U.S. inflation pressure heats up again, with September's composite PMI rising to 58.4, marking a new high in over five years.

Serenity said it has recently begun positioning in multiple small-cap South Korean listed companies, which mainly supply products including memory chips, test equipment, machinery, and optical components to Micron (MU), SK Hynix, Samsung, and some U.S. firms. Serenity noted that among small South Korean companies with a market capitalization of roughly $30 million to $250 million, many are driven by AI demand and at business inflection points, spanning sectors like optical components, CPUs, memory, and semiconductor equipment. Serenity stated that due to the high risk and volatility of these companies, he will not disclose specific target names, but believes individual firms could see their market cap grow from $40 million to $400 million—enough for him personally to offset the associated investment risks.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the UN General Assembly, stating that despite the nearly seven-month war with the United States and Israel, Iran "will never kneel" but remains willing to resolve conflicts through diplomatic channels. Responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s earlier threat to "destroy" Iran if a deal is not reached quickly, Pezeshkian said sanctions, pressure, and "bullying" will only further strengthen the Iranian people’s will to resist. He added that any agreement must include the U.S. ending its blockade of Iranian ships and ports, noting that "it cannot be that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while Iran is barred from passage." The Strait of Hormuz typically handles around one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas shipments. Since the war broke out in late February, the strait has effectively been closed due to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and the U.S. blockade. On Tuesday local time, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff held indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, mediated by Qatar, marking the first contact between the two sides since June. Witkoff expressed hope that the talks would be "constructive and promising," but Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the discussions were "nothing new," adding that Iran still insists on conditions including an end to the U.S. blockade and the unfreezing of Iranian assets.

According to Bloomberg, an employee at Morgan Stanley accidentally sent internal documents to some clients via email this week, leading to the unintended leak of over 100 Asian investment banking transactions that the bank is advancing or tracking. The documents cover IPO candidate projects in China, South Korea, India and other regions, as well as private equity funds and pension institutions involved in the relevant companies, plus some suspended projects. The list also includes transactions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with some information containing highly sensitive price details. According to people familiar with the matter, Mohamed Atmani, head of Morgan Stanley’s Asia Pacific Financial Sponsors Group, intended to send the client-facing version but mistakenly dispatched the internal version instead, then attempted to recall the email. Morgan Stanley stated that it attaches great importance to client information confidentiality and has promptly taken measures to address this accidental information sharing incident. This incident underscores the extreme sensitivity of transaction confidentiality in investment banking. Morgan Stanley has been one of the leading underwriters in Hong Kong stock issuances and Asian M&A markets in recent years. It remains unclear whether relevant clients and transaction counterparties have contacted the bank regarding the information leak.

USD stablecoin protocol Apyx announced in a statement that the Token Generation Event (TGE) for its APYX token, originally scheduled for October 13, has been delayed, with no new date disclosed yet. The project team said the extra time will be used to strengthen its core protocol and expand Apyx into a more comprehensive Real World Asset (RWA) ecosystem. Apyx noted that recent STRC has seen its longest and sharpest drawdown since issuance. While the protocol’s operations remain unaffected, the event exposed that digital credit assets have higher volatility than previously anticipated, requiring further improvements to risk management. Additionally, multiple traditional financial institutions have reached out proactively, seeking to tokenize other real-world assets via Apyx’s infrastructure, prompting the team to re-evaluate the project’s development direction. Going forward, Apyx will further optimize apxUSD and apyUSD, including reducing the transmission of underlying asset volatility to holders, enhancing risk-adjusted returns, and expanding to more chains and use cases. The protocol also plans to extend custody, asset verification, on-chain Net Asset Value (NAV), redemption mechanisms, and compliance infrastructure to more RWA assets. The Apyx Pips Campaign will continue running: Season 2 will not end as originally scheduled on October 11, and point accumulation will remain uninterrupted. Due to the extended campaign period, Season 2’s airdrop allocation ratio will be increased from 6% to 9%, with the new end date to be announced alongside the TGE date. All allocations from Season 1 and Season 2 will remain fully unlocked at TGE.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note has continued to climb, reaching 5.081%—its highest level since July 17, 2007.

WTI and Brent crude oil futures rallied sharply in the short term. WTI crude hit $92 per barrel, up 2.82% on the day, while Brent crude broke above $98 per barrel, rising 2.76% intraday. In terms of news drivers, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Al-Araghchi’s interaction with Steve Witkov, one of former US President Trump’s negotiators, was not coordinated or approved by relevant decision-making and responsible bodies including the Supreme National Security Council. Claims that the interaction was coordinated are untrue. Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, stated in a prior TV interview that the original plan was to once again convey Iran’s proposed seven conditions to the "intermediary". This is seen as indirectly indicating that Al-Araghchi did not receive authorization to exceed that scope and directly engage with Witkov. Accordingly, Al-Araghchi is required to explain to relevant bodies and the Iranian people over this alleged "improper" action, clarifying why he took the move in a way contrary to national interests.