Daily News
Dow Slides More Than 300 Points as Treasury Yields Hit Multi-Year Highs; Gold Slumps Near $4,100, Oil Tops $93 as Australia Hikes Rates to 15-Year High
29 September 2026
Today in Brief
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.11% while the Topix fell 1.67%, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.4% and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.78%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.57% while the CSI 300 was 0.29% lower, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 bucked the trend to trade 0.1% higher, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield ended above 5.2%, near levels not seen since 2007. U.S. stocks fell Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 347.11 points, or 0.67%, to end at 51,481.51, weighed down by Boeing shares closing nearly 7% lower after the FAA said it wouldn’t certify the 737 Max 10 until it assesses a new software glitch; the S&P 500 slid 0.77% to 7,683.69 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.92% to 26,820.38, though the major averages pared losses after reports that President Trump was open to sanctions relief for Iran. Gold traded near $4,100 an ounce on Tuesday after plunging 4% in the previous session, while crude oil climbed above $93 per barrel, extending its gains amid ongoing uncertainty over US-Iran negotiations. Australia’s central bank raised its policy rate to 4.6%, the highest level in 15 years, as it looks to contain inflation stoked by the Middle East conflict.
In other news: the U.S. and Iran held separate mediator talks in New York as Middle East crude exports climbed to their highest level since the conflict began; ECB President Christine Lagarde said the central bank plans to expand currency safety nets to boost the euro’s global role; UK finance minister John Healey said fiscal discipline will form the core of his first budget on October 28; India is preparing to deploy $25 billion for Deep Tech investment as it races to catch up with the U.S. and China; SpaceX launched its Starship rocket into orbit for the first time from Starbase, Texas; AMD agreed to acquire Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs AI firm for $8.2 billion; and Nvidia released a new software platform to contain AI agents after several companies disclosed incidents of AI models escaping their sandboxes.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.11% Tuesday, while the Topix fell 1.67%
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.11% Tuesday, while the Topix fell 1.67%. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.4%, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.78%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.57% while the CSI 300 is 0.29% lower. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 bucked the trend to trade 0.1% higher. Treasury yields continued their march higher, as investors worried that persistent inflation would lead to rate increases from the Federal Reserve. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield ended the day above 5.2%, near levels not seen since 2007.
Dow slides more than 300 points to start week as Treasury yields pressure stocks
Stocks fell Monday, weighed down by a jump in Treasury yields to start the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 347.11 points, or 0.67%, to end at 51,481.51. Boeing shares dragged down the index, closing nearly 7% lower after the Federal Aviation Administration said it wouldn’t certify the aerospace giant’s 737 Max 10 until it assesses a new software glitch. The S&P 500 slid 0.77% to end at 7,683.69, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.92% to 26,820.38. At their session lows, the Dow was off more than 400 points, while the S&P 500 was down about 1%. The major averages came off their lows around midday after CNN and Axios reported, citing White House officials, that President Donald Trump was open to providing sanctions relief to Iran on nuclear matters. The reports sent crude prices well off their highs of the day.
Gold traded near $4,100 an ounce on Tuesday after plunging 4% in the previous session
Gold traded near $4,100 an ounce on Tuesday after plunging 4% in the previous session, as persistent uncertainty over US-Iran negotiations kept oil prices elevated and increased pressure on the Federal Reserve to tighten policy further to curb inflation. Oil prices resumed their advance as Iranian officials reportedly expressed doubt about reaching a deal before US midterm elections in November, following President Donald Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s latest proposal. Treasury yields climbed to fresh multi-year highs amid growing inflation concerns and expectations of further rate hikes, weighing on non-yielding assets such as gold. Markets are now pricing in roughly a 70% probability of a Fed rate increase in October, following the central bank’s first rate hike in three years earlier this month.
Crude oil climbed above $93 per barrel on Tuesday, extending its gains
Crude oil climbed above $93 per barrel on Tuesday, extending its gains as ongoing uncertainty surrounding USIran negotiations outweighed the resumption of oil flows through Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline. Iranian officials have reportedly cast doubt on the possibility of reaching an agreement to end hostilities in the Middle East and reopen the Strait of Hormuz before the US midterm elections in November. Recent US-Iran talks in New York produced limited progress, with President Donald Trump rejecting Tehran’s latest proposal to reopen the strategic waterway. However, Trump is reportedly considering sanctions relief for Iran and the unfreezing of funds if meaningful progress is made toward a nuclear agreement.
Australia says more hikes not off the table after raising rates to 15-year high
Australia’s central bank on Tuesday raised policy rates to 4.6%, the highest level in 15 years, as the country looks to contain inflation stoked by the Middle East conflict. The hike of 25 basis points to the cash rate was in line with expectations by economists polled by Reuters. The Reserve Bank of Australia has now raised rates four times this year by a total 100 basis points as inflation remains sticky. In its statement, the RBA said some of the upside risks flagged in its August meeting were now materializing. “The conflict in the Middle East has broadened and global energy prices are now much higher than had been assumed,” the central bank wrote, adding that AI-related demand was driving rapid price increases for technology-related goods. The RBA also said that it would “continue to do what it considers necessary,” to contain inflation, including increasing the policy rate further.
