Top News: U.S. stocks closed higher on low volume trades… 

• U.S. stocks closed higher, with low volume and conviction as investors watched the start of the seasonal shipping season for signs of consumer resiliency.
• European stocks closed lower after weak German growth data – data released earlier Friday showed that the German economy shrank slightly in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, falling 0.1% in the quarter, confirming a first estimate, published in the late October.
• Most Asians stocks fell on Friday following weak economic signals from Japan and the euro zone, while steep losses in index heavyweight Chow Tai Food Jewellery dragged Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lower.
• Oil traded in a mixed fashion on Friday, with traders still expecting the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEX+, to agree to more supply cuts to boost prices.

Companies: Novo Nordisk planning to boost production… 

• Novo Nordisk (+2.0%) announced a $2.3 billion investment to boost production of its wildly popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs at a site in Chartres, France as it races to meet soaring demand – Ozempic is causing analysts to reconsider investment cases on all staples and beverage companies and continues to be a theme we need to watch into 2024
• Nvidia (-1.9%) dropped after it reported a delay in the launch of the company’s China-focused AI chip designed to comply with U.S. export rules until the first quarter of 2021.
• iRobot (+39.1%) share price surged, on a Reuters report indicating that the European Union regulators are likely to approve Amazon’s $1.4 billion acquisition bid.
• Tesla (+0.5%) is ready to invest up to $2 billion towards establishing a factory in India if the country’s government cuts import duty on its vehicles to 15% for the first two years of operations.

Theme of the day: Chinese company profitability… 

rose at a much slower pace in October than the prior month as deflationary pressures persisted, suggesting the economic recovery remains fragile in the final stretch of 2023. Industrial profits increased 2.7% from a year ago.  The pace eased significantly from September’s 11.9% gain and August’s 17.2% jump. The profits data reflected some pressure on commodity prices.  Manufacturing activity contracted last month and the years-long property slump remains a drag. And while factory-gate deflation had been easing in recent months, prices still dropped 2.6% last month from a year ago. The subdued profit growth will likely keep industrial companies cautious about expanding or hiring more, which in turn could add more pressure on prices. Independent analysis of online job listings and official economic and household surveys indicate the nation’s job market worsened in the third quarter of the year, with wages weighed down and hence squeezing demand and consumer prices.

Source: Bloomberg

Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin|Ethereum

• Crypto exchange HTX reinstates Bitcoin services after a $30M hack – in a Nov. 26 blog post, HTX said deposit and withdrawal functionality is back for multiple currencies, including BTC, Ether (ETH, Tron (TRX) and Tether (USDT).
• Ethereum has successfully broken through the $2,000 mark, causing a notable surge in market volatility.
• success of Bitcoin & Ethereum through existing ETFs purchases