1. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Wednesday.
Asia-Pacific stock markets, meanwhile, traded flat Wednesday, breaking ranks from Wall Street losses, after the World Bank raised the region’s growth forecast Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 1.01%. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was little changed, while the Topix added 0.66%. The Japanese yen weakened 0.38% to 152.48 against the greenback after sliding to the 150-level Monday. Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 fell 0.3%. Mainland China and South Korean markets are closed for the holidays. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%.
2. S&P 500 snaps 7-day winning streak as Oracle slides, shutdown angst grows
The S&P 500 struggled on Tuesday, bogged down by a drop in Oracle shares amid investors’ worries about the profitability of the artificial intelligence rollout. Wall Street also looked for more developments out of Washington with the U.S. government shutdown in its second week. The broad market index pulled back 0.38% to close at 6,714.59, snapping a 7-day winning streak, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.67% to finish at 22,788.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.99 points, or 0.2%, to end at 46,602.98. Oracle led a decline in tech stocks after The Information reported that the software company is generating much lighter margins on its cloud business than analysts currently estimate and that it is losing money on some of its deals for rental of Nvidia chips.
3. Gold price reaches $4,000 an ounce for the first time ever
Gold prices hit $4,000 for the first time Tuesday as investors seek a safe haven from a weaker dollar, geopolitical volatility, economic uncertainty and stubborn inflation. Gold futures closed at a record $4,004.40 per ounce, after hitting an intraday all-time high of $4,014.60. Prices have risen about 50% this year as the U.S. dollar index has dropped 10% and President Donald Trump upends the global trade system and threatens the independence of the Federal Reserve. Central banks and retail investors are buying gold at a rapid pace. China and other countries are diversifying away from U.S. Treasurys and into gold after Washington imposed stiff sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and retail investors are looking for protection against inflation.
4. Oil flat amid OPEC+ output hike, supply glut fears
Oil prices steadied on Tuesday as investors weighed a smaller-than-expected increase to OPEC+ output in November against signs of a potential supply glut. Brent crude futures closed down 2 cents, or 0.03%, to $65.45 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $61.73. Global oil inventories are also expected to rise through next year as non-OPEC+ countries lead oil output growth, according to the EIA, putting significant downward pressure on commodity prices in the months ahead. China is building oil reserve sites at a rapid clip as part of a campaign to boost stockpiles, according to public data, traders and industry experts.
5. World Bank raises China growth forecast to 4.8% despite U.S. trade tensions
The World Bank on Tuesday raised its 2025 growth forecast for China as part of an overall boost in projections for East Asia and the Pacific, after a summer that saw U.S. tariff-led uncertainty rock the global economy. The World Bank now projects China’s economy to expand by 4.8%, compared with 4% predicted in April. The new forecast is closer to China’s official target of around 5% growth in gross domestic product in 2025. The economists did not provide a specific reason for the change in forecast from April, but noted that China’s economy has benefited from government support that could fade next year. Trade tensions between China and the U.S. escalated in April, temporarily sending U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports to well over 100% before the two countries reached a trade truce — now in effect until mid-November.
6. US lawmakers call for broader bans on chipmaking tool sales to China
U.S. lawmakers are calling for broader bans on chipmaking equipment to China after a bipartisan investigation found that Chinese chipmakers had purchased $38 billion of sophisticated gear last year. Inconsistencies in rules issued by the United States, Japan and the Netherlands have led to non-U.S. chip equipment manufacturers selling to some Chinese firms that U.S. companies could not, according to a report published on Tuesday by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China. The committee called for broader bans by the U.S. and its allies on chipmaking tool sales to China, rather than narrower bans on sales to specific Chinese chipmakers. The $38 billion was purchased from five top semiconductor manufacturing equipment suppliers, without breaking the law, a 66% increase from 2022, when many of the tool export restrictions were introduced.
