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By Prakhar Srivastava (Reuters) -Major U.S. exchange operators are set to report a solid third quarter as robust trading in equities and options lifts volumes, a surge that has prompted some analysts to question whether parts of the market are in a bubble. Worries about overheating in AI-linked stocks kept traders rotating in and out of stocks as they weighed potential winners and losers. Hedging and sector rotations are driving surges in trading volumes, analysts said, as investors shift positions to manage risk and chase market trends. "The market has shown a high tolerance for chaos with a strong ethos of buying the dip," said Michael Ashley Schulman, partner and CIO at Running Point Capital Advisors. "Underneath the surface, earnings growth is grinding forward, consumer spending is resilient as Halloween sales are expected to hit new records, and credit markets aren't screaming mayday yet, but we are watchful." THE CONTEXT Uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's next policy moves kept investors active across stocks and derivatives in the third quarter, driving demand for hedging and portfolio adjustments. Those concerns are expected to linger through the rest of the year and into 2026, with the U.S. government shutdown now in its third week. Energy markets were quieter after several quarters of being a key driver of trading activity. Jefferies analysts said overall activity was "lighter" in the quarter, with both energy and interest-rate volumes lagging. At Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, activity in equities and derivatives is expected to help offset weaker energy volumes. "ICE's third-quarter energy futures and options activity has been weaker than in recent quarters with oil price volatility (Brent contract) falling towards its lowest levels in 18 months," said GimmeCredit analyst Jay Cushing. THE FUNDAMENTALS * Nasdaq and ICE are expected to see higher revenue thanks to growth in equities and options trading in the quarter, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. * CME, the world's largest derivatives marketplace, average daily volume slipped about 10.6% to 25.3 million contracts in third quarter * Cboe's S&P 500 index options, hit a quarterly record of 3.9 million contracts WALL STREET SENTIMENT Nasdaq and CME will kick off the U.S. exchange earnings season this week, while ICE and Cboe are scheduled to report later this month. Company Q3'25 EPS estimate Q3'24 EPS Nasdaq $0.85 $0.74 CBOE $2.49 $2.22 CME $2.64 $2.68 Intercontinental $1.61 $1.55 Exchange ** Source: LSEG STOCK PERFORMANCE (Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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(Reuters) – Wall Street opened higher on Monday as investors prepared for a wave of earnings from corporate majors and a long-awaited inflation report, which could shake up markets later in the week. At 09:30 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 189.46 points, or 0.41%, to 46,381.17. The S&P 500 gained 38.71 points, or 0.58%, to 6,702.72, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 180.31 points, or 0.80%, to 22,860.28. (Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bangalore; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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(Reuters News) -Beer maker Molson Coors Beverage Company said on Monday it would cut about 400 jobs, or 9% of the workforce, across its Americas business by the end of December as part of a corporate restructuring plan for the unit. Shares of the company were up about 1.3% in premarket trading. The job cuts come at a time when alcohol companies in the U.S. are facing uncertainties from cautious discretionary spending by consumers amid inflation and tariff-driven volatilities. The company will incur charges of $35 million to $50 million related to the restructuring in the fourth quarter, it said. Molson Coors had forecast a drop in its annual profit in August, anticipating tariff impacts from the cost of aluminum it uses for beverage cans. (Reporting by Juveria Tabassum and Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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(Reuters) – Wall Street opened higher on Monday as investors prepared for a wave of earnings from corporate majors and a long-awaited inflation report, which could shake up markets later in the week. At 09:30 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 189.46 points, or 0.41%, to 46,381.17. The S&P 500 gained 38.71 points, or 0.58%, to 6,702.72, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 180.31 points, or 0.80%, to 22,860.28. (Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bangalore; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -NASA's top official on Monday said the U.S. space agency was opening up the contract for its Artemis 3 moon mission to compete against SpaceX, which he said was running behind schedule.  "I'm in the process of opening that contract up. I think we'll see companies like Blue get involved, and maybe others," NASA administrator Sean Duffy, who also serves as U.S. Transportation secretary, told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. Blue Origin is a SpaceX rival founded by Jeff Bezos. "We're going to have a space race in regard to American companies competing to see who can actually get us back to the moon first." NASA's multibillion dollar Artemis series of missions are aimed at returning humans to the moon as China plans a 2030 astronaut moon landing. Artemis 3 has been planned for 2027 with SpaceX's Starship. But Duffy said billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX was not on schedule and could put the United States behind its rival, with U.S. President Trump wanting to see the mission take place before his White House term ends in January 2029. "They're behind schedule, and so the president wants to make sure we beat the Chinese," Duffy told Fox.  