks, Fangdd Network rose by 55.43%, STEC rose by 601.92%, VS Media rose by 130.33%, Smart Charging rose by about 17.1%, Meituan ADR rose by 4.44%, Zeekr rose by 2.92%, Trip.com rose by 2.46%, Tiger Brokers rose by 1.28%, Baidu rose by 1.38%, Bilibili rose by 1.38%, Tencent ADR rose by 1.2%, JD.com rose by 0.95%, Mengniu Dairy ADR rose by 0.49%, Alibaba rose by 0.32%, New Oriental rose by 0.07%, while NIO fell by 1.96%, Xpeng fell by 0.99%, Pinduoduo fell by 0.63%, NetEase fell by 0.23%, Li Auto fell by 0.32%, Vipshop fell by 0.92%, and Miniso fell by 2.26%.

• Bank stocks generally rose. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange KBW Bank Index rose by 1.71% to 122.78 points. The Dow Jones KBW Regional Bank Index rose by 1.54% to 119.47 points. Morgan Stanley rose by 6.5% to a new high, with a midday increase of over 8% marking the largest intraday gain in almost four years, with Q3 net revenue and earnings per share surpassing expectations. JPMorgan rose by 0.56%, BlackRock rose by 0.87%, Wells Fargo & Co rose by 1.36%, Goldman Sachs rose by 1.43%, Bank of America rose by 1.57%, UBS Group rose by 1.75%, Barclays rose by 1.87%, and Citigroup rose by 2.57%.

• The US aviation index rose by 6.5%, marking the best single-day performance since October 2022. United Airlines rose by 12.44% to a four-and-a-half year high, with positive financial results and the first stock buyback since the pandemic. Boeing rose by about 1.7%, American Airlines rose by over 7.1%, Delta Air Lines rose by about 6.8%, Alaska Air Group rose by about 2.2%, Southwest Airlines rose by about 1.4%; Boeing's major parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems also rose by nearly 1.2%.

• Data centers consume a lot of electricity, leading Amazon to sign power purchase agreements with nuclear energy companies, causing US nuclear power concept stocks to generally rise. Oklo, an investment of Sam Altman that develops rapid fission power plants, rose by 41.97%. NuScale Power (SMR) rose by 40.01%, Centrus Energy (LEU) rose by 26.25%, Cameco (CCJ) rose by 7.87%; in nuclear energy ETFs, the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR) rose by 7.16%, and the RENAISSANCE NUKE Index ETF (NUKZ) rose by 7.76%.

• In other key stocks: (1) Novavax plunged by 19.44% after the company announced the US FDA has paused its clinical application for flu vaccines, as well as the combined COVID-19 and flu vaccine. (2) BlackBerry rose by 4.42%, with the company expected to turn a profit in the 2025 fiscal year. (3) Alcoa rose by 1.86% as third-quarter EBITDA surpassed expectations, causing the stock price to rise more than 8% after hours. (4) US electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group announced a billion-share offering, exceeding third-quarter revenue and vehicle deliveries expectations, causing the stock price to drop by nearly 14% after hours.

LVMH Group and ASML's poor performance dragged down chip stocks and luxury concept stocks, leading to a decline in major European indices, the French stock index and Dutch stock index, but the UK stock index rose nearly 1%:

• The STOXX 600 index in Europe fell by 0.19%, closing at 519.60 points. The Euro STOXX 50 index fell by 0.77%. Various sectors showed mixed gains and losses, with the 'industry bellwether' LVMH Group performing poorly, dropping nearly 7.5% at one point but closing down 3.68%, L'Oreal falling over 2%, Hermes dropping 1.34%, and Kering declining 0.82%. ASML European stocks fell by 5.12%, BE Semiconductor Industries down 1.26%, and ASM International closed up 0.12%.

• Germany's DAX 30 index fell by 0.27%. The French CAC 40 index fell by 0.40%. Italy's FTSE MIB index rose by 0.24%. The UK FTSE 100 index rose by 0.97%. The Netherlands AEX index fell by 0.74%. Spain's IBEX 35 index rose by 0.56%.

