1. Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed as China PMI data misses expectations; Kospi leads gains
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Monday, after Wall Street saw all three U.S. major indexes climb Friday stateside. Investors in Asia are assessing manufacturing activity figures out from China after RatingDog published its purchasing managers index for October. China’s manufacturing activity slowed to 50.6, missing the 50.9 expected by economists polled by Reuters and lower than September’s 51.2. The official PMI numbers released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China’s manufacturing activity in October shrunk to its lowest level in six months, coming in at 49.0. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.58%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 dipped 0.45%.
2. Nasdaq and S&P 500 close higher, thanks to Amazon, to cap off a strong week
The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 rose on Friday, boosted by shares of tech giant Amazon on the heels of its strong quarterly results. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.61% to finish the session at 23,724.96, while the broad market index gained 0.26% to reach 6,840.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 40.75 points higher, or 0.09%, to 47,562.87. Amazon shares rallied 9.6% after the e-commerce giant said its cloud computing unit’s revenue increased 20% in the third quarter, exceeding Wall Street’s estimates. Supporting the Nasdaq, streaming giant Netflix added 2.7% after the company announced a 10-for-1 stock split. Electric vehicle maker Tesla was also a winner, with shares seeing a jump of 3.7%. Friday marked the end of a strong week, and month, for Wall Street.
3. Gold Holds decline to begin November
Gold held its recent decline at around $4,000 per ounce on Monday, as expectations for further US rate cuts diminished and safe-haven demand eased following a US-China trade deal. The Federal Reserve delivered a widely expected rate cut last week, but Chair Jerome Powell signalled this could be the final reduction this year, citing limited economic data due to the ongoing US government shutdown. Market pricing now suggests about a 70% probability of a December reduction, compared to over 90% prior to Powell’s comments. On the trade front, US President Trump and Chinese President Xi agreed at last week’s summit to extend a tariff truce, ease export restrictions, and lower other trade barriers. Meanwhile, China removed a long-standing tax incentive on gold sales, a move that could raise consumer prices and weaken demand in one of the world’s largest bullion markets.
4. Oil extends gains after OPEC+ pauses Q1 output hikes
Oil prices climbed in early Asian trade on Monday after OPEC+ decided to hold off production hikes in the first quarter of next year, easing rising fears of a supply glut. Brent crude futures rose 47 cents, or 0.73%, to $65.24 a barrel by 2336 GMT after closing 7 cents higher on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $61.43 a barrel, up 45 cents, or 0.74%, after settling up 41 cents in the previous session. OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to raise output by 137,000 barrels per day in December, the same as for October and November.
5. Hegseth says U.S. is ready to share tools to help allies counter an ‘aggressive’ China
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Saturday took aim at Beijing over an increase in “destabilizing actions” in the South China Sea and committed to support Southeast Asian countries with technology to help them respond jointly to Chinese threats. On a second day in Kuala Lumpur packed with meetings that included multilateral talks with allies Australia, Japan and the Philippines, Hegseth proposed to ASEAN defence ministers the building of shared maritime domain awareness and said China had shown a lack of respect and threatened their territorial sovereignty. “You live it on the threats we all face from China’s aggression and course of actions in the South China Sea and elsewhere,” he said.
6. Fed’s Waller calls for December rate cut, as hawks press for policy pause
A clutch of Federal Reserve bank presidents on Friday aired their discomfort with the U.S. central bank’s decision to cut interest rates this week, even as influential Fed Governor Christopher Waller made the case for more policy easing to shore up a weakening labour market. This yawning divide within the Fed’s policymaking ranks poses a challenge for Jerome Powell in forging a consensus in his final six months as the chair. While it is not unusual for Fed policymakers to differ on policy, particularly when the economic data is mixed, the frank expression of that disagreement and the explicit focus on what the Fed ought to do at its next meeting, on December 9-10, was striking.
7. Trump says US, Canada will not restart trade talks
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States and Canada will not restart trade talks but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney apologized to him for an Ontario political ad using former President Ronald Reagan saying tariffs spell disaster. “I like him a lot but what they did was wrong,” he said. “He apologized for what they did with the commercial because it was a false commercial.” Carney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump last week called off negotiations over the advertisement aired by the Canadian province of Ontario, adding he was increasing tariffs on Canada by an additional 10%. The ad by the Ontario government featured Republican icon Reagan saying that tariffs on foreign goods while lead to trade wars and job losses.
8. Key ECB survey sees benign inflation path around target
Euro zone inflation will remain at or near the European Central Bank’s 2% target in the coming years and growth is seen slowly picking up towards its potential, a key ECB survey showed on Friday. The ECB left interest rates unchanged for the third meeting in a row on Thursday, arguing that the inflation outlook remains broadly unchanged with price growth hovering around the 2% target and likely remaining near this level over the coming years. The ECB’s quarterly Survey of Professional Forecasters, a key input into policy deliberations, sees inflation easing to 1.8% next year, then coming back to 2.0% in 2027, in line with the previous survey’s prediction three months ago, and 0.1 percentage points above the ECB’s own projections. Over the longer term, defined as in 2030, the survey sees inflation at 2.0%, unchanged from the third quarter.