Artemis 2, a 10-day flight around the moon and back involving systems built by built by Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, is on track for April and could get moved up to February, he added.  Bezos and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp reportedly spoke with Trump over the summer when the Republican president was feuding with Musk, who backed Trump in the 2024 election and went on to lead the broad effort to cut the federal government known as DOGE. Representatives for SpaceX and Blue Origin could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Deborah Sophia and Jaspreet Singh; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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By Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit (Reuters) -Wall Street was poised for a firm start on Monday as investors prepared for a wave of earnings from corporate majors and a long-awaited inflation report, which could shake up markets later in the week. Earnings season shifts into high gear this week, with Wall Street heavyweights, including Tesla, Ford, GM, Netflix, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, IBM and Intel, set to report. Their results will offer a fresh stress test for equities trading near lofty valuations. U.S. regional banks will also be in focus this week, with upcoming earnings providing a pulse-check on the sector's health. Markets are still reeling from last week's volatility, triggered by renewed fears of systemic credit stress in the banking sector. However, upbeat earnings from some regional banks helped calm nerves. S&P 500 companies are expected to post a 9.3% year-on-year growth in third-quarter earnings, according to LSEG IBES data. But with expectations running high, investors will look for strong beats to justify the market's recent rally. "Renewed credit concerns and concerns over trade policy are indicative of just how vulnerable the market conditions are," said Jordan Rizzuto, chief investment officer at GammaRoad Capital Partners. U.S. President Donald Trump stoked uncertainty by suggesting he might ease tariffs if Beijing resumes key agricultural purchases such as soybeans. But he blamed the latest breakdown in talks on China's tightening control over rare earth exports, casting doubt on any near-term thaw. Meanwhile, Trump vowed to keep "massive" duties on India unless it halts Russian oil imports. He would also raise levies on Colombia amid a feud over the country's role in the illicit drug trade. At 08:20 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 89 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 20 points, or 0.29%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 97 points, or 0.4%. DELAYED CPI A U.S. government shutdown, which began on October 1, has halted key economic data releases, leaving investors without crucial indicators and navigating markets with limited visibility. But attention now turns to Friday's consumer price report — a pivotal inflation gauge that could set the tone ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on October 28-29. But the continued freeze on employment data amid the shutdown means policymakers will enter the meeting without a comprehensive view of the economy's health. While September's core inflation is expected to hold steady at 3.1%, markets are betting on a quarter-point rate cut this month, with another reduction likely in December. "The reports that come out, not just this one, but also in the coming months, still will not answer how trade policy over the longer term is going to influence inflationary pressures," Rizzuto said. In premarket trading, Boeing shares rose 1.3% after the planemaker won approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to raise 737 MAX production to 42 planes per month. WeightWatchers climbed 7.8% after the company partnered with Amazon for weight-loss drug delivery. (Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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By Kevin Yao and Ellen Zhang BEIJING (Reuters) -China's economic growth slowed to the weakest pace in a year in the third quarter as fragile domestic demand left it heavily reliant on the humming of its exporting factories, stoking concerns about deepening structural imbalances. While the 4.8% growth rate met expectations and kept China on track to reach its target of roughly 5% this year, the economy's dependence on external demand at a time of mounting trade tensions with Washington raises questions over whether that pace can be sustained. Beijing may be using the headline resilience in growth as a show of strength in talks between its vice premier He Lifeng and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Malaysia in coming days and a potential meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea later. Still, that export strength belies weakness on home turf, where lacklustre demand gives manufacturers no choice but to fight price wars in foreign markets, and compromise on their profitability. Jeremy Fang, a sales officer at a Chinese aluminium products maker, says his firm lost 20% of revenue as higher sales in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Turkey and the Middle East failed to fully offset an 80%-90% order plunge in the U.S.    Fang said he is learning Spanish to get ahead of his Chinese competitors rushing to non-U.S. markets and is now travelling abroad twice more often than he did last year.    