🤝 📈 Will today's Kamala-Trump elections debate alter trajectory of the US Presidential race?

🌏 Asian stocks are trading a mixed open, with the Nikkei225 index futures -0.5% lower, the HSI index futures down 1% and Singapore stocks up 0.4% (as of 916AM), and the US futures trading slightly in the red as investors weigh election risks ahead of the first US presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

📆 While unlikely to be as immediately consequential as the June matchup between Biden and Trump that ended the president’s political career, the debate is poised to shift the trajectory of the race with just days until early voting starts in some states. Trump and Harris are both searching to gain a convincing lead in battleground polls and a strong performance, or weak one, could make the difference. (Bloomberg)

🤝 In Asia, markets will be looking for cues on the future direction of US-China relations during the debate, with defense, biotechnology and banking companies in the region under the microscope.

🏦 The other consequential event happening tonight is the release of the US CPI, which may play into a Federal Reserve debate over how much to cut interest rates. According to Bloomberg, traders in the US interest rate options market are still betting on at least one super-sized Fed interest rate cut this year — just probably not before the 5 November US election

📊 US indices have been trading in the red this month-to-date, with the Nasdaq-100 down 3.6% to 18,807.25, S&P500 down 2.5% to 5,491.50 and Dow Jones down 1.9% to 40,731 as of 909AM this morning

ℹ️ Put warrants tracking all three indices have increased 14.9% to 23.4% during this period. Investors keen to use put warrants to protect against any downside risks in the short-term ahead of the US presidential debate may enter the warrant codes into their brokerage platforms to start trading right away!