02Nov2015 Pre-Market Commentary: Markets Quiet Ahead Of The ISM Manufacturing Report, Asia Markets Down, European Markets Mixed, Possible Volatility This Morning

Written by Gary

U.S. stock future indexes have moved little after Friday’s close moving up fractionally. European markets are mixed and Asian stocks slid after China’s factory gauges signaled that manufacturing still hasn’t bottomed out. ISM’s Manufacturing report comes out mid-morning and that could promote some volatility if it is below 50.

For now the markets are expected to open flat.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are mixed today. The DAX is up 0.79% while the CAC 40 gains 0.47%. The FTSE 100 is off 0.26%.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Shire to buy Dyax for $5.9 billion, still wants Baxalta LONDON (Reuters) – Shire Plc has agreed to buy U.S. rare disease specialist Dyax Corp for about $5.9 billion – and potentially up to $6.5 billion – while still pursuing a five times larger unsolicited bid for Baxalta Inc .
	Alstom closes sale of energy business to GE PARIS (Reuters) – French group Alstom said on Monday that it had completed the 12.35 billion euro ($13.6 billion) sale of its energy business to General Electric (GE).
	Oil slides on Chinese demand concerns, record Russian output LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Monday as weak Chinese economic data fueled concerns about demand slowing in one of the world’s largest oil-consuming nations while record-high production in Russia exacerbated the global supply glut.
	Visa to buy Visa Europe in deal worth up to 21.2 billion euros (Reuters) – Visa Inc said on Monday it would buy former subsidiary Visa Europe Ltd in a deal valued at up to 21.2 billion euros ($23.34 billion), putting the company in a stronger position to compete with MasterCard Inc .
	Stock futures up slightly as factory data awaited (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were marginally higher on Monday as investors digested reports on factory activity from China and Germany, ahead of U.S. manufacturing data and earnings reports.
	Stocks fall on China data, but stronger euro zone lifts gloom LONDON (Reuters) – Stocks fell in Europe and Asia on Monday after further evidence of economic slowdown in China, but modest growth in German factory activity slightly brightened the mood.
	Global factories struggle as stimulus fails to spur LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Massive monetary stimulus from Chinese and European central banks has done little to spur factory growth, moving a debate over more easing up the agenda and raising doubts over whether U.S. interest rates will rise this year.
	Loews profit falls 12.5 percent as insurance, drilling units weigh (Reuters) – Hotel, energy and financial services conglomerate Loews Corp reported a 12.5 percent drop in quarterly profit, hurt by lower revenue from its two major units – multiline insurer CNA Financial Corp and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc .
	U.S. small-business borrowing rose in September: PayNet (Reuters) – U.S. small businesses boosted borrowing in September, an index released on Monday showed, a sign that more firms are betting on an increase in household spending in the coming months.
	Confusion: US Equities Drift Lower (China Higher), Yuan Surges & Purges As China Manufacturing Misses (And Beats) Confusion reigns… China’s Manufacturing PMI is in contraction according to both the Official and Markit/Caixin measures (but the former was flat and missed while the latter rose and beat “confirming economic stability” according to the ‘official’ press). Following the largest strengthening fix for the Yuan in 10 years, both the onshore and offshore Yuan are weakening by the most since the August devaluation. Finally, having cliff-dived at the open, Chinese stocks have bounced back to unchanged on the Ciaxin PMI beat (but US equities drift lower still). It’s a rise and a beat & a miss and a drop for Chinese manufacturing… The last two times the Caixin measure has diverged positively from the official data, it has converged lower in the next 3 months. After the biggest strengthening fix in 10 years… Onshore (and offshore Yuan) are weakening by the most since the August devaluation…
	Partner Of “China’s Carl Icahn” Executed By Local Police After Attempting Escape Following Insider Trading Charges The name of Shanghai’s Xu Xiang is not a household name in US financial circles. It is in China. According to a recent profile in Want China Times (as of May 2014) Xiang, who heads the Shanghai-based Zexi Investment (founded in 2009 and since then generating literally impossible returns) is not only one of the richest Chinese investors, but has been called anything from China’s “Warren Buffett” to China’s “Carl Icahn.” He also has a reputation of being an activist within China’s stock market. To wit from May 2014: The major players in China’s capital market, including equity fund and insurance asset management firms, are gearing up to secure seats as members on the boards of directors in listed companies in a bid to influence these firms to give dividends, putting profit into their own pockets, according to Guangzhou’s Time Weekly. According to the newspaper Xu Xiang, head of Shanghai-based Zexi Investment, is one among these market players in China. Xu, from Ningbo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, built his wealth from scratch through investments in the secondary capital market. Xu set up Zexi Investment in 2010 and gained a good reputation as a profit maker in the Chinese equity fund market. The fund is reported to currently manage more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion). A statistics report on the Shanghai stock exchange revealed that Zexi Investment has raised its stakes in several listed companies, including in conglomerate Ningbo United Group, since the beginning of this year. Xu’s investments have made Zexi more visible in the Chinese capital market. The newspaper reported that Xu’s str …
	Global Stocks Subdued on Patchy Data Global stock markets started November in subdued fashion as investors reacted to a mixed bag of economic data.
	M&T Bank Completes Acquisition of Hudson City After 3-Year Delay M&T Bank completed its acquisition of Hudson City on Sunday after a three-year delay that chilled appetite for deal making in the banking sector.
	Post 1 Of 6 In Macroeconomy: Understanding Earnings Dispersion from Liberty Street Economics — this post authored by Fatih Karahan How much someone earns is an important determinant of many significant decisions over the course of a lifetime. Therefore, understanding how and why earnings are dispersed across individuals is central to understanding dispersion in a wide range of areas such as durable and non-durable consumption expenditures, debt, hours worked, and even health.
	Introduction To A 6 Part Series: Beyond The Macroeconomy from Liberty Street Economics — this post authored by Aysegul Sahim The Federal Reserve’s statutory mission from Congress is to achieve maximum employment and price stability for the country as a whole. In line with this dual mandate, economists at the New York Fed monitor conditions in the “aggregate” economy on a day-to-day basis. But in addition, they have been doing a substantial amount of work to understand the differences in economic experiences across individuals, households, and regions.
	Why the cloud build-up won’t mean another dot-com bust The addition of cloud architecture to the mobile revolution has spurred yet another round of financial optimism, but that doesn’t mean we’re in another bubble.
	Mark Hulbert: Don’t get tricked by talk of a tech-stock bubble Technology companies are unlikely to be the worst performers in the next bear market, writes Mark Hulbert.
	Need to Know: Why the S&P may already be in a bear market Remember the third quarter? As a refresher: it was nasty. The market seemed to finally have surrendered itself to the bears. Then October happened, and it was scary good. But this bearish ratio is pointing to an uglier future.