But that extra effort isn’t enough.    "You have to be ruthlessly competitive on price," Fang said. "If your price is $100 and the customer starts bargaining, it's better to drop $10-$20 and take the order. You can't hesitate." This intense competition among Chinese exporters feeds further weakness at home, with many having to cut wages and even jobs to stay in the race. While industrial output grew to a three-month high of 6.5% year-on-year in September, beating forecasts, retail sales slowed to a 10-month low of 3.0%. Further hitting consumers by making them feel less wealthy, data also showed new home prices falling at their fastest pace in 11 months in September. Investment in the crisis-hit property sector fell 13.9% year-on-year in the first three quarters. "China’s growth is becoming increasingly dependent on exports, which are offsetting a slowdown in domestic demand," said Capital Economics analyst Julian Evans-Pritchard. "This pattern of development is not sustainable, and so growth is at risk of slowing further over the medium-term unless the authorities take much more proactive steps to support consumer spending." CHINA'S FIVE-YEAR PLAN IN FOCUS Such calls for structural measures that make China's economy more reliant on household consumption have grown louder ahead of this week's key Communist Party meeting, where its elites will discuss the country's next five-year development plan. But while the meeting is likely to result in pledges to boost domestic demand, it will also emphasise breaking through technological frontiers and upgrading the country's sprawling industrial complex as a national security priority. This could keep the flow of economic resources tilted primarily towards manufacturers at the expense of households. A change in its growth model would make China a bigger contributor to global demand and might help tone down trade tensions. But there is no sign that Beijing is willing to relent on the industrial front as competition with the U.S. intensifies. So far, it has been successful in diversifying away from U.S. markets. Its U.S. export sales were down 27% year-on-year last month, but shipments to the European Union, Southeast Asia and Africa grew by 14%, 15.6% and 56.4%, respectively. And China is using its near-monopoly position in the production of rare earths as leverage to try to extract more concessions from Washington. This prompted renewed threats from Trump to add another 100 percentage points to tariffs on imports from China, but also messages from Washington that the two sides are willing to lower the temperature. Triple-digit tariffs would effectively place a painful trade embargo on the world's two largest economies, but Beijing might feel it can bear the pain for longer. "Relatively speaking, China is in a better position than the U.S.," said Yuan Yuwei, hedge fund manager at Water Wisdom Asset Management. "At worst, ordinary people may tighten their belts and some workers are left idle. But in the U.S., if you cut 10-20% of worker's salary, people go out into the street to protest. China can suffer for longer than the U.S." MORE STIMULUS? Overall, the economy grew 5.2% year-on-year in January-September. If policymakers feel the economy is veering off target in the fourth quarter, one option is to speed up infrastructure investment given that they are currently frontloading 2026 debt issuance. After all, fixed-asset investment shrank 0.5% in January-September from a year earlier, suggesting room for improvement in that area. Some analysts believe Beijing doesn't need more stimulus measures this year. But others still see a strong case to offer support to underperforming sectors. "With China on track to hit this year's growth target, we could see less policy urgency," said Lynn Song, chief economist, Greater China at ING. "But weak confidence translating to soft consumption, investment, and a worsening property price downturn still need to be addressed." (Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Kevin Yao in Beijing; Additional reporting by Samuel Shen in Shanghai; writing by Kevin Yao and Marius ZahariaEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

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By Manya Saini (Reuters) -After a turbulent week in which some regional U.S. banks flagged bad loan and fraud issues, investors are now awaiting for more earnings reports from the lenders to check for signs of a wider strain across the sector. Since the 2023 banking crisis, investors have little patience for uncertainty, analysts said. Even isolated loan or fraud troubles now trigger broad-based selloffs as traders rush to reduce exposure. "Years of easy credit and low transparency have left investors uncertain about where risks truly lie, even small negative surprises can spark outsized repricing," Tim Hynes, Global Head of Credit Research at Debtwire. The KBW Regional Banking Index has dropped 6.1%, lagging the KBW Bank Index, which tracks large-cap banks and is up 13.5%. Last week, banks stocks seesawed sharply after Zions Bancorporation disclosed losses tied to two loans and Western Alliance initiated a lawsuit alleging fraud by Cantor Group V, LLC. Cantor has denied the allegations. Zions is set to report third-quarter results after the bell on Monday. The lender's stock, which has lost 12% of its value so far this month, ticked up 1.9% in premarket trading. