CZECHIA: President to Begin Consulting With Nominees for Cabinet Posts on Friday

Former Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart discusses the Fed outlook.-- On MNI Policy MainWire now, for more details please contact sales@marketnews.com

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• President Donald Trump will meet Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for a bilateral meeting today, on his two-day stopover in Tokyo between the ASEAN and APEC summits.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed confidence that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will sign a deal to extend the tariff truce and keep rare earths flowing when they meet on Thursday.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Japan's USD$550 billion investment will focus on energy, electricity, and national security.
• Trump secured “Agreements on Reciprocal Trade” with Malaysia and Cambodia and reached framework agreements with Thailand and Vietnam. US and Brazilian trade negotiators are expected to meet today.
• Markets are braced for a 'big tech' earnings and the FOMC's rate decision. Bessent has whittled Fed Chair candidates down to five, with NEC Director Kevin Hassett the bookmakers' favourite.  
• The US government shutdown is expected to extend until at least mid-November, with Republicans and Democrats dug in on their respective positions.
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will force votes this week on three bills relating to tariffs.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy still wants long-range missiles, despite Trump's oil sanctions.
• Trump is imposing an addtional 10% tariff on Canadian exports in response to a television ad.
• Trump’s USD$40 billion bet on Argentine President Javier Milei appears to have paid off.
• Senate Democrats will force a vote to block military strikes on Venezuela
• Poll of the Day: A new fault line in American politics may be emerging. 

Full Article: US DAILY BRIEF

The ECB's Q3 SAFE survey did not send a clear signal for the ECB, thus is consistent with current signalling that rates are in a “good place”. While there was a slight tightening in financing conditions, this came alongside a strengthening in selling price, wage and non-labour input cost expectations over the next twelve months.

• The ECB surveyed over 10,000 firms in the latest SAFE round, of which 93% had fewer than 250 employees.
• The write-up notes that "an indicator of overall firms’ financing conditions constructed using firms’ responses shows a slight tightening"..."Across firm sizes, both SMEs and large firms reported a tightening impulse, reversing the easing observed among large firms in the previous quarter".
• Coming alongside growing consensus that the ECB is at (or at least very close to) the end of its easing cycle: "The survey results indicate that bank lending conditions have tightened marginally, with firms reporting a small net increase in interest rates charged on bank loans, following significant declines in the previous two waves. "
• "Firms continued to perceive the general economic outlook to be the main factor constraining the availability of external financing", while "firms continued to signal a deterioration in profits".
• "The availability of skilled labour, production and labour costs remain major concerns limiting production". Note that the EC's quarterly survey is due this week, which will include questions on capacity constraints in manufacturing and services.
• On prices: "Firms expected stronger increases in selling prices, wages and non-labour input costs over the next 12 months".
• Meanwhile, inflation expectations were steady: "Euro area firms’ median inflation expectations remained at 2.5% for the one-year horizon and at 3% for the three and five-year horizons"
• A reminder that both the Q3 Bank Lending Survey and the ECB's September consumer expectations survey are released tomorrow morning.