South Korea’s Kospi hit a record high for the third straight day Friday, as trade talks continued with the U.S., bucking wider losses in Asia. The Kospi was the only market in positive territory, touching an intraday high of 3,794.87. Meanwhile, the Kosdaq gave up earlier gains, falling near the flatline. Other Asia-Pacific markets traded weaker, tracking losses on Wall Street as fears over the banking sector and trade tensions intensified. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.18%, leading losses in Asia, while the CSI 300 was down 1.15%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.93%, while the broad-based Topix fell 0.7%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.78%.
Stocks closed lower on Thursday, giving up earlier gains, led by declines in bank stocks on worries about bad loans. Traders also juggled persistent trade tensions and an ongoing U.S. government shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 301.07 points, or nearly 0.7%, to close at 45,952.24. Earlier in the day, the 30-stock index had gained 170 points. The S&P 500 finished 0.6% lower at 6,629.07, giving up a 0.6% gain at the highs of the session. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% to settle at 22,562.54. Zions and Western Alliance fell to their lows of the day as indexes rolled over. Zions plunged 13% after taking a sizable charge because of bad loans to a couple borrowers.
Two-year Treasury yields hit a fresh three-year trough of 3.4040% on Friday as investors priced in at least two more quarter-point rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year. The flight to safety saw gold hit a record of $4,378 per ounce, although it ran into some profit-taking and was last flat. Even so, the bullion is set for a weekly gain of 7.6%, its biggest since early 2020. Silver also hit a new peak. U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled 2.5% higher at $4,304.60, after touching a record high of $4,335 per ounce. The yellow metal has gained over 60% year-to-date, driven by geopolitical tensions, aggressive rate-cut bets, central bank buying, de-dollarisation and robust ETF inflows.
Oil prices fell more than 1% on Thursday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to meet in Hungary soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, casting uncertainty over global energy supplies. Brent crude futures settled 85 cents, or 1.37%, lower at $61.06 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures closed 81 cents, or 1.39%, lower at $57.46. Those were the lowest settlements for both benchmarks since May 5. Trump said he and Putin agreed on Thursday to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, one day before the U.S. president was due to speak with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
China on Thursday accused the U.S. of creating “panic” over Beijing’s controls on rare earth minerals, but indicated it is open to trade talks to resolve a dispute that has threatened to reignite a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Beijing last week announced sweeping controls on rare earth exports ahead of an expected meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in South Korea. Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on China starting Nov. 1 or sooner in retaliation. China’s Ministry of Commerce said its export restrictions aim to protect its national security by preventing the misuse of rare earths in military applications like weapons of mass destruction.
The U.S. budget deficit edged lower for 2025 as record-setting tariff collections helped offset what also were unprecedented numbers for payments on the spiralling national debt, the Treasury Department announced Thursday. In a year marked by a bruising trade war and high financing costs, the federal government managed to escape with a $1.78 trillion shortfall, some $41 billion, or 2.2%, less than in fiscal 2024. President Donald Trump’s tariffs were a major contributor to tariff collections of $202 billion for the year, representing a 142% surge from 2024. Massive surge in customs duties and a September surplus of $198 billion also set a record for the month.
President Donald Trump said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy phone call on Thursday to meet in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump also said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other ‘High Level Advisors’ will meet next week with their Russian counterparts to lay the groundwork for his summit with Putin. Trump did not say when he expects to meet with Putin. The call came a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House, as Kyiv seeks more U.S. support in its war against Russia.
Switzerland’s government on Thursday cut its 2026 economic forecast for the country, citing the Trump administration’s punitive tariffs as a “heavy burden” on its industries. Officials held their forecast for the Swiss economy to expand by 1.3% this year but noted that this was “significantly below-average.” For next year, they are now forecasting GDP growth will slow to 0.9% – down from a previous 2026 forecast of 1.2% growth. In August, Switzerland was hit with 39% tariffs on goods sent to the U.S. after a Swiss delegation failed to secure a deal with U.S. officials. The country’s biggest exports include watches, pharmaceuticals and precious metals.
A House-approved bill that would fund the U.S. military during the ongoing federal government shutdown failed to pass the Senate in a procedural vote on Thursday. The House bill required at least 60 votes in the 100-member Senate to advance; the final vote was 50-44. Most Democrats in the House opposed the defense funding bill when it was voted on in July. Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum noted the bill eliminates assistance to Ukraine, rolls back vaccine requirements, and limits service members’ access to abortions. Thune blasted Senate Democrats for opposing the bill on Thursday.
Regulators are doing away with controversial rules that required banks to plan for losses in the event of climate-related events. A joint release from the FDIC, the OCC, and the Federal Reserve said they no longer believe the requirements are necessary as they are redundant with other provisions banks make to plan for emergencies and unusual events. The agencies stated that existing safety and soundness standards already require institutions to have effective risk management commensurate with their size and complexity.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Thursday reported a 39.1% increase in third-quarter profit from last year, beating estimates and hitting a fresh record as demand for artificial intelligence chips stayed strong. TSMC’s revenue in the September quarter rose 30.3% from a year ago to NT$989.92 billion. As Asia’s largest technology company by market capitalization, TSMC has benefited from the AI boom, producing advanced processors for clients such as Nvidia and AMD. The company raised its 2025 revenue growth forecast to the mid-30% range and increased its expected floor for capacity expansion and upgrades to $40 billion for the full year.
A new underground transmission line was approved by the New York State Public Service Commission linking an existing Clay substation with Micron Technology’s proposed semiconductor megafab facility in Onondaga County. The two-mile, 345-kilovolt line is a key piece of infrastructure for Micron’s planned $100 billion investment, the largest private investment in the state’s history. The project is expected to create more than 50,000 jobs over the next two decades, including 9,000 direct positions at Micron. The transmission line approval follows a 2022 agreement between Micron and New York State.
Chinese car maker BYD will make its largest recall yet of more than 115,000 Tang series and Yuan Pro vehicles produced between 2015 and 2022 due to design defects and battery-related safety risks. BYD has filed a plan to recall 44,535 Tang series vehicles where certain component design flaws may cause abnormal function. It also sought to recall 71,248 Yuan Pro electric vehicles due to manufacturing issues affecting battery installation. In January, the company made a recall of 6,843 Fangchengbao Bao 5 plug-in hybrid off-road SUVs citing fire risks.
Meta Platforms was set to seal an almost $30 billion finance package for its data center site in rural Louisiana, which would be the largest private capital deal on record. Meta and alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital will split ownership of the Hyperion data center site in Richland Parish, Louisiana, with the social media giant retaining 20%. The social media giant has tapped U.S. bond company PIMCO and Blue Owl Capital to spearhead the $29 billion in financing for the data center expansion.
Oracle said on Thursday it expects cloud infrastructure revenue to grow to $166 billion in fiscal 2030, which would make up nearly 75% of its total sales by then. CEO Clay Magouyrk said new bookings were coming in from a range of customers, not just OpenAI. CFO Dough Kehring said the company expects $225 billion in overall revenue and adjusted profits of $21 per share by fiscal 2030. Analysts had been expecting $198.4 billion in overall sales. Oracle shares closed up 3% after the cloud computing announcement but declined in after-hours trading following the broader forecasts.