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF was last up 0.7% before the bell. HBT Financial reported results, with non-performing assets at $8.6 million, or 0.17% of total assets, compared with $6.5 million, or 0.13%, in the prior quarter. Its shares rose 4% in light premarket trading after it agreed to merge with CNB Bank in a deal valued at $170.2 million. Meanwhile, Jefferies added 1.9% in premarket trading. The bank was caught up in the First Brands collapse, though executives have said the investment bank was "defrauded" and any losses are absorbable. Among regional lenders, Washington Trust Bancorp will also report results. The bank had earlier disclosed that its third-quarter profit will be hit by $11.3 million in loan losses. 'ADDITIONAL COCKROACHES' Even before problems surfaced at Zions and Western Alliance, investor confidence had taken a hit by the twin bankruptcies of auto parts maker First Brands and subprime lender Tricolor. Fifth Third booked a $178 million loss last week tied to the bankruptcy of Tricolor, while JPMorgan Chase wrote off $170 million. "Asset quality metrics across banks have been deteriorating but have held up better than we expected. Losses have been low, so these recent numerous larger loan problems have raised fears of a broader deterioration," said Michael Driscoll, credit rating officer, Global Financial Institutions Ratings at Morningstar DBRS. "But one of the lessons from 2023 regional bank failures was that banks' funding can unravel faster than in the past if sizable issues emerge." But many including Fifth Third CEO Tim Spence have downplayed comparisons to the 2023 regional banking crisis, when Silicon Valley Bank's failure sparked a broader turmoil. "We view recent weakness in the bank group as being driven by three key reasons… these include a number of idiosyncratic credit events occurring over a short period of time, less near-term focus over credit overall and mixed messaging from the banks," Deutsche Bank analysts said. Large Wall Street banks last week described the recent stress as idiosyncratic, but investors worry that problems emerging in quick succession point to deeper cracks in credit quality. "A wave of additional 'cockroaches' could reset risk tolerance across markets, pressuring valuations and tightening financial conditions further," Hynes said. Analysts said markets have taken note of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's recent comment about the potential for more cases like First Brands, amplifying investor anxiety about weaknesses in the industry's more opaque corners. "When you see one cockroach, there are probably more, and so everyone should be forewarned of this one," Dimon said last week. (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Joel Jose; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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(Reuters) -Global drugmakers are rushing to boost U.S. manufacturing and inventory as the Trump administration weighs a 100% tariff on imported branded and patented drugs. Although enforcement is delayed for companies investing in U.S. manufacturing, the policy has already prompted fast-tracked projects, price cuts and direct-to-consumer sales. Pfizer and AstraZeneca secured multi-year tariff exemptions through pricing deals and commitments to the new TrumpRx.gov platform. Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Merck have pledged billions to expand U.S. operations to avoid penalties. Here's what drugmakers are doing to mitigate supply-chain risks and reassure investors: Pfizer Pfizer reached a deal with President Donald Trump on September 30 to invest $70 billion in research and development and domestic manufacturing, and received a three-year grace period exempting its products from the pharmaceutical-targeted tariffs. GSK The London-based drugmaker plans to invest $30 billion in U.S. research and development and supply chain infrastructure over five years. Eli Lilly The U.S. drugmaker said in September it will invest $5 billion to build a manufacturing facility in Virginia. The facility is the first of four new U.S. plants planned under its $27 billion expansion over the next five years. Johnson & Johnson The drugmaker plans to raise U.S. investments by 25%, totaling $55 billion, over the next four years. It plans to build four plants, including one at Wilson, North Carolina, and another at Tokyo-based Fujifilm Biotechnologies' manufacturing site in Holly Springs, North Carolina, over the next 10 years. Locations for the other plants remain undisclosed.  Roche The Swiss drugmaker said in April it will invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years. A month later, it announced an additional $550 million investment to expand its Indianapolis diagnostics manufacturing hub. The expansion will span Indiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California, creating more than 12,000 jobs. Roche said in May it plans to invest more than $700 million in a new drug manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina. CEO Thomas Schinecker said in July the company had moved around inventories and ramped up production of all the medicines that it already produced in the U.S. in anticipation of tariffs. AstraZeneca The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker will invest $50 billion on U.S. manufacturing by 2030. The investment will fund a new drug substance facility in Virginia, its largest single-site global investment, alongside expansions in Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Indiana and Texas.  It has already started technology transfers and is managing inventory in 2025 to minimize any tariff hit. Company executives have said the impact would be "very short-lived." Novartis The Swiss drugmaker plans to spend $23 billion to build and expand 10 facilities in the U.S. over the next five years. This includes building six new manufacturing plants and expanding its San Diego research and development site, which is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs. Sanofi The French drugmaker plans to invest at least $20 billion in the U.S. through 2030 to boost manufacturing and research. Sanofi plans to expand its U.S. manufacturing capacity through direct investments in the company's sites and partnerships with other domestic manufacturers.  