Oil majors were similarly under pressure, with Shell off roughly 1.5% and BP down about 2% as crude prices extended losses for a second consecutive session. Unilever slipped around 1% after announcing plans to cut €1 billion in costs by the end of 2029. Associated British Foods and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners also retreated following their latest corporate updates.

Bucking the weaker trend, Hiscox rose more than 2% after reporting that gross written premiums increased 9.5% in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2025.

Sector-wise, basic resources led the downside, sliding nearly 2% as prices for gold, silver and copper weakened amid uncertainty surrounding US–Iran diplomatic developments. Retail stocks fell more than 1.5%, and oil and gas names shed close to 1% in tandem with softer crude prices. Technology shares were also weaker, down about 0.9%, with SAP losing around 2% and ASML trading lower as well. Among individual names, Inditex and Banco Santander declined, while L’Oréal and Linde recorded smaller losses.

There were notable outperformers: Bayer jumped more than 4.5% after lifting its 2026 profit guidance, and Philips climbed almost 5% following better‑than‑expected earnings. LVMH advanced about 2%.

Overall sentiment was restrained as investors looked ahead to the US midterm elections, which will shape control of Congress and could influence the country’s broader political trajectory.

Nonetheless, structural supply concerns persist as colder weather drives up demand and storage levels lag behind official targets. Germany’s gas reserves stood at just 61.05% of capacity on November 2, short of the government’s 70% goal, while EU-wide inventories remained below 75%, the lowest level ever recorded for this point in the year. Forecasts point to further temperature declines across Northwest Europe this week, intensifying heating needs and reinforcing the region’s reliance on additional LNG imports.

The October reading marks a decrease of 7.40 billion compared with September 2026. While no details were provided on the drivers of the move, shifts of this scale can typically reflect foreign exchange market operations, valuation changes, or adjustments in central bank portfolio management.

The updated reserve figure will be closely watched by market participants tracking Denmark’s external buffers and the broader backdrop for monetary and currency policy as the year-end approaches.

The uptick in the auction indicator suggests improved demand or tighter supply conditions in global dairy markets, both of which can support higher farmgate returns over time. While the move is incremental rather than dramatic, sustained gains at auction are typically watched closely by producers, exporters and investors as a barometer of revenue prospects in New Zealand’s dairy sector.

Market participants will now be looking to upcoming auctions to see whether this latest rise marks the start of a more durable upward trend in prices or a short-term adjustment within a still-volatile global dairy landscape.

The rise in the GDT index underscores gradually firming demand or tighter supply in international dairy markets, an important development for New Zealand given the sector’s central role in the country’s export earnings. While the increase from 2.5% to 3.0% is moderate, it extends the positive momentum in prices and will be closely watched by producers, exporters and policymakers tracking the health of the dairy-driven economy.

New orders rose for the sixth consecutive month, although growth remained marginal and was the weakest in this sequence. Employment fell at the sharpest rate since May, and purchasing activity declined for the third month in a row. Pre-production inventories decreased for a thirteenth successive month, while stocks of finished goods inched higher.

Input cost inflation accelerated to its highest rate in three months, but the pace of increase in selling prices eased to its slowest since April. Despite the overall softening in conditions, business confidence strengthened, supported by expectations of a recovery in demand and increased investment. New export orders also returned to growth.

The increase was driven largely by accommodation and food services, where quits jumped by 197,000, while quits in arts, entertainment, and recreation declined by 19,000. The quits rate edged up to 2.1% in September—its highest reading in more than a year—from 1.9% in August.

Quits rose in every major U.S. region, led by the West (+195,000), followed by the Midwest (+48,000), the South (+46,000), and the Northeast (+32,000).

Output grew at only a modest pace—the weakest since July—as new business continued to support production. However, subdued demand for some products and earthquake-related disruptions, particularly to transport, constrained overall growth. New orders rose for the nineteenth consecutive month, though at the slowest rate since May.

Employment fell for the first time in seven months, with firms attributing staff cuts to cash‑flow pressures, layoffs, earthquake-related interruptions and a shortage of skilled labor.

Input cost inflation accelerated to a three‑month high, driven by higher transport expenses, adverse exchange rate movements and increased supplier prices. Companies passed these higher costs on to customers, resulting in a faster rise in selling prices than in September. Despite these challenges, purchasing activity continued to increase and business confidence remained positive.

Outside transportation, demand strengthened across several key categories: machinery orders increased 1.5%, computers and electronic products 0.8%, fabricated metal products 0.5%, and primary metals 0.4%. In contrast, orders for electrical equipment, appliances, and components slipped 0.3%. Excluding transportation, factory orders rose 1.3%, and excluding defense, they increased 2.0%, indicating broad-based resilience in US manufacturing demand.

Openings rose notably in professional and business services (+106,000), state and local government excluding education (+104,000), manufacturing (+54,000), construction (+36,000), and wholesale trade (+21,000). By region, vacancies increased in the Northeast (+49,000), the Midwest (+90,000), and the West (+244,000), while they declined in the South (-49,000).

Hires and total separations were little changed at 5.4 million and 5.3 million, respectively. Layoffs and discharges fell sharply to 1.641 million, the lowest level since March 2025, while quits rose to 3.37 million. The quits rate — the share of workers voluntarily leaving their jobs each month — climbed to 2.1%, its highest level in over a year.

The stronger September reading suggests an acceleration in underlying demand for longer-lasting goods outside the volatile transport sector, often viewed as a proxy for core business investment. The pickup from 0.2% to 0.5% indicates that companies may be modestly stepping up spending on equipment and other capital goods as the third quarter transitions into the fourth.

