Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Lockheed Martin shares rose as much as 9% after the U.S. market open and were up more than 6% after the company raised its full-year earnings forecast. The defense contractor announced a multi-year F-35 Lightning II production and sustainment framework agreement with the U.S. War Department covering 850 aircraft over 10 years, including initial spares, modification kits and maintenance, plus international orders for Lots 21-30. The deal targets 156 jets per year, pending congressional approval of multi-year procurement authority and funding.

TREE NEWS reports: CBOT corn futures fell 0.65% to $4.6025 a bushel in Thursday’s New York close on Oct. 22, while soybean futures rose 0.54% to $12.6525 a bushel. Wheat dropped 0.56% to $6.2475 a bushel, soybean meal slipped 0.26% and soybean oil gained 1.15%. The Bloomberg Grains Subindex fell 0.25% to 30.8939.

TREE NEWS reports: The ICE U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.18% to 101.599 in late New York trading on Thursday, Oct. 22, with an intraday range of 101.883 to 101.446. The index showed a V-shaped move from an early Asia-Pacific low to the U.S. stock market open, hitting a session low at 15:09 Beijing time and a session high at 22:18 before declining steadily. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.08% to 1,220.15.

TREE NEWS reports: The onshore yuan closed at 6.6748 per dollar at 03:00 Beijing time, up 12 pips from Wednesday’s night-session close. Trading volume for the session totaled $33.908 billion.

TREE NEWS update: Lebanon and Israel concluded talks in Florida without a breakthrough, a US official said. The meeting ended with no reported progress. Further details were not immediately available.

TREE NEWS update: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the evening of the 22nd that Russia remains willing to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict through dialogue. Putin said Russia is prepared to resume trilateral talks involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine, with the agenda focused on fully addressing the security issues of both Ukraine and Russia after the conflict ends.

TREE NEWS reports: Valero Energy reported its highest-ever quarterly profit, beating Wall Street expectations, as fuel supply disruptions tied to the wars in Iran and Ukraine drove third-quarter refining margins higher. Diesel prices used in manufacturing and agriculture have hit record highs, and gasoline prices remain elevated, pressuring consumers and President Donald Trump’s Republican Party ahead of next month’s midterm elections while boosting refiners’ earnings.

TREE NEWS update: Satellite manufacturer Apex has raised a new funding round at a $4 billion valuation. The company did not disclose the amount raised or the identity of its investors. Apex builds satellite hardware, a sector that has drawn increased private capital as launch costs fall.

TREE NEWS update: Norway’s King Harald V said on the 22nd that Norway attaches great importance to developing relations with China and is willing to deepen cooperation, as China’s new ambassador to Norway, Zhou Jingxing, presented his credentials in Oslo. The king said Norway hopes to deepen exchanges and cooperation to better benefit both peoples. Zhou praised the Norwegian royal family’s long-standing support for bilateral ties and said he would strengthen communication with all sectors in Norway.

TREE NEWS update: Canada has instructed its diplomats in the United States to avoid contact with candidates in the US midterm elections. Unless specially approved, Canadian officials may not meet with House candidates or the roughly one-third of Senate seats up for election, and are told to keep a low profile to avoid accusations of political interference from the Trump administration.

TREE NEWS update: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei said there is no so-called “Iran conflict,” calling it an illegal war of aggression waged by the United States and Israel against Iran. He said refusing to call aggression by its name is not neutrality but moral evasion, and argued peace cannot be achieved by appeasing aggressors, justifying aggression, blaming the victim or sacrificing basic principles.

TREE NEWS update: The Pentagon plans to begin expanding military facilities in Greenland next year, a senior Defense Department official said, with the assessment of expansion options to be carried out this winter and construction targeted to start next year. The upgrades are intended to support the deployment of transport aircraft and fighter jets and to accommodate more troops.

TREE NEWS reports: WTI December crude futures settled up 2.32 dollars, or nearly 2.39%, at 99.47 dollars a barrel. NYMEX November natural gas settled at 2.7960 dollars per million British thermal units. November gasoline settled at 3.1765 dollars a gallon and November heating oil at 4.9321 dollars a gallon.

TREE NEWS reports: The Shanghai Futures Exchange crude oil futures 2612 contract closed up 1.6% in night trading at 713.20 yuan per barrel. In the same session, Shanghai gold futures fell 1.88% and Shanghai silver futures dropped 3.86%.

TREE NEWS reports: Canada’s lead trade negotiator said Ottawa should not count on restoring duty-free trade with the United States, signaling that the tariff regime between the two countries is unlikely to revert to its previous form. The remark, reported without a specific date, points to a lasting shift in North American trade terms rather than a temporary disruption. No further details or figures were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: The Nasdaq 100 extended its decline to 3% on the day, with the semiconductor index down 6.5% and a memory-chip index falling more than 8.1%. An AI-winners index dropped over 6.5% while an AI-software pioneers index fell 1.3%, and the S&P 500 was down 1.5%.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump called Elon Musk to request that he remove restrictions on the Starlink project in Ukraine. The call was reported without further details on the timing or the specific limits involved. Starlink, operated by Musk’s SpaceX, provides satellite internet service in Ukraine.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury proposed a rule that would bar large institutional investors holding substantial housing portfolios from buying more single-family homes. Under the bipartisan housing law passed this summer, investors owning at least 350 homes may no longer purchase single-family residences, with the ban taking effect January 7. Treasury acknowledged in the 96-page proposed rule that the preparation time left for market participants is very limited.

TREE NEWS update: India has extended its duty-free sugar import allowance of 1 million tonnes through December 31. The move keeps the tariff exemption in place for the full quota, allowing mills and importers to bring in the volume without paying the levy until the end of the year.

TREE NEWS reports: RBC Capital Markets strategists Blake Gwinn and Izaac Brook said in a Thursday report that U.S. government debt could rise if Democrats win both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, as tighter AI regulation may accelerate a flight to safety. They have low confidence in the yield-curve move under that scenario, however, because safe-haven buying could be offset by fiscal concerns under a Democratic majority.