Expectations of global major central bank interest rate cuts have strengthened, leading to a simultaneous decline in eurozone and U.S. bond yields, with the U.S. 10-year benchmark Treasury yield dipping below 4% to a one-and-a-half week low at one point. Cooling UK inflation opens up room for rate cuts, causing the two-year UK bond yield to drop by over 11 basis points:

• US Bonds: By the end of the day, the yield on the more rate-sensitive two-year U.S. Treasury bond fell by 0.79 basis points to 3.9376%, trading in a range of 3.9518% to 3.9165% during the session. The yield on the 10-year benchmark U.S. Treasury bond dropped by 1.36 basis points to 4.0180%, trading in a range of 4.0414% to 3.9927% during the session.

• Stanley Druckenmiller, Chairman and CEO of Duquesne Family Office, stated that if Donald Trump were to return to the White House, the Federal Reserve may become more hawkish. The rumored creation of a 'shadow Federal Reserve' by the Trump team is seen as a 'frightening idea'.

• Eurozone Bonds: At the close, the yield on the eurozone's 10-year German benchmark bond dropped by 3.8 basis points to 2.184%. The two-year German bond yield fell by 4.2 basis points. The UK 10-year Treasury yield dropped by 9.7 basis points, and the two-year UK bond yield fell by 11.1 basis points. The French 10-year Treasury yield fell by 3.5 basis points, and the Italian 10-year Treasury yield dropped by 5.1 basis points.

"Trump trade" reignites, pushing the U.S. Dollar Index up more than 0.2% to a ten-week high. The yen has recently continued to probe the 150 level. UK inflation data weaker than expected increases the Bank of England's room for interest rate cuts, sending the pound to a two-month low. Ahead of the European Central Bank meeting, the euro fell to a ten-week low. Intraday, Bitcoin briefly tested $0.069 million, but WLFI, a token supported by Trump, failed to achieve its fundraising target:

• The U.S. Dollar: The DXY U.S. Dollar Index rose by 0.24% to 103.513 points, with an intraday trading range of 103.172-103.608 points, reaching near the August 2nd peak of 104.426 points and the June 26th peak of 106.130 points at 03:21 Beijing time.

• Bloomberg Dollar Index rose by 0.31% to 1253.29 points, trading in a range of 1248.20-1253.70 points intraday, shaking and trending higher throughout the day, also approaching the peaks of August 2nd at 1259.42 points, July 30th at 1263.55 points, and June 28th at 1274.31 points.

• Non-U.S. currencies: The euro fell 0.26% against the U.S. dollar, the pound fell 0.63% against the U.S. dollar, and the U.S. dollar rose 0.38% against the Swiss franc. Among commodity currencies, the Australian dollar fell 0.61% against the U.S. dollar, the New Zealand dollar fell 0.42% against the U.S. dollar, and the U.S. dollar fell 0.17% against the Canadian dollar. The Swedish krona rose 0.92% against the U.S. dollar, and the Norwegian krone rose 0.83% against the U.S. dollar.

• Japanese Yen: The yen fell 0.26% against the U.S. dollar to 149.60 yen, with an intraday trading range of 148.88-149.81 yen, in recent days continuously testing the 150 level. The yen rose 0.08% against the euro to 162.50 yen. The yen rose 0.41% against the pound to 194.331 yen. Bank of Japan board member Masayoshi Amamiya said on Wednesday that while raising interest rates, the central bank will maintain an accommodative monetary environment. Given the uncertainty of the global economic outlook and domestic wage developments in Japan, the central bank must raise interest rates at an "extremely gentle" pace to avoid premature tightening.

• Offshore Renminbi (CNH): The offshore Renminbi fell by 14 points against the US dollar at the close, to 7.1368 yuan, with overall trading ranging from 7.1212-7.1417 yuan during the session.

• Cryptocurrency: The largest market cap leader Bitcoin rose by 0.97% at the close, to $67,870.00, trading in a range of $66,665.00-68,695.00 during the session. The second largest Ethereum rose by 1.78% at the close, to $2,629.00, with trading ranging from $2,579.00-2,656.00.

