Markets Split as China’s Factory Gauge Contracts, Tokyo and Seoul Set Records

Overview

• Official Chinese manufacturing PMI fell to 49 in October, signaling renewed contraction and pressuring most Asia-Pacific indexes.
• Nikkei and Kospi notched fresh records for a third session, lifted by chip and AI shares after Nvidia announced a South Korea AI infrastructure collaboration.
• U.S. stock futures advanced on strong tech earnings, with Apple guiding 10%–12% revenue growth for its fiscal first quarter and Amazon forecasting $206–$213 billion in fourth-quarter sales.
• European equities traded slightly lower as investors awaited preliminary eurozone CPI following the ECB’s decision to hold rates.
• Brazilian data and earnings supported local sentiment, with 213,002 formal jobs created in September per Caged and Vale reporting $2.6 billion in third-quarter profit, up 11% year over year.