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Good morning. Elevated bond yields, US said it hit facilities in Syria in ``self-defense strikes,'' and Amazon delivers robust sales. Here's what people are talking about.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the surge in longer-term bond yields in recent months is a reflection of a strong US economy, not the jump in government borrowing driven by a widening fiscal deficit. The increase in yields — which has taken benchmark Treasury rates to the highest levels since before the global financial crisis — is instead "largely a reflection of the resilience people are seeing in the economy," she said at an event in Bloomberg's Washington office Thursday. Meanwhile, some investors say it's safe to start buying bonds again with yields above 5%.

The US said it hit two facilities in eastern Syria it believes were used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups, in what it called "self-defense strikes" following repeated attacks on US forces in the region. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned that further action could come if "attacks by Iran's proxies" continue. Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister warned that the US won't escape unaffected if the Hamas-Israel war turns into a broader conflict.

Amazon.com Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy gave investors much of what they wanted this earnings season: robust sales and profit growth along with a hint that the cloud division earnings machine is regaining momentum. While third-quarter revenue at Amazon Web Services fell just short of projections, Jassy said the business is stabilizing. The company signed several new deals with customers that took effect this month, and demand for generative artificial intelligence is likely to boost the division well into the future, he said Thursday. The shares shot up about 5% in extended trading after his comments.

Another 10% decline in a major Chinese equity gauge may trigger a wave of selling in index futures tied to structured products, adding fresh risks to the slumping stock market. Investors face losses in complex "snowball" derivatives at maturity when a benchmark falls below a so-called knock-in level. For those tied to the CSI Smallcap 500 Index, the average threshold is 4,865, according to estimates by China International Capital Corp. The gauge traded at around 5,417 as of 9:52 a.m. Friday.

European stocks are poised to rebound, supported by a batch of positive US tech results. Expected data include Spanish and Irish GDP, plus French consumer confidence. Sanofi, Equinor and Eni are on tap for earnings.

This is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours.

Lagarde grants Italy some breathing room with ECB policy pause.
Fed hikes still in play on strong economy, Pimco's Clarida warns.
How low can it go? Getting to the bottom of the Nasdaq selloff.
BlackRock says private debt will double to $3.5 trillion by 2028.
Sam Bankman-Fried needs to testify twice: to judge, then to jury.
EY cuts UK partner payouts by £40,000 as big four face slowdown.
Taylor Swift vaults into billionaire ranks with blockbuster Eras tour.

Emerging markets ex-China has become an enormously popular bet this year for traders who want exposure to risk assets, but are trying to dodge the angst surrounding China's growth. ETF traders are piling fresh cash into a fund that tracks emerging-market equities, while stripping out China exposure.

Known by its ticker EMXC, the $6.7 billion fund is raking in record bets, seeing $1.6 billion worth of inflows so far in October, on track for the most for any month since its inception in 2017. If we drill down into the fund's holdings, we'll understand why. A typical ETF tracking broad-based emerging-market equities will have close to one-third of its holdings in Chinese stocks. EMXC, on the other hand, has zero exposure to China, and instead has stocks from India and Taiwan at the top of its holdings list.

As negative news in China continues, investors will continue to seek out solutions for buying emerging markets, while shielding themselves from bearish sentiment. An ETF tracking broad-based emerging market equities is down over 3% this year, while EMXC has climbed about 1.5%.

Carolina Wilson is a senior reporter in the Emerging Markets Americas team for Bloomberg News, based in New York.