The S&P 500 rose for a third consecutive session on Wall Street. The Fed and Oracle set the tone for traders, helping the index post a gain for October.
It closed at 7,743.98, up 0.96% for the month — a turnaround achieved through its latest winning streak from Monday to Wednesday.
Warsh’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged was more or less expected, coming just days before the US midterm elections next Tuesday, 3 November. The only meeting now remaining is on 8-9 December, the last of 2026, with policy rates at 3.75%-4%. The ECB is due to make announcements today.
Oil prices are lower but remain elevated, with Brent at $114.438 a barrel and WTI at $101.75. The US 10-year yield reached 5%, while France’s equivalent stood at 4.9420%. Earlier, S&P 500 futures were little changed at 7,728 points.
Investors are taking a wait-and-see approach in European markets, while Euronext Athens resumes trading after the 28 October holiday. The DAX is up 0.44% at 25,704 points and the CAC 40 is up 0.97% at 7,892. With the EuroStoxx Banks index at 281.27 (-0.56%), today’s session on the Greek stock market is expected to be an interesting one for banks and selected blue chips.
With the General Index at 2,605.71 points at the penultimate session of October, it would take a dramatic reversal to end the month in positive territory: the index was down 3.77% through Tuesday. The tally for the Bank Index, at 2,980.97 points, is down 9.16%, while the FTSE 25 is down 4.22% at 6,661.03 points.
It is clear that portfolio positions were reshuffled during the month among managers investing in emerging and developed markets. This was a first stress test, with the market upgrade and rebalancing as its reference points. However, buyers were clearly back in Tuesday’s session, both in bank stocks and in many large caps.
Turnover came to €287.9 million, with 37.17 million shares changing hands, of which 31.05 million were in the four systemic banks. By way of example, Eurobank shares traded in a range of €4.287-€4.739, with 10.24 million shares changing hands.
The first clear signs of major investors taking positions are emerging at levels well below the early-October highs. According to a broker, this reflects the expected round of portfolio reshuffling, mainly in bank stocks and selected blue chips. It remains to be seen whether that was indeed the case this month, and whether the inflows seen two days ago will continue today and tomorrow.
October’s final session takes place tomorrow, and the next cycle begins on Monday, 2 November. Last year’s November was the second-best month of 2025, with a 4.4% gain to 2,083.15 points. But turnover and the presence of major investors differed substantially between November 2025 and today: at the end of last November, trading value stood at €154.4 million. This means significant capital inflows continued this month too.
The banking sector remains the lead indicator, with the prospect of higher dividends adding to the appeal of new positions in the sector’s 4+3 stocks.
Meanwhile, there is a red alert over gas and electricity, with prices soaring and weighing on everything from business activity to demand and consumption.
November will almost certainly be the month METKA lists on Euronext Athens. The prospect is attracting keen interest from the investment community.