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Most planned cities probably aren't designed with the view from space in mind, but, as Wired.com's Betsy Mason notes, some of them create incredible patterns on the landscape that can only be truly appreciated from above.

Today US activity will be very light given the Columbus Day holiday. As DB summarizes, we have a relatively quiet day for data watchers today but the calendar will pick up tomorrow and beyond with a big focus on inflation numbers amongst other things. Indeed tomorrow will see the release of Germany’s ZEW survey alongside CPI prints from the UK, France and Spain. Wednesday’s data highlights will include the US retail sales for September, the Fed’s Beige Book, CPI readings from China and Germany, US PPI, and the NY Fed Empire State survey. Draghi will speak twice on Wednesday which could also be a source for headlines. On Thursday, we will get Industrial Production stats and the Philly Fed Survey from the US on top of the usual weekly jobless claims. European CPI will also be released on Wednesday. We have the first reading of October’s UofM Consumer Sentiment on Friday along with US building permits/housing starts. Yellen’s speech at the Boston Fed Conference on Friday (entitled “Inequality of Economic Opportunity”) will also be closely followed.

With futures slamming the lows at their open yesterday evening, touching levels not seen since May, and with the EuroStoxx 50 officialy entering correction just hours ago, down 10% from the June highs, many were wondering if the NY Fed's Chicago Trading Desk, aka Overnight Ramp Capital LLC, would be put in damage control duty and send futures right back to unchanged (because with new Ebola patient alerts springing up everywhere from Boston to Los Angeles, the pandemic is clearly contained). The answer, with a whopping 20 point levitation on no volume, and futures which are pointing now well into the green (not to mention the Eurostoxx rebounding off the lows and now green too), is a resounding yes (thank the  AUDJPY, which is over 100 pips off the overnight lows and back over 94).

• It wasn't Obama this time: Pakistani teen, Indian activist win Nobel Peace Prize (Reuters)
• Surging VIX Shakes Bulls as S&P 500 Charts Go Haywire (BBG)
• Global shares hit six-month low as growth worries mount (Reuters)
• Police, protesters clash in St. Louis ahead of weekend of rallies (Reuters)
• We're Sitting on 10 Billion Barrels of Oil! OK, Two (BBG)
• Spain seeks answers as seven more enter Ebola isolation (Reuters)
• Iran will sell its oil to Asia in November at the biggest discount (BBG)
• Redefining honeypot: U.S. DEA 'most interested' in U.S. investors in Canadian marijuana firms (Reuters)
• UKIP Wins First Commons District With Conservative Defector (BBG)
• Fake Ebola Patients Help Hospitals Prepare for Next Case (BBG)

Another day, another demand by "activist" (which as we have explained patiently before simply means someone who demands companies use moar debt to fund buybacks and/or dividends) Carl Icahn for Apple to buyback it shares. Uncle Carl's bottom line: AAPL stock would be worth a ridiculous $203 (or a $1.2 trillion market cap), if only the board were to "repurchase a lot more" stock "and sooner." Icahn's insight in a nutshell: "the more shares repurchased now, the more each remaining shareholder will benefit from that earnings growth." That's great, but we don't get why waste his precious repeating what he has said so many times before: instead Icahn should just pitch the Fed to monetize AAPL stock in QE 5. Value added Q.E. and well D.

• Five U.S. airports to screen for fever (Reuters)
• Danger, central banks trading with each other: Bipolar U.S. Stocks See Biggest Mood Swing in Three Years  (BBG)
• Draghi Policies Blunted in Berlin as German Protests Grow (BBG)
• White policeman kills black teen in St Louis, triggering fresh protests (Reuters)
• Au Revoir to France’s Welfare Model as Socialists Cut Spending (BBG)
• Here comes Roberto Cavalski (Reuters)
• There are 49 U.S. venture-capital-backed companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more—the highest number on record (WSJ)
• Pressure mounts on Hong Kong leader over payout amid crisis (Reuters)

A recent weekend experience reminded me of how 99% of them are completely useless

Despite being described by Spain's public health director as "a national jewel," the head of Spain's Nursing Council warns "something went wrong" in the health care system's protocols. As RT reports, Spanish health officials have 4 patients interned including infected initial nurse, her husband, and a 2nd nurse (male). Furthermore, 22 more possible Ebola cases are under surveillance having had direct contact with the infected nurse during her vacation after being infected (officials have said they 'don't know' how she became infected with the deadly virus). Images within the hospital show "irregularities" and make-shift isolation units and an insider account said "I do not want to create social alarm, but explain what is still a reality everyday for a few months of nursing staff at the ICU.". One researcher noted "air traffic is the driver.," and added ominously, "it's just a matter of who gets lucky and who gets unlucky."

