Market News

With mainland markets and Stock Connect shut on the final day of the Trump-Xi summit, Hong Kong equities and the offshore yuan become the main channel for pricing any China-related headlines. Thinner cross-border flows can amplify moves in Hong Kong-listed China names, since southbound mainland buying is absent. The compressed three-day window before the National Day break raises the odds of pre-holiday de-risking in mainland assets. Commodity traders should note the pause in Shanghai futures, which removes a key source of Asian-hours price discovery for metals and energy through both holidays.

--- China's markets take one day off now and a full week off soon, leaving Hong Kong to do the heavy lifting for China trading through the holiday…

Australian Employment Change 39.5K

• expected 20K, prior -15.8K

Full Time Employment Change -6.3K

• prior 6.3K

Part-Time 45.8K

• prior -32.2K

Participation Rate 67.1%

• expected 66.9%, prior 66.9%

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Background:

• Australia jobs preview: NAB leans to 4.4% unemployment on 20k gain in a close call
• Australia jobs preview: CBA sees 15,000 gain, unemployment steady at 4.5%
• Australia jobs preview: employment seen rebounding in August, jobless rate at 4.5%

The muted reaction in AUD/USD reflects a report that offers something for both sides: headline hiring was strong, but a higher jobless rate and a fall in full-time roles temper the hawkish read. Rates markets are likely to treat the unemployment rise as a supply-side story, driven by participation, which keeps the focus on inflation and next week's RBA decision. The ASX 200's partial recovery suggests equity investors took some comfort that the labour market is not deteriorating outright. The ABS caution around seasonal adjustment may lead traders to lean more on trend data, limiting the report's staying power as a market driver.

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Australia's labour market added jobs at twice the expected pace and still saw unemployment rise, because…

The fixing mechanism matters most right now because its message has shifted over the past month. For nearly a year, the PBOC has set its daily guidance weaker than market expectations, which traders read as an effort to slow the yuan's appreciation, and in late August that gap reached its widest since February, shortly after the yuan touched a three-and-a-half-year high. Through September, however, the midpoint has strengthened at a faster pace, narrowing its gap with market expectations and suggesting the central bank has eased its resistance to yuan gains. The fixing is still set weaker than models imply, so this looks like a loosening of the brakes rather than their removal. The balance Beijing is weighing is unchanged: a firmer…

The PBOC allows the yuan to fluctuate within a +/- 2% range, around this reference rate. More here on this.

• PBoC injects 51.5bn yuan via 7-day reverse repos at 1.40%

Summary:

• Japan's Ministry of Finance is set to discuss cutting issuance under liquidity-enhancement auctions for 5-to-11-year government bonds with primary dealers next week, according to sources
• The auctions reopen scarce existing bonds to improve trading conditions, a need created largely by the Bank of Japan's heavy bond holdings
• As the BOJ has reduced its purchases, shortages have eased, including in the cheapest-to-deliver bonds that anchor JGB futures
• A cut would be the first in this sector since the current framework began in April 2026, and could help curb the rise in longer-term yields
• The news lands as 10-year Japanese Government Bond (JGB) futures fell nearly 70 ticks on reopening after a holiday break, following Wednesday's global…

The order adds modestly to Boeing's widebody and narrowbody backlog, but its bigger signal is diplomatic: aircraft continue to serve as a currency for governments seeking to soften US trade pressure. For Bangladesh, the aim is to protect its garment exports, which dominate its export earnings, and any sign of improved US trade terms would support sentiment toward the sector. The pending Airbus review keeps a competitive tension in play and suggests Dhaka is balancing US goodwill against fleet economics. Given delivery dates stretching into the next decade, the near-term financial impact on either planemaker is limited.

--- Bangladesh is buying American jets to protect its American market, betting that a bigger Boeing order buys its garment…

Sticky price pressures and the strongest hiring since February keep the inflation side of the Bank of Japan's case intact, even as activity growth slows. The survey's explicit link between cost pressures and the weak yen may add to policymakers' sensitivity to further currency weakness. For JGBs, already under pressure from the global rise in yields, the data offers little relief, since selling prices sit close to record levels. Equity investors may focus on the export and AI-related demand strength, which supports manufacturers and chip-linked names, over the softer domestic picture.

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Earlier:

• Explainer: why Japan may trim bond supply as scarcity in the JGB market eases

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Japan's economy is expanding at a slower pace, yet firms are…

The report is unlikely to move bitcoin or ether directly, but it adds to a policy backdrop that favours US-regulated dollar stablecoin issuers and the networks that settle their tokens. In rates, the signal matters more than the mechanism: a government exploring new sources of foreign demand for its debt suggests official concern about funding costs is rising. That read may add to the narrative pressure on the dollar's reserve role rather than ease it. Traders are likely to treat the story as a headline until officials confirm any detail.

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US debt (Treasuries) plunging in value, yeilds above 5% offer equity-like returns:

• investingLive Americas market news wrap: Strong US services PMI leads to a big breakdown in bonds

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Washington wants…

The note gives dip buyers a reference point: Goldman's revised year-end fair value still sits a few hundred dollars above spot, which frames the recent weakness as a pause rather than a trend change. Near-term direction remains hostage to Fed pricing, with a further October hike and a firmer dollar the main headwinds for ETF flows. Official-sector demand provides the floor, so any sign of central banks slowing purchases would matter more to the outlook than another rate move. Gold miners and precious metals ETFs are likely to track that balance between rate pressure and structural buying.

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Earlier:

• JPMorgan says Bitcoin could get more support than gold as ETF hedges unwind

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Goldman has moved the timetable for gold, not the destination:…

The discovery adds tangible evidence to the investment case for AI in life sciences, a theme that has leaned heavily on promise rather than results. Sentiment toward AI-enabled drug discovery, genomics tooling and gene-editing platforms could benefit from a concrete example of agents cutting early-stage research timelines. Any read-across is likely to be thematic rather than company-specific, given Anthropic is privately held and ART's commercial value remains unproven. Coming after an AI agent security breach made headlines, the story also offers a counterweight in the wider debate over AI agents operating at scale.

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Earlier, a contrasting article:

• First known AI agent hack of a government site deepens fears over containing the technology

The demand has spread beyond bitcoin: spot Ether ETFs took in about $270 million in the same session, their best day since October 2025, led by BlackRock's ETHA. Monday also extended the bitcoin funds' inflow streak to three sessions and lifted total net assets above $110 billion. Sentiment support is building, because holders sitting on gains are generally less inclined to sell into strength than holders waiting to get back to breakeven. The combination of heavy short liquidations and fresh fund buying also means positioning has been cleared out, which leaves the next leg more dependent on genuine demand than on forced covering.

--- Bitcoin ETFs have wiped out this year's outflows, but part of the rally was forced buying, so the test is…