US stock futures edged higher on Wednesday evening after the Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell from recent peaks, as investors await US third quarter GDP and weekly jobless claims due on Thursday. Dow Jones futures inched up 0.15%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures each rose about 0.2%. US equities traded mixed in regular session, as losses from social media companies Twitter (-10.78%) and Snap (-6.08%), and index giants Visa (-6.92%) and Mastercard (-6.05%) weighed on the markets. Meanwhile, Microsoft (4.21%) and Google (4.96%) pushed to all time highs on better-than-expected Q3 results. In after-hours trading, Ford jumped at least 8% on a huge earnings surprise, while eBay, Teladoc and Twilio all tumbled on weak forward guidance. Out of the S&P 500's companies that have reported earnings, 82.8% have beaten analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv data.

The Bank of Canada decided in October to end its quantitative easing programme and move into the reinvestment phase, during which it will purchase Government of Canada bonds solely to replace maturing bonds. The central bank also kept its target for the overnight rate at 0.25%, in line with forecasts, and expects borrowing costs to remain at the current level until sometime in the middle quarters of 2022, compared to previous guidance of sometime in the second half of next year. Canada’s economy is now expected to grow at a slower 5% this year (vs 6% in the July forecasts) before moderating to 4.25% in 2022 (vs 4.6%) and 3.75% in 2023 (vs 3.3%). On the inflation front, policymakers noted that main forces pushing up prices, including higher energy prices and pandemic-related supply bottlenecks, now appear to be stronger and more persistent than expected. CPI inflation will likely remain elevated into next year, and ease back to around the 2% target by late 2022.

The Central Bank of Brazil announced its sixth interest rate hike in 2021 and the biggest in almost two decades at its October meeting, raising the Selic rate by 150 basis points to 7.75%, while markets had expected a smaller 100 bps increase. Policymakers see another adjustment of the same magnitude in December, aimed at containing inflation expectations and after the government said it would bypass spending rules to boost cash transfers ahead of next year’s election. Turning to the Brazilian economy, growth indicators released since the last meeting show an evolution slightly below expectations. Currently, the Copom's baseline scenario and balance of risks indicate as appropriate to advance the process of monetary tightening further into the restrictive territory.

WTI crude futures dropped towards $82 a barrel on Wednesday, down almost 3% from Tuesday's seven-year closing high of $84.65, after EIA data showed crude inventories rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, more than the expected 1.9 million barrel build. However, the report also showed crude supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub declined the most since January, with supply levels already at the lowest since 2018. The US oil benchmark has been steadily rising since the fourth week of August due to an extraordinary recovery in demand following the reopening of major economies, coupled with global supply shortages exacerbated by an ongoing energy crisis.

New orders for US durable goods declined 0.4% mom in September of 2021, following a downwardly revised 1.3% rise in August and compared to market forecasts of a 1.1% drop. It is the first decline in five months, due to ongoing supply chain disruptions. Orders declined for nondefense capital goods (-4.2%), transportation (-2.3%) namely motor vehicles and parts (-2.9%) and nondefense aircraft and parts (-27.9%), and communications equipment (-2%). Also, excluding defense, new orders decreased 2%. On the other hand, the biggest increases were seen in orders for defense aircraft and parts (104.3%); defense capital goods (28.4%); and machinery (1.1%). Meanwhile, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.8%, above forecasts of 0.5%. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.4%.

The Nikkei 225 Index lost 1.2% to below 28,740 while the broader Topix Index shed 1% to around 1,994 on Thursday, as investors remained cautious ahead of central bank announcements. The Bank of Japan is set to keep monetary policy unchanged and project inflation to stay below its 2% target for at least two more years, well within market expectations that it will lag other central banks in scaling back pandemic-era policies. Meanwhile, Japan’s retail sales fell 0.6% year-on-year in September, as the coronavirus pandemic dampened consumption. Technology, industrial and financial services-related stocks pulled the market lower, led by early losses in Softbank Group, Fanuc Corp., M3 Inc., Hitachi and Fujitsu, among others.