• Ebola Patient Fights for Life as Contacts are Monitored (BBG)
• GPIF Unlikely To Announce New Portfolio Until November: Delay Could Rattle Investors Hoping Fund Will Invest More in Stocks (WSJ)
• High risk Ebola could reach France and UK by end-October, scientists calculate (Reuters)
• Neves to Face Rousseff in Brazil in Surprise Comeback (BBG)
• Hong Kong democracy protests fade, face test of stamina (Reuters); A Hong Kong Protest Run on Fumes and Instant Noodles (WSJ)
• Putin Clans Said Gridlocked Over Arrest as Sanctions Bite (BBG)
• Surging dollar may be triple whammy for U.S. earnings (Reuters)
• Lloyds Said to Cut Thousands of Jobs as CEO Cuts Costs (BBG)

Every quarter we take a break from all the standard economic indicators to look at a range of alternative data.  The purpose here is to pose the question: “Does the consensus view of the U.S. economy square with what real people do in their day to day lives?” Overall, the news from “Off the Grid” challenges the notion that the U.S. economy is on solid ground and accelerating.  Inching forward, yes... But not much more.

• How you know it is all a lie: Pelosi Presses Obama to Talk Up Stronger U.S. Economy (BBG)
• Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes Put Pressure on New York Fed (NYT), Uh, no they don't
• Clashes Break Out at Hong Kong Protest Site (WSJ)
• N.Y. Fed Lawyer Says AIG Got Billions Without Paperwork (BBG)
• Ebola’s Disease Detectives Race to Track Others Exposed (BBG)
• UPS, FedEx Want Retailers to Get Real on Holiday Shipping (WSJ)
• No more mailman at the door under U.S. Postal Service plan (Reuters)

• As we warned in May 2013... Gross Exposes $42 Trillion Bond Market’s Key Flaw in Exit (BBG).... hint: no liquidity
• WTI Crude Slips Below $90 for First Time in 17 Months (BBG)
• Traders Thank Fed for Once-in-Decade Surge in Profit (BBG)
• Islamic State committing 'staggering' crimes in Iraq: U.N. report (Reuters)
• Philippine Islamist militants threaten to behead German on October 17 (Reuters)
• Draghi’s Buying Spree for the ECB Might Start Modestly (BBG)
• Russian Officials Say No Plans for Capital Controls (WSJ)
• Indians Join the Wave of Investors in Condos and Homes in the U.S. (NYT)
• Leader of Mexican drugs cartel captured (FT)
• Dallas Ebola patient vomited outside apartment on way to hospital (Reuters)

• European Bond Yields Go Negative (WSJ)
• Traveler from Liberia is first Ebola patient diagnosed in U.S. (Reuters)
• Hong Kong Protesters Step up Pressure on Leung to Quit (BBG)
• JPMorgan to face U.S. class action in $10 billion MBS case (Reuters)
• Turkey mulls military action against Islamic State (Reuters)
• Singapore Home Prices Fall for Fourth Straight Quarter on Curbs (BBG)
• Italy's Economic Woes Highlight Dilemma for European Central Bank (WSJ)
• Advanced iOS virus targeting Hong Kong protestors (Reuters)
• Fed Scrutiny of Leveraged Loans Grows Along With Bubble Concern (BBG)
•  Mosquito Virus That Walloped Caribbean Spreads in U.S. (BBG)

It is very common to find examples of stock quotes changing rapidly - hundreds and sometimes thousands of times per second in a single stock. At the extreme, we've seen in excess of 25,000 quote changes in a single stock in one second of time or less. Sometimes a simple pattern evolves from the quote price changes, such as in the case of a certain High Frequency Trading (HFT) algorithm that we've recently seen run every day in Google stock. The algo starts with an order to buy 100 shares, then replaces a millisecond (ms) later with an order to buy a penny higher.. and repeats hundreds of times. "So what? HFT needs to be able to cancel quotes fast so they can tighten spreads, add liquidity and lower costs." The problem is that when HFT cancels a quote after just 1 ms, then anyone located more than 93 miles (150 km) away will see a stale quote. Worse, they won't know it's stale unless and until they try to act on it and wait for a response.

• Hong Kong protesters stockpile supplies, fear fresh police advance (Reuters)
• Protesters stay out on Hong Kong streets, defying Beijing (Reuters)
• Traders Turn Up Grilling Sausages at Hong Kong Protests (BBG)
• Ukraine Army Sees Worst Day Since Truce as Battles Flare (BBG)
• Islamic State uses grain to tighten grip in Iraq (Reuters)
• For Putin Ally, U.S. Sanctions Only Add to Anti-Russia Conspiracy Theory (WSJ)
• Coinbase Leads Move to Bring Bitcoin to Masses (BBG) - good luck
• Austria Cracks Down on Spies -- and Jihadis (BBG)
• EU Believes Apple, Fiat Tax Deals Broke Rules (WSJ); Apple’s Irish Tax Deal ‘Engineered’ to Boost Employment, EU Says (BBG)