Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:         

• China Bets Vast Supply Chain Can Swallow Trump's Tariff Pain.

• Draghi Says Stimulus Withdrawal on Track Despite Growth Wobble.

• Asia Stocks Set to Rally on U.S. Gains; Bonds Slip. Asian stocks looked set to end a torrid week with gains following a rally in U.S. equities, despite falling deeper into a bear market Thursday. Yields on Treasuries rose and the dollar strengthened to the highest level this year. Futures pointed higher for equity markets from Sydney to Hong Kong after the S&P 500 Index rose for the first time in seven days, lifted by strong earnings from Twitter, Microsoft and Tesla. The optimism for technology firms was quickly dented after Amazon and Alphabet reported disappointing results and Nasdaq futures dipped in late trading. Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1 percent in Singapore trading. FTSE China A50 index futures added 0.8 percent. Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 1.3 percent. Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1 percent.  

• Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day.

• Two Fed Officials Remain Unfazed by October Global Stock Rout.

• Fed Fires Warning Shot at Wall Street's Riskier Loan Deals.

• Sell-Offs Are Normal, But This Week Is Shocking the Pros.

Wall St. Journal:

• America’s Midterm Referendum.

• U.S. Won’t Resume Trade Talks Without Firm Plan From China.

• At Netflix(NFLX), Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks.

• Saudi Arabia Says Evidence Points to Premeditated Killing of Khashoggi.

• Altria Will Pull Its E-Cigarette Pods From the Market.

• Stock-Picking Hedge Funds Are Having a Rough October.

• Trump Offers Test Plan to Lower Medicare Drug Costs.

MarketWatch.com:

• Copper weakness hints at economic woes ahead.

Fox News: 

• Sources: State identified as 'region of interest' in package bomb probe. 

• NEWT GINGRICH: What we must do if (or when) the caravan arrives at our border.

CNBC:          

• Alphabet(GOOG) stock sinks on revenue miss.     

• Intel(INTC) up slightly on big earnings beat. 

• A lot just happened in markets over the last 24 hours: Here's what you should know.

• Cities are clamoring to offer Amazon tax incentives for HQ2 — that may be a bad idea.

• Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Amazon, Alphabet, Snap, Intel and more.

• The sharp decline in housing stocks on higher rates is way overdone, top analyst says.

• Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer preparing to unleash $16 million in final 11 days of midterms.

Zero Hedge: 

• Amazon(AMZN) Plunges After Missing On Revenue, Poor Guidance.

• Mail Bomb Design Likely Sourced From Internet As Manhunt For Culprit Targets Florida.

• Robinhood Is Said To Get 40% Revenue From HFT Firms Like Citadel.

• Megyn Kelly Out At NBC; $69 Million Contract Will Be Paid 'In Full'.

• NBC Admits "Blue Wave Turning Purple" As Republicans Outnumber Dems In Early Voting.

• Brexit Talks On Hold As "May's Team Can't Agree", Cable Slides.

• $5 Billion Hedge Fund SPO Shutters: "We Find It Exceedingly Difficult To Deploy Capital".

• US Markets 'Dead-Cat-Bounce' As 'Smart Money' Collapses To Lehman Lows.

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.75% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 91.25 -.25 basis point. 

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 10.0 -.25 basis point.

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 66.57 -.02%.

• FTSE 100 futures -.77%.

• S&P 500 futures -.67%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures -.87%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
Before the Open:

• (B)/.81

• (COG)/.27

• (CL)/.72

• (GT)/.75

• (LPNT)/.99

• (MCO)/1.78 

• (psx)/2.46

• (col)/2.02

• (r)/1.65

• (wy)/.38

• (ZBH)/1.60

After the Close:

• None of note

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

• Advance 3Q GDP is estimated to rise +3.3% versus a +4.2% gain in 2Q.

• Advance 3Q Personal Consumption is estimated to rise +3.3% versus a +3.8% gain in 2Q.

• Advance 3Q GDP Price Index is estimated to rise +2.1% versus a +3.0% gain in 2Q.

• Advance 3Q Core PCE QoQ is estimated to rise +1.8% versus a +2.1% gain in 2Q. 

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The BoJ Bond purchases could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE:  Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by financial and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to maintain losses into the afternoon.  The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.