GeoMacro

US institutions are prevailing over an unorthodox personality, implying policy adjustment and a decent backdrop for equity markets. But the Iran war is an immediate and acute risk to the global macro and market outlook.

October has been a bad month for equities — particularly AI/tech ones — and a great month for oil. We do not think that the AI supercycle is ending, it has more room to go. Token price decline is a sign of a price war between LLMs, not a decline in demand. In fact, that price war is what is driving datacenter profitability, which is what the bull market is actually based on. As such, what matters on a tactical time horizon is whether Trump capitulates on Iran. If he does not, the market will have to correct. We take the bullish side and expect oil prices to decline imminently, forcing a short squeeze and powering equities higher.

Democrats look to be clinching a Senate victory in the final day of the campaign, but Iran, not the Senate, poses the real risk.

Another Netanyahu-led government would raise the risk of Israeli escalation and a major oil supply shock, while an opposition victory would reduce, but not eliminate, this risk due to its greater coordination with and deference to the US.

France’s fiscal mess is far from over, but the bond vigilantes may have gotten ahead of themselves. We book profits on short OATs, eyeing another opportunity in early 2027 as election risks resurface. Meanwhile, French equities are too cheap to ignore. We tactically buy on depressed valuations.

Brazil’s elections have turned into a game of roulette for investors. Bulls and bears were each wrong-footed between the first and second rounds of elections. We are downgrading Brazilian equities, local bonds, and sovereign credit to underweight within their respective EM portfolios.

Iran is effectively trying to create an “October surprise,” an adage that refers to a pre-election crisis that alters the trajectory of polling and the eventual outcome. It is likely to be successful, with oil prices likely to face upward momentum from here. The intention would be to ensure that oil prices do not see any significant decline from now until November 3.

Democrats will win both houses in the midterm, but beyond near-term volatility, none of the outcomes pose a major market risk. The vote is more important as a signal of an anti-business turn in US policy in coming years, which markets could start to price in late 2027 or early 2028.

Democratic candidate for the Texas Senate seat, James Talarico, has been leading his opponent, Republican Ken Paxton, for over a month in the betting markets. At the moment, Talarico’s probability of turning the Texas Senate seat blue is a whopping 65%. This is partly a result of Paxton’s flawed candidacy that builds on his dramatically flawed time as Texas’s attorney general. Remember, the staunchly Republican Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton in 2023!

Markets woke up to twin Houthi attacks on October 12. On October 9, the Yemen-based, Iran-allied, militant group attacked the King Khalid International Airport with a missile, killing 12 civilians and injuring over 300. Following that attack, President Trump suggested that the US “may” join Saudi Arabia’s fight against the Houthis. On October 11, the airport was struck again, with Saudi Arabia vowing to respond.