As the latest housing data shows an uptick in sales, Case-Shiller's 20-City Composite index surged 6.19% YoY in September - the fastest rate of gain since July 2014.
As Bloomberg notes, the residential real-estate market is benefiting from steady demand backed by a strong job market and low mortgage rates. The ongoing scarcity of available houses on the market, especially previously-owned dwellings, is likely to keep driving up prices.
Corporate Japan's credibility, already teetering after a barrage of corporate fraud and falsification scandals in recent months, hit another low after Toray Industries, one of Japan's biggest materials manufacturers, joined a list of companies admitting to falsifying data. On Tuesdaty, Toray announced it had uncovered 149 cases of data fabrication at its subsidiary, Toray Hybrid Cord, in three products sold to tire companies and autoparts makers: tire cords, cords for car hose belts and cords for paper making.
For the first time since it (belatedly) began conducting stress tests in 2014, none of the UK’s major banks need to raise additional capital. More importantly, the Bank of England and the system could withstand a disorderly Brexit. As Bloomberg recaps, "the stress-test scenario therefore encompasses a wide range of U.K. macroeconomic risks that could be associated with Brexit,” the BoE said. As a result, it "judges the U.K. banking system could continue to support the real economy through a disorderly Brexit."
US equity futures in the green ahead of critical Senate debate on US tax reform and a much anticipated testimony from Yellen replacement Jerome Powell for Fed’s current policy approach. European stocks advance, led by oil and gas stocks after Shell fully restored its cash dividend and unveiled a bullish outlook. Asian shares slide despite the reappearance of the Chinese "National Team" which stabilized the SHCOMP selloff in the last hour. USD recovers gradually from overnight lows against G-10, pushing GBP/USD and EUR/USD to session lows, while oil and treasuries edged lower.
The Chinese authorities’ efforts to contain leverage and reduce risk across the nation’s financial system took another step forward overnight with the ban on approvals for mutual funds that plan to allocate more than 80% of their portfolios to Hong Kong stocks. This looks like a response to surging capital flows into the territory from the mainland and the equity market euphoria in Asia, which saw the Hang Seng index cross the 30,000 mark last Wednesday for the first time in 10 years.