9. China’s Xi pushes for global AI body at APEC in counter to U.S.
Chinese President Xi Jinping took centre stage at a meeting of APEC leaders on Saturday to push a proposal for a global body to govern artificial intelligence and position China as an alternative to the United States on trade cooperation. The comments were the first by the Chinese leader on an initiative Beijing unveiled this year, while the United States has rejected efforts to regulate AI in international bodies. Xi said a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization could set governance rules and boost cooperation, making AI a “public good for the international community”. In remarks published by the official news agency Xinhua, Xi added, “Artificial intelligence is of great significance for future development and should be made for the benefit of people in all countries and regions.”
10. Berkshire’s operating earnings jump 34%, Buffett buys back no stock and raises cash hoard to $381 billion
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a sharp rebound in operating profit on Saturday, while its cash pile swelled to a new high with no buybacks. Berkshire’s operating profit generated from the conglomerate’s wholly owned businesses including insurance and railroads jumped 34% year over year to $13.485 billion in the third quarter. The gains were driven by a more than 200% surge in insurance underwriting income, which rose to $2.37 billion. Buffett once again refrained from repurchasing shares despite a significant pullback in the stock. The company said there were no share buybacks during the first nine months of 2025. Class A and B shares of the conglomerate are up 5% each in 2025, while the S&P 500 is up 16.3%.
11. Nvidia’s Huang downplays concerns over selling AI chips to Beijing: It has ‘plenty’ of its own
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang doesn’t buy the national security concerns over his firm selling its most advanced semiconductors to China, claiming collaboration is in everyone’s best interest. Speaking to reporters in South Korea, Huang said he will keep campaigning for access to the Chinese market and is “optimistic” the country will continue to want U.S. chips as it positions itself as an AI leader. “The way to think about the China market is, it’s a singular, vital, important, dynamic market, and nobody can replace that,” he said. “It’s in the best interest of America to serve that China market. It’s in the best interest of China to have the American technology company bring … technology to the China market … It’s in the best interest of both countries, and I hope that policymakers will ultimately come to that conclusion.”
12. Reddit’s holiday-quarter forecast shows AI ad strategy paying off
Reddit forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Thursday as its artificial intelligence-powered advertising tools help draw more marketing spending, sending shares of the social media platform up 9% after hours. The company’s AI-optimized ad platform helps advertisers to place targeted ads directly within relevant discussion threads across its interest-based communities, known as subreddits. Chief Operating Officer Jen Wong said Reddit’s ad business was pulling in a broader range of clients, which lifted its active advertiser base by more than 75% in the third quarter. “We’re also in early testing of our end-to-end automated campaign platform that uses AI to streamline campaign setup.” Wong said. Its vast content library has also become a prized asset as AI companies hunt for data to train their large language modes, the technology behind chatbots such as ChatGPT.
13. US grocers brace for sales dip as food aid set to lapse
U.S. grocers and food companies ranging from Walmart to Smithfield Foods are bracing for a dip in November sales if federal food aid benefits lapse for the first time due to the ongoing government shutdown. The shutdown has imperilled next month’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, which serves nearly 42 million people. Neither Congress nor the U.S. Department of Agriculture has acted to fund the benefits beyond Saturday. The gap could mean an $8 billion revenue drop for grocers, declining sales for their suppliers and reduced hours for workers as it drives SNAP recipients to reduce spending, trade groups, companies and a union said this week.
14. Amazon shares soar as AI boom fuels stellar growth in AWS cloud unit
Amazon shares surged more than 11% in early trading on Friday after strong growth at its cloud unit and a bullish sales outlook eased fears that the tech giant was falling behind rivals in the AI race. Revenue at Amazon Web Services, the hub of the company’s recent AI investments, rose 20% in the third quarter. Although Microsoft Azure’s revenue increased by 40% and Google Cloud’s by 34%, AWS’s sheer scale magnifies its growth impact. Its $33 billion cloud revenue is more than double that of Google’s $15.16 billion. Wall Street cheered AWS’s comeback, with analysts noting the earnings marked a potential turning point for Amazon. Up until Friday’s stock surge, Amazon shares had risen just 1.6% so far this year due to market share worries and a lack of solid AI updates, making the company the worst performer in the “Magnificent Seven” group of tech giants. Friday’s gains, however, are helping pull Amazon out of that position and overtake Tesla and Apple.
15. First Solar sales top estimates, company to open another US factory
First Solar, the biggest U.S.-based solar panel maker, beat expectations for third-quarter sales on Thursday, driven by robust demand for its products, sending its shares up more than 14% on Friday. Solar-generated electricity is one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. energy industry, driven by strong demand from corporations and governments to adopt cleaner sources of power and combat climate change. First Solar said it would establish a new 3.7 GW manufacturing facility in the U.S., with production expected to start at the end of 2026 and ramp up through the first half of 2027. The factory will finish products started at the company’s overseas facilities, helping First Solar products achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of reducing U.S. reliance on foreign-made goods.
