Overview
- Wall Street traded near record levels in a choppy session as earnings rolled in, with General Motors lifting its outlook on lower tariff costs and Coca‑Cola topping sales and profit forecasts.
- Asian stocks climbed after Sanae Takaichi became Japan’s first female prime minister, reinforcing expectations for pro‑stimulus policies as the yen stayed weak and the Nikkei hovered near records.
- Signals of U.S.–China de‑escalation supported sentiment, with President Trump planning to meet President Xi next week and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set to see Vice Premier He Lifeng.
- China’s third‑quarter growth topped forecasts and helped lift regional markets as Communist Party leaders convened to set a new five‑year economic plan.
- Regional bank worries eased after recent disclosures, with Zions posting better‑than‑feared results, while investors looked past an AWS outage and a sharp pullback in gold ahead of Friday’s CPI and the late‑October Fed meeting.