1.Asia markets trade mixed after U.S. government shuts down
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday, following gains on Wall Street as investors appeared unperturbed by the U.S. government shutdown. Spot gold prices surged 0.09% to hit a fresh record of $3,875.32 as of 11:04 a.m. Singapore time (11:04 p.m. ET). Over in Japan, the central bank released the results for its third-quarter Tankan survey. The Tankan survey measures business sentiment among domestic companies, and is closely watched by the Bank of Japan. The index for business optimism among large Japanese manufacturers increased to +14 for the third quarter from +13 in the previous quarter, but was lower than the +15 expected by economists. The non-manufacturing index held steady at +34.
2. Dow closes at record high, S&P 500 logs winning month, as investors shake off government shutdown concerns
Stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investors moved past worries of a potential U.S. government shutdown and logged an unusually strong September. The S&P 500 closed up 0.41% at 6,688.46, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.31% to finish at 22,660.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 81.82 points, or 0.18%, to close at 46,397.89 — a fresh closing high. The federal government is due to run out of funding at midnight. President Donald Trump said Tuesday about a shutdown that “nothing is inevitable, but I would say it’s probably likely.” Tuesday’s moves added to the major U.S. stock indexes’ solid monthly gains for September.
3. Gold hovers near record high on U.S. government shutdown fears, soft jobs data
Gold prices rose on Tuesday to hover near record highs, buoyed by concerns over a looming U.S. government shutdown, while soft jobs data bolstered expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts. Spot gold rose 0.3% to $3,843.43 per ounce, rebounding from earlier losses in U.S. hours. Prices hit a record high of $3,871.45 during Asian trading. “Gold is showing remarkable resilience again, effortlessly clawing back early losses after uninspiring U.S. JOLTs data that won’t stand in the way of another rate cut in a month’s time,” said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader. “The looming U.S. government partial shutdown adds to uncertainty and adds to the chorus of ‘buy gold’.” U.S. job openings increased marginally in August while hiring declined, consistent with softening labour market conditions that could allow the Fed to cut interest rates again next month.
4. Oil falls as OPEC+ plan adds to expectations of supply surplus
Oil prices fell on Tuesday ahead of another anticipated production increase by OPEC+ and as the resumption of oil exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region via Turkey reinforced market expectations of a supply surplus. Brent crude futures for November delivery, expiring on Tuesday, fell 95 cents, or 1.4%, to close at $67.02 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $62.37 a barrel, down $1.08 cents, or 1.7%. The drops extend Monday’s falls when both Brent and WTI settled more than 3% lower after their sharpest daily declines since August 1. In a meeting scheduled for Sunday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, including Russia, together known as OPEC+, will likely approve another oil production increase of at least 137,000 barrels per day, three sources familiar with the talks said.
5. Government shutdown would furlough about 750,000 federal workers, CBO says
The U.S. government was on track Tuesday to shut down after midnight as Republicans and Democrats in Congress both refused to budge from their opposing positions on a funding deal that could avoid that outcome. Lawmakers took to the airwaves to blame each other for the looming shutdown, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would result in the furlough of about 750,000 federal employees. “The total daily cost of their compensation would be roughly $400 million,” the CBO said in a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who had requested office calculate the financial fallout to federal workers if furloughs happen.
6. Boston Fed President Collins sees caution on future interest rate cuts
Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins on Tuesday expressed support for the recent interest rate cut, but showed some scepticism on the extent of future moves as she sees continued threats from inflation. Speaking in New York, the central bank policymaker noted risks to both higher inflation and a softening labor market that are keeping officials on their toes. “In my view, a bit of easing was appropriate to address the recent shift in the balance of risks to our inflation and employment mandate,” Collins said in prepared remarks. “But I continue to see a modestly restrictive policy stance as appropriate, as monetary policymakers work to restore price stability while limiting the risks of further labour market weakening.” A voter this year on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Collins noted a “highly uncertain environment” that would see “higher and more persistent inflation, more adverse labour market developments – or both.”
7. Australia keeps policy rate steady at 3.6% as inflation worries loom
Australia’s central bank expectedly held benchmark policy rates at 3.6% on Tuesday as inflation in the country stays at its highest level in more than a year. The move was in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters, and comes after the country earlier this month reported headline inflation rate of 3% for August — the highest since July 2024 — with housing, food and alcohol driving price growth. The Reserve Bank of Australia signalled inflation worries in its statement Tuesday: “Recent data, while partial and volatile, suggest that inflation in the September quarter may be higher than expected at the time of the August Statement on Monetary Policy.” The bank said that private demand was recovering, and there were indicators that inflation might be persistent in some areas.
8. Consumer confidence is lower than expected as Wall Street braces for shutdown data blackout
Consumer confidence edged lower in September ahead of an expected data blackout caused by the looming federal government shutdown, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. The board’s headline confidence index registered a 94.2 reading, off 3.6 points from the August reading and below the Dow Jones estimate for 96.0. The reading was the lowest since April and comes with nonessential government operations slated to close at midnight. In addition to the weakness on the main reading, the “present situation” index hit its lowest in a year. “Consumers’ assessment of business conditions was much less positive than in recent months, while their appraisal of current job availability fell for the ninth straight month to reach a new multiyear low,” said Stephanie Guichard, the organization’s senior economist for global indicators.
9. US job openings increase moderately in August; hiring declines
U.S. job openings increased marginally in August while hiring declined, consistent with softening labour market conditions that could allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again next month despite resilient consumer spending. Job openings, a measure of labour demand, rose 19,000 to 7.227 million by the last day of August, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Economists had forecast 7.185 million unfilled jobs. With the government likely to shut down when funding runs out at midnight on Tuesday, the report could be the last key economic data in a while. The Labor and Commerce departments said on Monday all data releases, including September’s employment report due on Friday, would be suspended.
