☕️ Good morning, friends,

Pumpkins and fake blood are everywhere today — even in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai.

In the U.S., Halloween is a $13 billion business, but across Asia, authorities aren’t exactly fans of the spooky spectacle.

In Seoul, a deadly crowd crush occurred in 2022, and in Shanghai last year, plenty of Donald Trumps, Sun Wukongs, and Supermen ended up getting arrested.

We Germans tend to think too much fun can’t be good anyway — so we’ll stay home tonight and enjoy some rye bread and alcohol-free beer.

P.S. Job of the week: Head of Sales at asiabits. 👀

📢 Highlights: Despite friendly signals between Trump and Xi, the market fireworks failed to materialize. The US dollar strengthened, and Treasury yields climbed, drawing capital back toward US assets.

For Asian markets, that meant a brief energy-saving mode — especially for export-heavy stocks and rate-sensitive sectors like tech and real estate. Investors paused to catch their breath and lock in some profits.

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