October 22, 2026
Stocks in Asia were down across the board last night and it wasn’t pretty: Hang Seng -3%, Nikkei -2.65% and the Kospi down 3.5% and moving closer to major support at 5000. Tech concerns clearly weighed on sentiment and let’s not forget, higher oil prices don’t help energy starved Asian economies either. Bank of Korea Governor Shin warned about possible uncertainties related to spillovers from the chip industry -not exactly a sentiment boost—while in China and Hong Kong, regulatory concerns also weighed on sentiment. China’s market regulator urged e-commerce platforms to tighten product quality controls and strengthen consumer protection due to persistent counterfeit goods problems. European bourses closed down again, it’s like a broken record. High energy prices, French budget/France ten year bond yield at 5.09%/France-Germany ten year yield spread blowing out to 170+bps (widest since 2011). There are a lot of negatives and the only reason equity markets in Europe aren’t down more is they don’t have the same tech exposure as Asia. There are a couple of positives: somehow French business confidence came in better than expected this morning but that should be wiped out quickly by a massive strike planned for November 5th and of course that well known humanitarian Putin looks like he might agree to three way peace talks sometime in mid-November. In the meantime, attacks on Ukraine continued full force overnight. North American stock markets continued with a risk-off attitude. Brent crude rose to $112/barrel after President Trump again hinted at looming military action against Iran. Cash flowed into UST markets, sending the 10-year yield back below 5%. Meta shares reversed lower overnight after reporting strong results while setting the stage for a capital raise to fund AI ambitions and potentially shield CEO Zuckerberg from California tax liabilities. Earnings season rolled on, and away from AI/tech, management teams remained broadly effective in offsetting intensifying input cost pressures through a mix of price hikes and cost cutting measures. P&G enjoyed its best trading session in more than 5-years after delivering organic sales growth that doubled market expectations. NYSE breadth was actually slightly positive on stronger volumes helped by defensive sectors including staples, telecom, healthcare and utilities.
* Nikkei -2.65%
* Shanghai -1.48%
* Hang Seng -3.03%
* DAX -1.07%
* FTSE -0.26%
* CAC -1.39%
* DJIA +0.02%
* S&P 500 -1.21%
* Nasdaq -2.60%
* Russell 2000 +0.11%
* BSD Global Tech Hedge Fund -1.70%