10. Reserve Bank of India leaves interest rates unchanged on caution over tariffs
The Reserve Bank of India left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and maintained a neutral stance on Wednesday, citing increased caution in the face of tariff-related headwinds for the Indian economy. The RBI left its benchmark rate at 5.5% as widely expected, after cutting the rate by a cumulative 1% so far in 2025. The central bank noted that while the Indian economy was proving to be resilient amid cooling inflation, its export sectors faced growing headwinds from steep U.S. trade tariffs. The RBI trimmed its consumer inflation forecasts for the current quarter and year, and noted that price pressures were likely to be “benign” in the coming months. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said in a post-meeting livestream that “trade-related uncertainties” were unfolding for the Indian economy, and that the outlook for growth was deteriorating.
11. Nvidia’s market cap tops $4.5 trillion after string of AI infrastructure deals
Nvidia shares reached a fresh record on Tuesday, climbing almost 3% and lifting the chipmaker’s market cap past $4.5 trillion. The stock is now up about 39% for the year, and continues to attract investors as Nvidia steps up its pace of deal-making, cementing its position at the center of the artificial intelligence boom. OpenAI said last week that Nvidia would take an equity stake worth up to $100 billion in the AI startup, and would build hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of data centers filled with Nvidia graphics processing units. OpenAI then announced five massive new data centers with Oracle that are expected to be filled with hundreds of thousands of GPUs. The whole “Stargate” project will cost $500 billion, the companies said.
12. CoreWeave stock closes up 12% after company lands $14 billion deal with Meta
Shares of CoreWeave closed up nearly 12% on Tuesday after the company announced it has agreed to provide Meta with $14.2 billion of artificial intelligence cloud infrastructure. CoreWeave has been on a deal-making blitz as big tech companies and AI startups race to build out their computing infrastructure. Tuesday’s announcement comes just days after CoreWeave expanded its agreement with OpenAI by $6.5 billion, bringing the total contract to $22.4 billion. “The agreement underscores that behind every AI breakthrough are the partnerships that make it possible,” a CoreWeave spokesperson said in a statement about the Meta deal on Tuesday.
13. Nike posts surprise sales growth but turnaround work is far from over
Nike on Tuesday posted surprise sales growth in its fiscal first quarter, but the sneaker giant still has work ahead to execute its turnaround. The company said revenue rose 1% in the three months ended Aug. 31, after previously saying it anticipated sales would fall by a mid-single digit percentage in the period. Still, Nike’s profits fell 31% while gross margin dropped 3.2 percentage points to 42.2% during the quarter — a warning sign to investors that its efforts to clear through old inventory are still ongoing. In a press release, finance chief Matt Friend warned that “progress will not be linear.” Nike’s reported net income for the period was $727 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with earnings of $1.05 billion, or 70 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose to $11.72 billion, up about 1% from $11.59 billion a year earlier. In a statement, CEO Elliott Hill said the company is making strides in three key areas: wholesale, running and North America.
14. Pfizer does deal with Trump on prescription drug prices
Pfizer and President Donald Trump on Tuesday said they had cut a deal in which the U.S.-based drugmaker agreed to lower prescription drug prices in the Medicaid program to what it charges in other developed countries in exchange for tariff relief. Trump also said Pfizer would offer that most-favoured-nation pricing on all new drugs launched in the U.S. and flagged that other drugmakers will follow suit. Shares of Pfizer rose more than 6%, and the news lifted Eli Lilly, Merck, Amgen, AbbVie and GSK shares as well on investor relief that they would escape the worst of tariffs. U.S. patients currently pay by far the most for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, and Trump has been pressuring drugmakers to lower their prices to what patients pay elsewhere.
15. Freeport McMoRan to divest 12% stake in Indonesia unit at no cost
Freeport McMoRan has agreed to divest a 12% stake in its Indonesian entity to the country’s government at no cost, according to local news outlet CNBC. The report cited Rosan Roeslani, CEO of Indonesia’s wealth fund Danantara, which owns MIND ID. MIND ID currently holds a majority stake in the local entity, Freeport Indonesia. Roeslani stated that he met with Freeport’s CEO during a trip to the United States, where the mining company agreed to the divestment “free of charge.” The agreement represents a significant development in the ownership structure of Freeport’s operations in Indonesia, one of the company’s key mining locations.
16. Meta to buy chip startup Rivos for AI effort, source says
Meta is acquiring the chip startup Rivos, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, as the social media company looks to bolster its in-house semiconductor efforts. The Santa Clara, California-based startup, which is backed by Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, is focused on designing chips based on the RISC-V architecture, an open-source alternative to the architectures made by Arm, Intel and AMD. The terms of the deal were unclear, according to the source. Meta and Rivos did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Meta has been one of Rivos’ biggest customers and had been talking to the startup about a deal, a second source familiar with the matter said. The sources declined to be named as they were not authorized to discuss the information.
17. XPENG delivers record 41,581 vehicles in September, up 95% year-over-year
XPENG Inc. delivered 41,581 smart electric vehicles in September 2025, representing a 95% increase from the same month in 2024 and a 10% rise from August, according to a company statement. The September figure marked the first time the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer exceeded 40,000 monthly deliveries. For the third quarter of 2025, XPENG delivered 116,007 vehicles, a 149% increase compared to the third quarter of 2024. Cumulative deliveries for the first nine months of 2025 reached 313,196 units, up 218% from the corresponding period in 2024, the company reported. In September, the 10,000th New XPENG P7 vehicle completed production, with the company stating that the P7 model achieved the fastest ramp-up to 40 jobs per hour on a new production line within its vehicle lineup.