Credit Suisse Declared Increase of Own Capital, while HP Expects Cutting 6K Jobs Amid Dwindling PC Sales

All eyes are on minutes of the Federal Reserve’s November meeting, which are expected to show the extent of consensus over the higher peak for interest rates. Earlier this month, Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that rates would probably have to go higher than the central bank’s quarterly projections in September, which showed a peak of 4.5% to 4.75%. Investors see rates topping out at around 5% next year, according to pricing in money markets. Meanwhile, both S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures are trading as of 2:40 p.m. CET, little changed. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot, DXY, Index is also relatively flat, spurring mixed trading among G10 currencies as the Norwegian krone led gains while the Canadian dollar retreated. In terms of macro, investors will get mortgage applications data before the U.S. market open, followed by durable good orders and jobless claims (one day ahead of its usual schedule due to the upcoming Thanksgiving Day’s celebration) figures at the market open. Also, the manufacturing and services PMI’s are due at 9:45 a.m. EST, followed by the University of Michigan sentiment gauge 15 minutes later. The Fed minutes will be published at 2 p.m. EST.

Earningswise, HP (HP) said it expects to cut up to 6,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2025, or about 12% of its global workforce, at a time when sales of personal computers and laptops are sliding as shoppers focused mostly on staples amidst raging inflation. Nordstrom (JWN), however, posted upbeat earnings and sales results for its Q3. The company said it expects FY revenue growth to be between 5% and 7% and adjusted earnings to be between $2.30 and $2.60 per share. Nordstrom shares tumbled, however. 8.52% to $20.72 in today’s premarket.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.24% as of 2:45 p.m. CET, with basic resources adding 1.7% while autos fell 1.1%. At the time of writing, the German DAX index traded 0.18% lower, CAC 40 in France traded almost flat, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. rose 0.16%. The United Kingdom's top court ruled that the Scottish government cannot hold a second referendum on independence without approval from the British parliament, reverting the breakaway kingdom’s hopes of holding another relevant vote next year.

Credit Suisse (CS) expects a pre-tax loss of up to $1.58 billion in its Q4 as it keeps extending its negative cashflow gap, which was unveiled shortly before shareholders approved a $4 billion capital add-on. In response to that, Credit Suisse clients withdrew as much as 84 billion Swiss francs ($88.3 billion) from the bank during the first few weeks of the current quarter. The bank also warned that it will face a loss of as much as 1.5 billion Swiss francs for Q4 2022, partly as a result of its broad downsizes in wealth and asset management branches from the start of October to Nov. 11 representing the worst exodus since the financial crisis.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Japanese stock market was closed due to observance of Worker's Day holiday. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, The Straits Times Index (STI) in Singapore, South Korea’s Kospi, as well as markets in Taiwan and Indonesia all closed higher by between 0.3 and 0.6% each. New Zealand ended the day down 0.9%, while mainland China advanced by 0.26% despite Chinese authorities imposed more restrictions to rein in a rapid rise in Covid-19 infections, adding to investors' worries about the economy just as fresh unrest at the world's largest iPhone factory highlighted the social and financial toll of these curbs.