U.S., Iran hold separate mediator talks as Mideast oil exports hit war-time high
U.S. and Iranian officials have reportedly held separate indirect talks with mediators on Monday, reviving efforts to end seven months of war as Tehran presses for a response to a revised ceasefire framework and Middle East crude exports climb to their highest level since the conflict began. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Qatari mediators in New York, where he remained after the United Nations General Assembly, and reportedly said he expects Washington’s reply by Tuesday. “We talked about ideas and how to find solutions to fulfil Iran’s conditions,” Araghchi said, adding that he planned to return to Tehran once a response arrives.
ECB eyes new currency safety nets to boost euro’s global role
The European Central Bank plans to expand currency safety nets to make it easier for foreign central banks to borrow euros, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Monday, in a bid to strengthen the single currency’s global standing. The push comes amid concerns over financial fragmentation and growing uncertainty around the future of the US dollar under President Donald Trump. Lagarde said the ECB would work on swap lines, which act as a source of emergency liquidity at times of crisis by allowing foreign central banks to borrow euros in exchange for their own currency. “We will be working on swap lines that will be more responsive to the imperative of having a sovereign euro area and a strong euro,” Lagarde told European lawmakers.
UK finance minister says ‘fiscal discipline’ will form core of budget
Britain’s finance minister John Healey said he will put fiscal discipline at the core of his first budget on October 28, as he highlighted how the cost of servicing the country’s high debt levels was diverting money from public services. “Through the core of the budget I deliver a month today will be fiscal discipline to give families and businesses a bit of breathing space, to drive good growth and jobs in more places, and to write a new chapter of hope for Britain’s future,” he told the Labour Party conference on Monday. He said that high debt levels were “an affront” to Labour Party’s values. “I tell you, these levels of debt are… an affront to our values, and that’s why the prime minister and I are in lockstep that we will meet the fiscal rules,” he said.
India readies $25 billion for Deep Tech investment as U.S. and China race ahead
India is preparing to deploy $25 billion to support Deep Tech start-ups in the country, as it tries to catch up with the U.S. and China in the global tech race to cut its reliance on frontier foreign technology. In the last decade, India invested $11.6 billion in Deep Tech, Rajat Tandon, president of the Indian Venture and Alternative Capital Association, told CNBC. But now, the government alone has committed to invest $11 billion under the Research Development Infrastructure Fund, which will be matched by venture capital and private equity fund managers, he said. Three or four billion more will be added, making” $25 billion available to be spent on Deep-Tech investments,” Tandon said. Deep Tech is a broad term used for start-ups in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, drones and space tech.
SpaceX launches its massive Starship rocket into orbit for the first time
SpaceX launched its massive Starship rocket early Monday, sending the spacecraft into orbit for the first time from its company town and launch facility in Starbase, Texas. Starship reached orbit around 8:15 a.m. local time with SpaceX employees in attendance at the launch loudly cheering the milestone. During the 14th test flight for Starship, Elon Musk’s aerospace and defense company also successfully deployed 26 of its new Starlink V3 satellites. A livestream of the test flight on social network X, which is owned by SpaceX, showed the rocket taking off at 8:48 a.m. ET, or 7:48 a.m. local time, from Starbase. The ship’s booster made a “soft splashdown” off the coast of Starbase a few moments after launch, while the Starship spacecraft continued to climb with one of its vacuum engines going out in sub-orbital trajectory.
AMD acquiring Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs AI firm in deal worth $8.2 billion
Advanced Micro Devices said Monday that it’s agreed to acquire World Labs, the San Francisco-based AI lab founded by industry pioneer Fei-Fei Li, for $8.2 billion. The chipmaker, which previously invested in World Labs, said it’s paying for the startup in stock. Li was a Stanford professor who previously worked for Google and led AI research. She will become AMD’s chief scientist and an executive vice president at AMD, which is chasing Nvidia in the market for AI processors. World Labs is developing a so-called world model, which can be used to simulate 3D environments. In a demo presented by Li and AMD CEO Lisa Su earlier this year, the two executives showed a World Labs model called Marble creating a 3D scene out of a few images.
Nvidia releases software platform to stop AI agents from misbehaving
Nvidia is rolling out a new software platform to allow AI developers to set safeguards for agents and prevent them from breaking out of containment. “You can’t have agents roam around and drift around the company, and so you have to find a way to container it,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. Huang said the new platform is essentially “a browser for agents,” providing a containment system that only allows access to things an agent needs to do its job. The release on Monday of Nvidia’s Open Agent Safety Platform comes after companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google disclosed recent incidents in which their artificial intelligence models escaped their sandboxes and attempted to hack other companies and access their computer systems.