The CPI data came in better than expected. The CPI gained 0.4% on a monthly basis and 7.7 on a yearly basis. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the consumer price index to gain 0.6% between September and October, or 7.9% over a year ago.

This means that headline inflation cooled quite a bit from September’s 8.2% pace.

Investors are praying that rate hikes will stop as soon as possible and a slowdown in overheating prices is be the best way to reassure them on this point.

Just one year after bitcoin's record high. In the stock market, Wall Street had a hard time digesting yesterday a confusing election situation in the United States.

Wall Street finally stalled at the end of yesterday's trading, as the mid-term elections in the US have not yet delivered their verdict. If there was no "red wave", the Republicans remain in position to win the majority in both houses. At the close, the S&P500 lost 2.1% and the Nasdaq 100 some 2.4%.

As of this writing, the Republicans have picked up ten seats in the House of Representatives, which is still not enough to reach a majority of 218 out of 435 seats. But projections suggest that they could move into the lead in the next few hours. In the Senate, the situation is more confused. The Democrats have 48 seats and the Republicans 49. three seats remain to be filled. A run-off election will be required on December 6 in Georgia, while the races in Arizona and Nevada are too close to call at this point.

It's impossible not to talk about cryptocurrencies this week, with another earthquake in the works. Before I get criticized by the crypto guardians of the temple, I'd like to point out that I've always liked the idea of bitcoin, this alternative currency that allows us to break free from the existing system. I think it's also because its alleged inventor remains a mystery.

But my interest in cryptocurrency quickly gave way to a form of dismay, when I saw how quickly the armada of profiteers swooped into the ecosystem to make it a good big casino. We started from a mathematical and libertarian idea and ended up with an ultra-financialization of everything, at a level that the biggest financial sharks would not have dared to dream of. Decerebrate speculation has very quickly replaced everything else. Many people got rich and, it is true, allowed private individuals to profit from it.

Complacency towards the cryptocurrency world reached its peak almost to the day a year ago, when bitcoin flirted with USD 69,000. At that time, the big Wall Street firms and a number of institutional investors finally decided to jump on the bandwagon: there was no way to stay out if there was money to be made. Everything was going well for everyone because everything was going up. And then the time of monetary abundance came to an end and crude pyramid schemes started to collapse. Small fish, then medium fish, went down the drain. Then bigger ones. Until this week's FTX platform, an empire that collapsed in a matter of hours.

We don't know what will happen next. JPMorgan is already warning of a shock wave of margin calls in the sector. Intra-crypto solidarity doesn't seem to work anymore because the sums at stake exceed what a reasonable institution is willing to risk. The firefighter-pyromaniac competitor Binance, which was expected to come to FTX's rescue, has finally passed on. "In these battles of money, deaf and cowardly, where one disembowels the weak, without noise, there are no more links, no more kinship, no more friendship", wrote revered French writer Emile Zola in Money. That was in 1891. The crypto-currency is in the process of remaking the whole dark side of financial capitalism in ultra-acceleration. It would take $8 billion to save the FTX soldier, without which a bankruptcy is looming, with the usual blood and tears. And in record time with that. Bitcoin went from $21,300 last weekend to $15,820 last night. This morning it's attempting a 5% rebound to 16,700 dollars. I'm repeating myself, but in this area as in others, it is our own complacency that results in creating this kind of monster. And that of the authorities too, since they are totally incapable of managing this Wild West.

 

Economic highlights of the day:

In the United States, weekly jobless claims and inflation figures for October will be released at 2:30 pm. All the macro agenda here. 

The dollar is up 0.7% to EUR 1.0054 and down 0.2% against the pound to GBP 0.8780. The gold ounce is holding firm after its rebound, around 1709 dollars. Oil is falling again, with North Sea Brent at USD 92.39 a barrel and US WTI light crude at USD 85.44. The yield on 10-year US debt is little changed at 4.09%. Bitcoin is recovering a bit after its drop, up 5% to USD 16,500.

 

In corporate news:

* Apple - Apple's main subcontractor, Foxconn, said Thursday it expects smartphone revenue to fall in the current quarter. The group added that it was adjusting production to limit the impact of health restrictions in China at one of its factories that produces iPhones.

* Tapestry - The luxury goods group lowered its annual revenue and profit forecasts due to restrictions against COVID-19 in China and an expected slowdown in demand in North America.

* Cryptocurrency-related stocks are rising in pre-market trading in the wake of a 4.9% rebound in bitcoin, which had hit a two-year low the previous day after Binance abandoned its proposed FTX buyout.

* Robinhood gains 0.6% in pre-market trading, benefiting from the rebound in cryptoassets and a statement from its CEO Vlad Tenev that the platform is not directly exposed to FTX, which is in danger of filing for bankruptcy.

* Rivian Automotive climbs 6.4% in pre-market trading after the electric vehicle maker confirmed its annual production target and a smaller-than-expected net loss in the third quarter.

* Lucid Group falls 18.1% in premarket trading to $11.05, its lowest level since its July 2021 IPO, amid a decline in orders and higher costs at the auto group in the third quarter compared to the second.

* Bumble - The online dating app publisher's stock plunges 19% in pre-market trading after it reported fourth-quarter revenue for its offbeat fiscal year below the Refinitiv consensus.

* Beyond Meat reported a larger-than-expected net loss Wednesday as higher transportation and raw material costs weighed on its margin, and the "plant-based meat" specialist said it expects demand for its products to continue to slow.

* Hasbro announced Wednesday that its chief financial officer Deborah Thomas is leaving the company and said it is working to replace her through internal and external reviews.

* Eli Lilly - A U.S. federal court on Wednesday ordered the company to pay Teva Pharmaceuticals International $176.5 million after a trial to determine whether its migraine drug Emgality infringed three patents held by the Israeli company.

* Roblox - JP Morgan lowers its recommendation to "neutral" from "overweight.