Key Points:

Stocks close lower for third day

USD strength continues as DXY moves back to 93.80

Brexit talks to continue over next ‘few weeks’

The theme remained the same yesterday with indices down once again but well off their intraday lows, driven mainly by political barbs and news that Remdesivir has little effect on Covid mortality according to the WHO. USD strength continued with EUR falling back below 1.1700 to 1.1687 the lowest level this month and Cable losing 1.5% on the day as Brexit comments from both sides created uncertainty around a deal. AUD was the worst performer on the day after RBA’s Lowe signalled that a move to 0.1% is very likely in November confirming the futures markets pricing and pushing the currency 100 pips lower to base around 0.7060 before a corrective bounce back to 0.7100. News this morning that Chinese mills are being ‘told’ not to buy Australian cotton will only likely add to strains on the economy. Gold has seen some safe haven bids this week regaining 1900 and not following the USD strength across the other pairs but would need to push and close above 1930/35 for any chance of a return to 2000. The US weekly jobless claims came in worse than expected at 898K vs 825K and just added to the list of investors’ concerns that have seen risk stumble lower this week. Both Biden and Trump will engage in Town Halls today as the gap shows Biden has a very clear lead in the polls but its unlikely either will have any effect on market price. Covid cases continue to spiral across Europe but the death rate appears to be much lower than earlier in the year causing some unrest between those in favour and those against lockdown restrictions. Nevertheless economic growth across the region as we head towards winter now hangs in the balance. No data to focus on in Asia today so expect a very slow day as we await US retail sales tonight and US Michigan Consumer Sentiment.