Top Overnight News

Iran is deploying new tactics to target ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz as it seeks to keep oil prices high and influence the US midterm elections, two senior Iranian officials told Reuters. RTRS

Oil edged higher as attacks on Saudi Aramco's headquarters added to a flare-up in the Middle East conflict, increasing uncertainty over a recovery in Persian Gulf energy flows. BBG

Yemeni Army Spokesperson said operations towards Saudi airports and oil facilities will continue in the coming days and warned for global shipping companies, civilians and workers to evacuate such airports and firms, as they are legitimate targets. Newsquawk

Diesel supplies will remain constrained well into 2027 as a result of conflicts in the Middle East and Russia, despite a weaker outlook for oil consumption, while OECD government oil stockpiles fell to the lowest since at least December 1989, the IEA said. BBG

ASML boosted its outlook and said it's searching for ways to produce more chip-making machines over the next two years to meet soaring AI demand. Shares rose. BBG

Anthropic is to disclose new revenue numbers at pre-IPO investor day today: CNBC, citing sources

It is not clear that the Bank of England will need to raise its key rate by a full percentage point in order to tame inflation, as investors expect, Chief Economist Huw Pill said Wednesday. WSJ

China's trade momentum gained pace in September – driven by strong global tech demand and a pre-holiday shipping rush ahead of the "golden week" break – logging a monthly high for its trade surplus in 2026 and putting the country on course for another record gap this year. SCMP

China's consumer and producer inflation both accelerated last month, with factory gate prices rising their fastest since 2022. SCMP

Singapore's central bank unexpectedly held off on further tightening as year-over-year economic growth slowed in the third quarter but beat forecasts. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said Wednesday that its existing policy settings would allow the Singapore dollar to keep strengthening, helping to counter an expected near-term rise in import prices and ease inflationary pressures in 2027. WSJ

Japan's largest banks and insurance companies have been buying domestic government bonds and selling foreign debt in recent months, in moves that investors say could be early signs of a wider repatriation of capital by the country's institutions. FT

Russia said it attacked Ukrainian electricity plants in a "massive strike" overnight, further undermining Donald Trump's claim of an energy truce between the two countries. BBG

Bank of America was fined more than $1.2 billion for money laundering and sanctions violations by US regulators. Equities divisions at five of the largest US banks are on track to deliver more than $66 billion of revenue in the first nine months of the year, roughly $3 billion higher than what's expected from units handling bonds, currencies and commodities. BBG

Fed Governor Cook's lawyer denounced the Trump administration's new investigation and said she will not be able to attend the hearing on November 5th: The New York Times

The head of the IMF said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's plan to grow the economy out of its mounting debt and fiscal deficit problems won't work fast enough. BBG

US President Trump said Taiwan has agreed to buy 30% of gas coming off the Alaska pipeline and is to invest USD 4.4 billion in the project, on top of the USD 50bln South Korea committed to invest. Newsquawk

As we wade into earnings season, we expect corporates to progressively exit blackout ~1-2 days post release. We estimate ~10% will be in open window by the end of the week and 48% by the end of the month. November is the 2nd highest month of corporate repurchases on our desk and will bring back a key source of demand to the marketplace. The full force of corporates won't pick up until almost the end of this month, so the market still has a bit to go before this flow reaches its peak formidability. GIR

Goldman estimates AI price pressures are boosting core PCE by about 45bp, peaking at around 50bp by end-2026 and falling to 10bp by end-2027, and says "the impact of AI demand on inflation is meaningful but moderate, still comes in large part from mismeasurement, and is likely near its peak." GIR