Fed Hawkishness, China’s PMI Slump, and Crypto Liquidations: PALvatar Market Recap, October 31 2025

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1:34the headlines that really matter. Just remember that what I say is not meant to reflect the views of the real Raoul, okay? You'll hear from him on today's Rect Vision with Mando at a slightly later time of 12pm Eastern and 4pm GMT. You also have an MIT update from the macro wizard Julian Bittle to feast on. For now, let's lift the cauldron's lid and see what's brewing in the markets. Global markets are still fretting over Fed Chair Jerome Powell's hawkish comments, but Wall Street looked set to rise like Frankenstein after the main indices briefly fell to their lowest in three weeks on Thursday.

2:12Amazon and Apple are flying high today after they dropped big candy bars into investors' trick-or-treat bags in the form of upbeat forecasts for the holiday quarter. Despite today's tumble, the AI sugar rush has boosted world shares to a seventh straight month of gains. The dollar has reached a three-month high, keeping the lid on oil prices, which looked set for a third consecutive month of decline. Gold has also lost some of its sparkle this week. China's manufacturing sector continues to face challenges as evidenced by its PMI, which contracted more than anticipated for the seventh consecutive month.

2:49The reading was a ghastly 49, far worse than the 49.6 forecast, and signalling a landscape colder than a vampire's skin. Inflation ghosts are rattling the chains in Tokyo, adding pressure on the Bank of Japan to increase rates at its next meeting. The Japanese capital reported a hotter-than-expected core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food prices. It increased to 2.8 % from 2.5 % in the previous month. The spectre of sticky inflation is not something many Europeans have to worry about right now, as the Eurozone's CPI fell in line with expectations to 2.1 % this month. It's even lower in France, where the annual rate fell to 1%, driven largely by declining energy prices.

3:36Similarly, Italy reported an unexpected drop to a one-year low of 1.2%. In the crypto land, traders are in no mood for a dress-up, with CoinMarketCap's Fear and Greed Index howling with fear at 31. More than$1 billion in leveraged bets was liquidated in the past 24 hours. That's despite uplifting results from two crypto stalwarts. Coinbase conjured a 54 % increase in quarterly revenues, while strategy enjoyed a quarterly net income of$2.8 billion in Q3 thanks to the rise in Bitcoin prices. That also helped Bitcoin miner riot platforms to a surprise quarterly profit and record revenue. There's also news from the crypt as Sam Bankman-Fried aims to revive his fortunes by rewriting history, claiming his FTX, now just a zombie, had been solvent at all times.

4:27OK, boys and gals, let's summon the real Raoul at 12pm Eastern and then wrap up the week with Nico and Bijan at 1.15pm Eastern. Hope the weekend brings more treats than tricks. See you on Monday.