A review of the week past and the week ahead 2nd of November

What mattered last week:

The S&P500 fell -5.42% as pre-election stimulus talks ended, as well as nerves ahead of the U.S. election and fears of a contested result.
As well as surging coronavirus cases, resulting in a return to lockdowns in France, Germany, and the U.K.
Partially offset by good economic data as both U.S and Eurozone September GDP data recovered more than anticipated.
Volatility, as measured by the VIX index, closed higher for a third straight week at 38.0.
U.S. 10-year yields closed 5bp higher, near 0.88%.
Gold closed -1.20% lower near $1878.
Crude oil closed -10.00% lower at $35.79/bbl.
The ASX200 closed -3.88% lower at 5927.6.
In FX, the AUDUSD closed lower near .7030, as the U.S. dollar found a flight to safety bid.

For the week ahead, the key events are:

Australia: Building approvals, home loans (Monday), RBA interest rate decision (Tuesday), balance of trade (Thursday), RBA Statement of Monetary Policy (Friday).

RBA Interest rate decision(Tuesday): The RBA is expected to cut the cash rate from 0.25% to 0.1%, cut the 3-year bond yield target from 0.25% to 0.1% and cut the term funding facility rate from 0.25% to 0.1%. Its also expected to make changes to its QE program. Full details can be read here.

New Zealand: Building permits (Monday), global dairy auction (Tuesday), employment (Wednesday), ANZ business confidence (Thursday), business inflation expectations (Friday).

China: Caixin manufacturing PMI (Monday), Caixin services and composite PMI (Wednesday), balance of trade, and foreign exchange reserves (Saturday).

Japan: Bank of Japan meeting minutes (Wednesday).

U.S: ISM (Monday) U.S. Presidential election (Tuesday/Wednesday), FOMC meeting (Thursday), employment (Friday)

Employment (Friday): The market is expecting to see a 700k gain in payrolls with the unemployment rate falling to 7.7% in October from 7.9% last month.

September quarter earnings season continues with reports from companies including PYPL, QCOM, and SQ.

Canada: Markit manufacturing PMI (Monday), balance of trade (Wednesday), employment (Friday).

Euro Area: German factory orders and construction as well as EA retail sales (Thursday), German industrial production (Friday).

UK: Bank of England interest rate meeting (Thursday).

Bank of England interest rate meeting (Thursday): The MPC is expected to announce another round of QE adding a further £100bn in Gilt purchases to take its total purchases to £845bn.

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