• Cryptocurrency issuer World Liberty Financial (WLF), supported by former U.S. President Trump, raised less than $12 million, far from its $30 million sales target (based on a $1.5 billion valuation). On October 15th, WLF launched the digital currency 'WLFI' endorsed by Trump. On October 14th, co-founder Zachary Folkman claimed that over 0.1 million people were eligible to invest (on the investment whitelist).

Concerns over disruptions in Middle East oil supply eased, leading to a continuous decline in oil prices, giving back most of the gains since Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1st. U.S. oil fell below $71, Brent oil fell towards $74, U.S. oil briefly fell by over 1% once again temporarily below $70, but the closing decline significantly narrowed:

• U.S. Oil: WTI November crude oil futures fell by $0.19, a decrease of about 0.27%, to $70.39 per barrel. U.S. oil continued its earlier uptrend, with European stocks in early trading session rising over 1% to break above $71.30, then continued to decline, with U.S. stocks falling by over 1.3% in early trading, pressuring below $69.60.

• Brent Oil: Brent December crude oil futures fell by $0.03, a decline of about 0.04%, to $74.22 per barrel. Brent oil followed a similar trend to U.S. oil, with European stocks surging by over 0.9% to approach $75 in early trading, while U.S. stocks fell by over 1.1% in early trading, pressuring below $73.40.

• On the news side: According to CCTV News, Niu Xinchun, professor at the China-Arab Research Institute of Ningxia University, stated that based on current information, Israel has already notified the United States of the scale of the strike against Iran, and has basically obtained U.S. approval. Because the U.S.'s demand is first, not to strike nuclear facilities, second, not to strike oil facilities, Israel now basically agrees, so diplomatic communication between Israel and the United States has also basically ended. This means that in the near future, the possibility of Israeli military strikes against Iran is increasing, because Israel has now clearly stated that it wants to strike Iran before the U.S. election, by November 5th. The strike against Iran may have already been put on the agenda intensively.

• Natural gas: U.S. November natural gas futures fell over 5.24%, to $2.3670 per million British thermal units.

Global central bank rate cut expectations increase, U.S. bond yields fall to a one-week low, ongoing geopolitical conflicts fuel risk aversion, the LBMA bullish on gold and silver, all supporting spot gold rising more than 0.4% on Wednesday, hitting a high of $2685.35 during the session, just a step away from the all-time high of $2685.58.

• Gold: COMEX December gold futures rose 0.41% to $2689.90 per ounce at the close, with U.S. stocks briefly rising to $2702.50 in early trading, approaching the all-time high of $2708.70 set on September 26. Spot gold mostly rose throughout the day, with U.S. stocks rising over 0.8% at the highest point in early trading, up 0.42% at the close to $2673.75 per ounce.

• Silver: COMEX December silver futures rose 0.37% to $31.875 per ounce at the close, with spot silver mostly rising throughout the day, with U.S. stocks rising over 2.1% early to nearly $32.20, up 0.65% at the close to $31.6902 per ounce.

• Peter A. Grant, Vice President and Senior Metals Strategist at Zaner Metals, stated that the market expects a 25 basis point rate cut from the Fed in November, while weak inflation data from Europe and the UK have increased market bets on rate cuts by the ECB and the Bank of England. This led to a general decline in Euro-American yields, supporting the rise in gold prices. Gold prices could potentially rise to nearly $3000 in the first quarter of next year. Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said that major bullish factors for gold include fiscal instability risks, safe haven demand, geopolitical tensions, de-dollarization, uncertainty in the U.S. presidential election, and rate cuts by various central banks. Representatives at the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) annual conference expect gold prices to rise to $2917.40 per ounce by the end of next October, almost a 10% increase from current levels, with silver prices expected to rise 43% to $45 per ounce during the same period.

• London industrial base metals fluctuate: economic indicator 'Dr. Copper' closes up $28 at $9,558 per ton. COMEX copper futures rose 0.71%, to $4.3685 per pound. London lead closed up $5. London zinc closed flat. London aluminum closed up $14. London tin closed down $246. London nickel closed down $145.

Editor/rice