While transportation orders can swing sharply from month to month, the improvement in the ex-transport measure highlights a more stable and broad-based rise in demand. Investors and policymakers are likely to watch whether this momentum in core durable goods orders continues in the coming months as a gauge of economic resilience.

Both the current and previous readings refer to September 2026, with the “actual” figure comparing September’s performance to August, and the “previous” figure reflecting the change in the prior month versus its predecessor. The slight acceleration suggests that core demand for durable goods remained resilient on a sequential basis, potentially supporting a more stable outlook for private-sector investment heading into the final quarter of 2026.

The rise in vacancies suggests that employers remain actively in hiring mode, with demand for workers strengthening on a month‑over‑month basis. The updated data, published on 3 November 2026, will likely draw close attention from investors and policymakers as they assess the underlying momentum of the U.S. labor market heading into the final quarter of the year.

The latest reading shows that September’s growth in core factory orders more than tripled the pace seen in August 2026, when orders ex-transportation increased 0.4% compared with July. On a month-over-month basis, the improvement suggests a firmer pipeline for production and a potentially more resilient outlook for U.S. industry heading into the final quarter of the year.

Because the measure compares each month to the prior one, September’s 1.3% increase reflects a meaningful pickup in momentum rather than a base-effect distortion. Market participants and analysts watching the U.S. industrial cycle are likely to interpret the data as a sign of stabilizing—if not strengthening—core manufacturing activity.

The October figure below 50.0 suggests a renewed softening in operating conditions for manufacturers, following September’s marginal improvement. While the change from 50.30 to 49.50 is modest, it underscores the fragility of the sector’s recovery and may prompt closer scrutiny from investors and policymakers monitoring Mexico’s industrial outlook.

With the PMI now back in contraction, markets are likely to watch upcoming releases closely to determine whether October’s reading proves to be a temporary setback or the start of a more prolonged cooling in manufacturing activity in Mexico.

The month-over-month comparison shows that demand for manufactured goods picked up notably at the end of the third quarter. While August’s near-flat reading suggested a pause in activity, September’s rebound indicates firmer underlying demand and a potential boost to industrial output heading into the final months of the year.

The data compare the change in factory orders each month versus the prior month, highlighting September’s clear break from the sluggish pace seen in August. Investors and policymakers will be watching upcoming releases to see whether this stronger growth in orders can be sustained.

The capesize index, covering vessels that typically carry about 150,000 tons of cargo such as iron ore and coal, also fell for the second day in a row, slipping 3.6% to a one-week low of 3,821 points. The weakness likely reflects softer iron ore prices, driven by increased supply from major producers and sluggish demand.

The panamax index, which tracks ships usually hauling 60,000 to 70,000 tons of coal or grain, edged down 0.4% to 1,866 points, its lowest since April 13, marking a fifteenth straight session of declines. Among smaller vessels, the supramax index fell 0.5% to 1,846 points, its lowest level since October 14.

Chipmakers were among the session’s standout performers. Nvidia climbed 3%, snapping a four-session losing streak, and AMD advanced 5% ahead of its quarterly earnings report due after the closing bell.

In contrast, Apple shares fell 3% after the company warned that rising memory chip costs could squeeze margins in the holiday quarter. Palantir Technologies dropped 3.5% as investors focused on a slowdown in growth in US commercial total contract value.

Tech stocks more broadly have come under increasing pressure amid concerns about surging AI-related investment and limited evidence so far that those outlays are generating sufficient returns.

Markets were also bracing for the outcome of the US midterm elections. Polls suggested Democrats were favored to retake control of the House of Representatives, while the balance of power in the Senate remained too close to call.

Canadian banks, which had been weighed down by inflation concerns linked to the recent oil rally, advanced. RBC, BMO, and National Bank each gained about 1%, and TD Bank added 0.5%.

Miners also moved higher despite muted gold prices. Agnico Eagle, Barrick, and Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM) each climbed roughly 3%, while Franco-Nevada gained 2%.

In corporate news, Topaz Energy fell 4% even after posting stronger-than-expected adjusted third-quarter earnings. Toromont edged 0.2% lower despite beating quarterly revenue forecasts.

Meanwhile, Fairfax Financial’s (-0.4%) planned acquisition of India’s IDBI Bank is facing resistance from employees and political parties, who are challenging both the lender’s valuation and the Indian government’s divestment process.

Major banks traded weakly ahead of the Brazilian Central Bank’s upcoming monetary policy decision, against a backdrop of mounting concerns over the country’s fiscal outlook. Itaú and Bradesco edged lower, while Banco do Brasil slipped nearly 1%.

Utilities were also under pressure, with Axia and Sabesp each losing around 2%. Other notable decliners included WEG (-1%), Ambev (-0.5%), and Rede D’Or (-1.5%).

On the fiscal side, the US Treasury lowered its Q4 borrowing estimate by $10 billion to $618 billion, citing a higher-than-expected opening cash balance. However, stripping out this additional cash cushion, underlying borrowing needs are actually $24 billion higher than previously projected.

Elsewhere, oil prices extended Monday’s steep losses after President Donald Trump announced that Washington would end its $4 billion aid program to Israel by year-end.

External demand also weakened: export orders decreased at the start of the final quarter, reflecting subdued global demand and rising prices. Even so, the drop in foreign sales was the mildest since July. Manufacturing employment edged lower overall, as some firms filled full-time vacancies while others reduced headcount.

Cost pressures eased across all three monitored manufacturing categories but remained elevated in absolute terms. In response, Brazilian manufacturers continued to raise selling prices to pass on part of these higher costs, with output price inflation holding steady at September’s pace. Despite the ongoing weakness in activity, business confidence improved and reached its highest level in nine months.