Annual Inflation Rate and Retail Prices in Britain Rose More than Expected

The U.S. Housing starts dropped to 1,439,000 in September, which represented a fall of 8.1% compared to August. Annually, housing starts eased by 7.7%. Building permits rose 1.4% since August to 1,564,000, although the figure was 3.2% lower than in September 2021. Eurozone's construction output also fell by 0.6% in August. Earningswise, tonight Tesla (TSLA) and IBM (IBM) will post their corporate results in after-hours trading.

Corporatewise, the Procter & Gamble Company (PG) announced its revenue in the FQ1 2023 observed an annual rise of just 1% to hit $20.6 billion. Meanwhile, the company's net earnings advanced by 71% to reach $3.96 billion. Its diluted ESP, on the other hand, declined by 2% YoY from $1.61 to $1.57 per share.

Yesterday Netflix (NFLX) posted better-than-expected results. The company said its FQ3 2022 revenue rose 5.9% to $7.93 billion, with 2.41 million subscribers. On the other side, United Airlines Q3 revenue surged 65% to $12.9 billion.

Salesforce (CRM) gained ground in yesterday’s midday trading, rising about 5% on reports that it has attracted interest from a high-profile activist investor. According to CNBC, Starboard Value has acquired a "significant" stake in the enterprise software company.

Elsewhere, Carnival Corp. (CCL) (CUK) received a boost from news of a debt offering, which is part of the cruise line's plan to refinance its debt load. Shares jumped 11% after revealing that it has commenced a private offering of $1.25B of senior unsecured priority notes due 2028.

Meanwhile, equity indexes across Europe surrendered their gains today following more troubling data coming out of the UK. Annual inflation rose to 10.1% in September after falling to 9.9% in August, while both retail and producer prices increased more than expected. The data on the Eurozone inflation and construction output is coming up later.

At the time of writing, the British FTSE 100 dropped 0.16%, while the German DAX fell by 0.17% and the French CAC 40 decreased by 0.09%.

Markets in Asia-Pacific earlier today continued to sag while monitoring the global economic situation amid concerns about high inflation. South Korea's Kospi declined 0.20% at the market close, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 2.38% simultaneously. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite slid 1.19% at the end of trading session and the Shenzhen Composite dropped 1.43% concurrently. Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.37% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.34% higher.