Central banks dominated last week's macro narrative, with the Fed holding its target range at 3.75–4.00% on October 28 in a 10-2 vote — two dissents favouring an immediate hike — while subsequent hawkish commentary from Dallas Fed's Logan reinforced market pricing for a December increase. The ECB held its deposit rate at 2.50% on October 29 with a data-dependent stance that markets are interpreting as a December hike setup, the BoJ held at 1.25% while signalling further normalisation and accelerating ETF sales, and the RBA is expected to raise to 4.85% at its Tuesday decision — a rare synchronised global tightening signal heading into a week bookended by US midterms and key labour data. Friday's US equity selloff was led by a brutal tech earnings washout, with the VIX surging 12.91% to 19.42 and the Nikkei VIX spiking 31.09% to 33.82, underscoring a sharp deterioration in risk appetite into month-end. Cross-asset signals are mixed but cautionary: Treasury yields fell modestly (10-year –7bp to 4.98%, 2-year –6bp to 4.61%) as bonds caught a safe-haven bid, while Brent crude rose 2.40% to $117.64 and WTI gained 2.08% to $104.12 on US-Iran tension and Strait of Hormuz flow concerns — a stagflationary combination of weaker equities and higher energy costs that will weigh on sentiment at the US open. Nasdaq futures pointing to a modest recovery of around 1% and S&P futures up roughly 0.5% suggest tentative stabilisation, but the backdrop of persistent core PCE at 3.1%, oil above $100, and a Fed leaning toward December tightening leaves the relief rally on fragile footing ahead of today's ISM Manufacturing print at 10:00 ET.