Chief Financial Officer François Roger said in July the potential tariffs are expected to have a limited impact in 2025, as the company already has inventory in place in the U.S. Biogen The U.S. drugmaker will invest $2 billion more in its existing manufacturing plants in North Carolina, adding capacity for gene-targeting therapies and automation. The company has seven factories in the state, with an eighth set to begin operations in late 2025. Merck The U.S. drugmaker has begun building a $3 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Virginia as part of its over $70 billion investment to expand domestic manufacturing and research and development in the U.S. It will also invest $1 billion in a new Delaware plant to make biologics and Keytruda, to boost U.S. production and potentially create over 4,500 jobs. It also opened a $1-billion facility at its North Carolina site in March. Merck's animal health unit will invest $895 million to expand its Kansas manufacturing and R&D site, part of a broader $9 billion U.S. investment through 2028.  CEO Robert Davis in July flagged minimal impact from potential tariffs in 2025, and that the company remained well-positioned due to inventory management and moving of manufacturing to the U.S. Amgen The U.S.-based biopharma firm plans to invest $900 million to expand its Ohio manufacturing facility, bringing total investment in the state to $1.4 billion and adding 750 jobs. In December, the company committed $1 billion to build a second facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Amgen said in September it is investing more than $600 million to build a new research and development center at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California. The drugmaker announced it will invest $650 million to expand drug manufacturing at its facility in Juncos, Puerto Rico, a move expected to create nearly 750 jobs. Novo Nordisk The Danish pharmaceutical company said in August its strong U.S. manufacturing footprint positions it well for tariff challenges, describing itself as "very U.S.-centric and U.S.-focused". AbbVie The U.S. drugmaker has confirmed plans to continue investing in its previously announced $10 billion expansion in the country over the next decade. It already has 11 manufacturing sites in the U.S. and has said it is "fairly insulated" from any tariff impact this year given inventory management actions. Gilead Sciences Earlier this year, the drugmaker announced $11 billion in new planned investment in the U.S. to add to its domestic manufacturing and research heft, taking its total pledged investment to $32 billion. Gilead said in September that it started work on a pharmaceutical development and manufacturing hub at its headquarters in Foster City, California, in addition to which, it is currently developing two other sites. Cipla The Indian drugmaker is expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint by investing in capacity expansion for complex respiratory products at its advanced facilities in Fall River, Massachusetts, and Central Islip, Long Island, New York. (Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole, Kamal Choudhury and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Leroy Leo, Vijay Kishore and Sahal Muhammed)

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By Ateev Bhandari and Arasu Kannagi Basil (Reuters) -Evernorth, a new crypto venture backed by digital asset firm Ripple, said on Monday it will list on the Nasdaq through a merger with blank-check firm Armada Acquisition Corp II and is expected to raise more than $1 billion in proceeds. The digital asset treasury will focus on accumulating XRP, a token linked to Ripple and the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to data from CoinGecko. The move comes months after Wall Street's top regulator ended a high-profile crypto lawsuit, which accused Ripple of selling unregistered securities to institutional investors. Under a crypto-friendly Trump administration, Ripple is looking to scale institutional adoption and presence of the XRP token in capital markets. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, will create the largest XRP publicly traded XRP treasury company, Evernorth said. As scores of companies continue to wrap crypto assets into equity, concerns are mounting over the spillover impact of a correction in the equities markets. Earlier this month, crypto assets suffered from their largest selloff ever after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his trade war with China. "I lost track around how many (asset holding plays) are there around Ethereum," Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla, a former Ripple executive, told Reuters in an interview. Birla added that he will be stepping down from Ripple's board as he joins Evernorth's. Japanese firm SBI, which was previously affiliated with SoftBank, is providing $200 million of the raise in exchange for equity. "We will look at acquisition opportunities," Birla said, adding that Evernorth will be hiring and building out an investment team as well. The deal also saw participation from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and digital asset firms Pantera Capital and Kraken, which have a track record of funding such strategies. (Reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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