- Europe's equities gained today after China's Evergrande Group came back from the verge of a default, injecting a note of confidence into markets at the end of a week dominated by earnings reports and inflation concerns.
- Consumer companies led the climb in the STOXX Europe 600 index, which was on track for the third week of gains, with cosmetics maker L'Oreal soaring more than 6% after reporting third-quarter results that exceeded expectations. On the negative side, the latest corporations to report supply-chain issues were French automaker Renault and the London Stock Exchange Group.
- Futures on the S&P 500 were little changed, while NASDAQ 100 contracts fell after Snap, the owner of the Snapchat application, fell in after-hours trading on a tempered earnings projection, weighing on other technology firms. Among the more dramatic changes in Asia, were rallies in China's technology equities and property shares. Evergrande paid a bond coupon before the deadline this weekend, allaying fears that the property developer's difficulties may spread to other markets.
- The yield on a 10-year US Treasury yield slipped below 1.70% but remains higher for the week. The dollar fell slightly, putting it on course for the second week of losses. The Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its bond-buying program, and traders are increasing their bets on rate hikes to alleviate pricing pressures. Market-implied inflation forecasts have reached multi-year highs.
