"With investment flows already reduced, a cleaner positioning slate suggests the weak price action will not turn into a rout...Fears of stagflation are growing ever stronger, which could once again spur interest in precious metals down the road," TD said.
Base-metals prices were posting mixed, limited moves amid low volumes as Chinese traders are missing from the market. Three-month copper on the LME ticks up 0.3% to $9,180 a metric ton.
Trading has been quieted by the absence of Chinese traders who are observing a weeklong national holiday. The outlook for metals has been hit by China's power shortages, which threaten to reduce demand just as the world's second-largest economy is slowing.
"Widespread power shortages in China and the debt crisis within the property sector, together with regulatory risks and anti-pollution measures, have reduced industrial activity, thereby potentially lowering the short-term demand outlook for copper and other metals such as nickel, tin and zinc," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.
EMEA HEADLINES
Lufthansa Adds 130 Flights to Sunny European Destinations on Higher Demand
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said on Sunday that it has added more than 130 flights to its fall holiday schedules amid an uptick in demand.
After August, October has shown the highest increase in bookings to sunny European destinations, the airline said.
Swiss Police Raid Credit Suisse as Part of Greensill Investigation
Swiss police raided Credit Suisse Group AG offices last week, the bank said, as part of an investigation into collapsed finance firm Greensill Capital.
Greensill's failure in March hammered the Swiss bank. Credit Suisse ran $10 billion in investment funds that financed Greensill's supply-chain finance lending programs. Credit Suisse has recovered around $7 billion of the $10 billion invested in Credit Suisse-Greensill funds so far.
Volvo Cars Is Completing Plans for IPO in Stockholm
Volvo Cars, the Swedish auto maker owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. of China, is completing plans for an initial public offering and is set to announce details of the listing as early as Monday, in a deal that could value the car maker at as much as $25 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
A listing, if it goes ahead, would represent one of the car industry's most dramatic turnarounds. Ford Motor Co., weakened by the global financial crisis, sold the Swedish company to Geely for $1.8 billion in 2010.
Morrisons Sold to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for $9.4 Billion in Frenzied Bidding War
A consortium led by U.S. buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice won the bidding war for U.K. grocery chain Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, an almost $9.4 billion bet that highlights the extreme lengths private-equity firms are willing to go amid a global deal frenzy.
The CD&R-led group emerged as the front-runner after outbidding SoftBank Group Corp.'s Fortress Investment Group LLC and its partners in an unusual one-day auction held Saturday to decide the victor. The U.K. Takeover Panel, a government arm that oversees deal making in the country, held the contest to end a monthslong standoff fueled by increased offers by each side.
Irish Police Say Europol, Interpol Helped Dismantle Hackers' Infrastructure
Irish police investigating the May ransomware attack that crippled the country's public healthcare system say international authorities have been crucial to their efforts to disrupt the hackers' network.
In August, Irish authorities began dismantling the attackers' online infrastructure, including websites and servers, with help from the European police agency Europol and Interpol. The Garda, or Irish police, is still working to identify the perpetrators, said Pat Ryan, detective superintendent of its cybercrime bureau.
Robots Take Over Italy's Vineyards as Wineries Struggle With Covid-19 Worker Shortages
VALDELSA, Italy-Last year's grape harvest was a harrowing scramble at Mirko Cappelli's Tuscan vineyard. With the Italian border closed because of the pandemic, the Eastern European workers he had come to rely on couldn't get into the country. The company he had contracted to supply grape pickers had no one to offer him. He ultimately found just enough workers to bring the grapes in on time.
So, this year Mr. Cappelli made sure he wouldn't face the same problem: He spent EUR85,000, equivalent to $98,000, on a grape-harvesting machine.
Explosion at Kabul Mosque Leaves Several Civilians Dead, Taliban Say
KABUL-A bomb attack targeting the funeral prayer service for the mother of the Taliban's chief spokesman killed several people outside Kabul's main mosque on Sunday afternoon, in the first major militant strike on the Afghan capital since U.S. forces withdrew in August.
The Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, and other members of the Taliban leadership were praying inside and weren't hurt in the bombing, which occurred at the entrance of the Eid Gah Mosque in the heart of Kabul, officials said.
Kabul Faces Blackout as Taliban Don't Pay Electricity Suppliers
KABUL-Afghanistan's capital could be plunged into darkness as the winter sets in because the country's new Taliban rulers haven't paid Central Asian electricity suppliers or resumed collecting money from consumers.
Unless addressed, the situation could cause a humanitarian disaster, warned Daud Noorzai, who resigned as chief executive of the country's state power monopoly, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, nearly two weeks after the Taliban's takeover on Aug. 15.
GLOBAL NEWS
Broader Inflation Pressures Begin to Show
While many pandemic-driven price pressures are easing, broader sources of higher inflation are replacing them.
That is the message from a slew of alternative inflation measures that strip away price changes due to idiosyncratic swings in supply and demand, and home in on longer-lasting pressures.
Fed Prepares to Launch Review of Possible Central Bank Digital Currency
WASHINGTON-The Federal Reserve plans as early as this week to launch a review of the potential benefits and risks of issuing a U.S. digital currency, as central banks around the world experiment with the potential new form of money.
Fed officials are divided on the matter, making it unlikely they will decide any time soon on whether to create a digital dollar. Unlike private cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, a Fed version would be issued by and backed by the U.S. central bank, a government entity, as are U.S. paper dollar bills and coins.
Crypto Boom, Retail Investors Fuel Rise in Over-the-Counter Stock Trading
A quirky corner of the U.S. stock market home to cannabis sellers, cryptocurrency trusts and other speculative investments is seeing record levels of activity.
Trading volume in over-the-counter stocks, which aren't listed on exchanges, has surpassed $548 billion so far this year. That is already more than the total volume for all 2020, according to OTC Markets Group, the company that operates the main marketplace for such securities.
U.S. to Press China on Trade Pact, Keep Tariffs in Place
WASHINGTON-The U.S. plans to launch new trade talks with China, but will maintain tariffs on Chinese imports as it presses Beijing to fulfill pledges to buy more U.S. goods and services, according to Biden administration officials.
The new initiative is set to be detailed in a policy address Monday by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in what would be her first detailed remarks on trade between the world's two largest economies since she took office in March.
Stock Funds Finally Had to Struggle
Now, fund investors will be tested.
As stocks continued to hit records through the summer, investors poured money into both stock and bond portfolios. But as the third quarter ended, stocks were pulling back.
Falling Unemployment Could Add to Worries About the U.S. Labor Market
Many economists would welcome a small rise in the unemployment rate.
They are troubled by the rate's swift decline from its pandemic peak because it partly reflects a lack of job seekers-effectively limiting the amount of fuel in the economy's engine.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on receptors for temperature and touch.
The Nobel Assembly said Monday that the scientists' discoveries had unlocked one of the secrets of nature by explaining the molecular basis for sensing heat, cold and mechanical force.
To Prevent the Next Pandemic, Scientists Seek One Vaccine for Many Coronaviruses
Kayvon Modjarrad is out to win the war against this pandemic-and the next one.
An emerging-infectious-diseases researcher with the U.S. Army, Dr. Modjarrad is pursuing a vaccine to protect against a range of coronaviruses that cause disease in humans-including Covid-19 variants that might elude today's vaccines.
U.S. to Press China on Trade Pact, Keep Tariffs in Place
WASHINGTON-The U.S. plans to launch new trade talks with China, but will maintain tariffs on Chinese imports as it presses Beijing to fulfill pledges to buy more U.S. goods and services, according to Biden administration officials.
The new initiative is set to be detailed in a policy address Monday by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in what would be her first detailed remarks on trade between the world's two largest economies since she took office in March.
Fumio Kishida Is Elected Prime Minister of Japan
TOKYO-Fumio Kishida was elected prime minister by Japan's Parliament on Monday and plans to tackle revival of the world's third-largest economy as one of his first tasks.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
10-04-21 0628ET
