A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from

Gregor Stuart Hunter:

Container ports are the new economic battlegrounds. As

negotiations between the U.S. and China intensify, the two

nations will from today begin charging port fees on ocean

shipping firms that move everything from toys to crude oil.

S&P 500 futures erased earlier gains to fall as much as 0.4%

after China's commerce ministry fired off another broadside,

saying the U.S. cannot seek talks while also making threats.

That came after President Donald Trump on Friday announced

additional tariffs on Chinese goods from November 1.

The trade worries snuffed out a rebound for stocks that

began on Wall Street on Monday after U.S. Treasury Secretary

Scott Bessent said Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader

Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October.

A rally in Asia's tech sector briefly kept regional equities

above water after OpenAI said it partnered with

Broadcom ( AVGO ) to produce its first in-house artificial

intelligence processors.

That pushed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ( TSM )

shares to a record, while South Korea's Kospi

gained 0.9% after Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) projected a

32% rise in third-quarter profit, beating estimates.

China's No. 1 automaker BYD rose 1% after

tipping Spain as its top candidate for a third car factory to

serve the European market, sources told Reuters.

The yen firmed a tad against the dollar after Japan's finance

minister warned the country needs a new economic strategy that

deals with inflation, rather than deflation, which was

yesterday's villain.

Gold gained 1.3% to $4,164.90 per ounce, showing

little sign of pausing for breath as precious metals continue to

set records.

The same could not be said for digital gold, with bitcoin

last down 1.8% at $113,719.84, while ether slipped

3% to $4,161.86.

In early European trade, pan-region futures were

last up 0.2%, German DAX futures rose 0.1% and FTSE

futures were down 0.1%.

Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday:

Economic data:

Germany: CPI and HICP for September, ZEW Economic Sentiment

and Current Conditions for October

United Kingdom: Unemployment Claimant Count Change and HMRC

Payrolls Change for September, ILO Unemployment Rate and Average

Weekly Earnings for August

Debt auctions

Germany: 2-year government debt auction