Wall Street remained volatile as investors balanced strong corporate earnings with concerns over U.S.-China trade tensions and high market valuations. Morgan Stanley surged 4.7% and Bank of America jumped 4.4% after both reported third-quarter results that exceeded expectations while ASML gained on optimism for higher 2026 sales despite mixed results.

Economic data offered a mixed picture: the New York Fed reported a sharp rebound in October manufacturing activity, with its business conditions index rising to 10.7, beating expectations. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book indicated little overall change in U.S. economic activity, with some districts seeing slight growth and others softening.

Gold stocks moved sharply higher as the price of the precious metal continues to soar to record highs, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 4.1% to a record closing high. Computer hardware and semiconductor stocks displayed substantial strength , with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 4.0% and 3.0%. Commercial real estate, oil service and biotechnology stocks too was notably strong, closing higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 1.8% while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.2%. The major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. The French CAC 40 Index surged by 2%, the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved lower over the course of the session after seeing early strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.4 bps to 4.04% after hitting a low of 4%.

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