APAC stocks were mixed, with the regional bourses mostly rangebound, amid light fresh catalysts ahead of US PCE data.

Initial and Continued Claims printed beneath analysts’ forecast range, with the former at the lowest since September 2022.

...claiming the platforms' event contracts are unlicensed sports betting.

...so far Momentum is not living up to the seasonality worries in December...

US initial and continued claims drop more than expected; US Factory Orders miss expectations; BoJ sources point towards a likely hike in Dec., govt reportedly not to attempt to intervene; US issues travel alert to Venezuela; META CEO expected to cut metaverse resources meaningfully; Trump admin to discuss whether to give NVDA license to export H200 to China.

Given what has transpired over the past 3 years, the biggest tail risk for global markets over the next 12 months may be AI spending...

The conclusion that soaring asset prices mean the economy is strong is a hallucination that goes unrecognized because the entire financial system is hallucinating...

That low-vol regime now rests on a narrow, and increasingly unlikely, combination of growth, inflation and policy all staying intact...

"This is another "strong beat and raise" from Dollar General, with gross margin outperformance..." 

...many more rules are going to be broken; either that or comfortable delusions will be...

...orders rose for the 6th straight month.

"The proposed metaverse cuts are part of the company's annual budget planning for 2026, which..." 

The parallels with today are pretty obvious...

"Retail momentum stocks and crypto are still way below the recent peaks, though both have recovered from the recent lows"

"Once you get a failure to deliver, you will get a Mad Max scenario..."

Porsche shares were up more than 5%, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Car gained nearly 4%, Renault rose 3.3%, and Stellantis climbed around 2.7% after an 8% rally the previous day.

The finances of local governments are being supported by monetary easing on the part of the People's Bank of China in an effort to prop up the sluggish economy.