U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said she's not worried about the pound's recent fall to a 31-year low against the dollar, although the prospect of a hard Brexit is spooking investors and sent sterling down to $1.2685 overnight. The euro has meanwhile strengthened against the dollar on reports that the ECB is considering tapering its QE program, but the central bank shot down the rumor, which suggested it could wind back its bond buying by around €10B a month.

Economy

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans would be "fine" with raising U.S. interest rates by year end if U.S. economic data continued to come in firm, though any further moves would need to see inflation moving higher. Speaking to reporters after a speech in New Zealand, Evans said any hike would likely come at the Fed's December policy meeting, though he would not rule out a move in November.

Tensions ran high at the U.S. vice presidential debate last night as Republican Mike Pence and Democratic rival Tim Kaine attacked each others' candidates and sparred over issues of immigration, the economy and national security. "People don't vote for vice president. They vote for president," said Lynda Tran, a consultant at 270 Strategies. "But what a VP debate allows people to do is get to know someone who is going to be a heartbeat away."

U.S. regulations, proposed by the Treasury to crack down on companies that try to reduce taxes by relocating abroad, have begun a White House review and could be finalized shortly. The anti-inversion rules would make it difficult for U.S. business operations to shift profits overseas through a practice called "earnings stripping."

After battering several Caribbean nations, Hurricane Matthew is continuing its march toward the U.S., where people have already started to stock up on supplies and evacuate their homes. Forecasters predict a Category 4 hurricane will brush up against the East Coast - including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina - sometime between tomorrow evening and Saturday.

Eurozone business activity last month slumped to its weakest level since January 2015, as the bloc's traditional growth engine, Germany, suffered in September. Markit's final composite PMI came in at 52.6, falling from the 52.9 hit in August. "While the PMI surveys suggest the eurozone economy continued to grow at a 0.3% rate in Q3, there are signs that momentum is waning," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at Markit.

We don't want to get into a "military confrontation" with Turkey... but keeping Turkish troops in northern Iraq could lead to a "regional war," according to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Their presence is "considered a threat to Iraq's sovereignty.. and isn't justified, because ISIS is closer to the Turkish border in Syria than from Mosul."

Stocks

Twitter is reportedly ready to field bids this week. According to the WSJ, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) is the clearest suitor, with its CEO calling the messaging service an "unpolished jewel," but Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Disney (NYSE:DIS) may also be considering bids, with a deal seen in the range of $18B-$30B. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) shares are up 3.4% in premarket action, and have risen over 25% since reports of a sale surfaced last month.

Google has officially staked its claim as a bona fide hardware brand, unveiling a raft of new products it hopes will win market share in the smart-phone, smart-home and virtual reality space. Among them: Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, the Daydream View VR headset, Google Wifi, Chromecast Ultra and Google Home. "The thinking is that if we can work on hardware and software together, we can innovate much better," Google (GOOG, GOOGL) hardware chief Rick Osterloh told Reuters.

Following on a report that Yahoo scanned its customers' mail for government intelligence officials, operators of other major e-mail services - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) have issued statements saying they're safe from that sort of intrusion. Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) is also said to have built a software custom tool to monitor all of its users' incoming emails for certain information specified by the National Security Agency or FBI.

It looks like Samsung Electronics has bagged a contract to manufacture Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) upcoming 10-nanometer Snapdragon 830 chips, according to Korea's ET News, which states the SoC will be used in the Galaxy S8. Samsung (OTC:SSNLF) said in January it was the sole manufacturer of the predecessor Snapdragon 820 - a deal that some analysts said at the time was worth more than $1B.

Meet the Boeings... CEO Dennis Muilenburg has sketched out a Jetsons-like future, envisioning a commercial space-travel market with dozens of destinations orbiting the Earth and hypersonic aircraft shuttling travelers between continents in two hours or less. Boeing (NYSE:BA) also intends to be a key player in the initial push to send humans to Mars, maybe even beating SpaceX (Private:SPACE) and Elon Musk to his long-time goal.

Deutsche Bank closed higher yesterday, extending gains into the U.S. ADR session. The advance followed a report from German newspaper Platow Brief, suggesting the bank was considering scrapping bonuses and raising fresh capital, and was aiming for a $4B-$5B settlement by the end of October. That's around a third of the amount originally demanded by the DOJ, which helped send Deutsche (NYSE:DB) shares to a record low last week.

According to bond investor Jeff Gundlach, Deutsche Bank's (DB) woes highlight the impact of the negative-interest-rate policy in Europe on the region's lenders. "You cannot save your faltering economy by killing your financial system," he said. "If you keep these negative interest rate policies for a sufficient future period of time you are going to bankrupt these banks."

Fitch has cut the outlook on Wells Fargo's (NYSE:WFC) credit ratings to Negative, but affirmed the bank's existing rating of AA-, which is investment-grade. In an announcement, Fitch cited "potential reputational damage from the recent regulatory actions and fines," as well as a belief that the lender could face "earnings pressure."

After returning to the bench earlier this week, the Supreme Court will hear a case today that will clarify an issue at the heart of the federal crackdown on insider trading over the past eight years. Justices will decide whether to make it harder to prove illegal activity when company insiders receive no cash or other tangible benefits for their tips.

More MegaBrew fallout... Asahi (OTC:ASBRY) plans to offer more than ¥500B for SABMiller's (OTCPK:SBMRY) beer business in five Eastern European countries, the Nikkei reports, following the Japanese brewer's deal to buy brands such as Italy's Peroni for €2.55B. SABMiller's business in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania will remain open for bidding.

PepsiCo has been sued by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for misleading consumers by marketing its Naked Juice beverages as healthier than they really are. Its Pomegranate Blueberry juice, for example, advertises that it is a no-sugar-added beverage, but even a single 15.2-ounce container (the smallest option) contains 61 grams of sugar, about 50% more sugar than a 12-ounce can of Pepsi (NYSE:PEP).

Target will cut the ribbon on its 45,000-square-foot Tribeca store today, its latest effort to penetrate dense urban markets with smaller shops. But it will look decidedly different, as Target (NYSE:TGT) caters to city living. The store will forgo large furniture in favor of air mattresses, offer many grab-and-go items, and in place of a typical cookie-cutter food and beverage bar, it'll be home to Chobani's second cafe.

Florida officials are warning that Hurricane Matthew could complicate efforts to control Zika by interrupting mosquito-spraying efforts and boosting numbers of the biting bugs that spread the virus. The warnings come as authorities reported six new suspected non-travel-related Zika cases in Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County, bringing the number of cases where local mosquitoes are believed to have caused infections to 139. Related tickers: SNY, ABT, INO, AEMD, XON, CEMI, BCRX, TMO, OSUR, OTCQB:GOVX

Tuesday's Key Earnings

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) +0.6% boosting profit guidance.
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) -4.6% AH swinging to a loss.

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan +0.5% to 16819. Hong Kong +0.4% to 23788. China closed. India -0.4% to 28220.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.6%. Paris +0.7%. Frankfurt +0.7%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow -0.1%. S&P flat. Nasdaq flat. Crude +1.8% to $49.58. Gold +0.5% to $1275.50.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +1 bps to 1.7%

Today's Economic Calendar

7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:15 ADP Jobs Report
8:30 Gallup U.S. Job Creation Index
8:30 International Trade
9:45 PMI Services Index
10:00 Factory Orders
10:00 ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
5:00 PM Fed's Lacker: “Does Federal Reserve Governance Need Reform?”