7. Trump suggests not all furloughed workers will get back pay: ‘It depends’
President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that some federal workers who have been furloughed during the government shutdown will not receive back pay after they return to work. The remark came hours after the circulation of a draft White House memo arguing that federal employees placed on unpaid leave are not guaranteed back pay. A federal law, which Trump signed after the last government shutdown in 2019, additionally says that furloughed U.S. government employees “shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations.” Trump, when asked at the White House on Tuesday afternoon about back pay for those workers, said, “I would say it depends on who we’re talking about.”
8. Republicans face pressure to consider Democrats’ health-care demands as shutdown drags on
Sen. Susan Collins is reportedly shopping around a potential off-ramp to the government shutdown that has paralyzed Washington, but the Maine Republican is not ready to give in on the primary demand by her Democratic colleagues. But Collins is insisting that any extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies should be negotiated after Congress passes a funding resolution that would allow the government to reopen. Collins told reporters Monday that she has a draft of a proposal to get out of the shutdown, which she has shared “selectively.” “There are a lot of informal discussions, but so far there’s no product, so we have the discussion draft,” she said. Most Democratic senators have refused to vote for any funding legislation unless it codifies an extension of the subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of the year.
9. U.S. air traffic control staffing hit for second day, delaying flights
Air traffic control staffing issues are delaying flights for a second straight day at numerous U.S. airports as the government shutdown reaches its seventh day, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice on Tuesday. The FAA said many flights were being delayed at Nashville and Newark airports, among others. Arriving flights were being held for up to 30 minutes at Newark due to the staffing issues. Nashville air traffic control is facing significant staffing issues and will curtail operations later on Tuesday, the FAA said. Approach control will be taken over later by Memphis Centre, it added. The FAA is reducing the number of arriving flights per hour at Chicago O’Hare, citing staffing, with average delays of 41 minutes.
10. Intel to reveal tech details on forthcoming PC chip, sources say
Intel plans to release technical details about its forthcoming chip for laptops, known as Panther Lake, on Thursday, four sources briefed on the plans told Reuters. It is part of an effort to reassure investors about Intel’s first product made entirely using its next-generation manufacturing process called 18A, the sources said. The Panther Lake chips are the company’s high-end mobile processors that are typically included in more expensive laptops and are the first high-volume Intel products to use the 18A process that the company has spent billions developing. In part because of manufacturing stumbles, Intel has steadily ceded laptop and PC market share to rival Advanced Micro Devices. Panther Lake represents an opportunity to reverse some of the losses.
11. Oracle stock slips on report company is seeing thin cloud margins from Nvidia chips
Oracle stock slipped 3% on Tuesday after a report from The Information that raised questions about the company’s plans to buy billions of Nvidia chips to rent as a cloud provider to clients like OpenAI. Oracle had 14% gross margins on $900 million in sales in its Nvidia cloud business in the three months ending in August, according to the report, which cited internal documents. That’s significantly lower than Oracle’s overall gross margin of around 70%. The report said that Oracle’s recent transformation into one of the most important cloud and artificial intelligence companies may run into profitability challenges because of how expensive Nvidia chips are and aggressive pricing on its AI chip rentals.
12. Tesla prices Model Y standard below $40,000, debuting more affordable vehicle
Tesla debuted more affordable versions of its popular Model Y SUV and Model 3 sedan on Tuesday. The Model Y standard variant is priced just below $40,000, according to Tesla’s website, and the Model 3 standard starts at around $37,000. The company also released a new version of its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) driver assistance system early Tuesday. The EV maker’s stock closed 4.45% lower. Over the weekend, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company shared a teaser clip featuring a logo-emblazoned, spinning component that could be anything from a wheel cover to a fan or turbine. The clip ended with the numbers “10/7,” indicating Tuesday’s date for the reveal. The new Model Y standard features a battery that gets 321 miles of estimated range on a full charge, compared to the 357 miles of range in a Long-Range version with rear wheel drive.
13. Trilogy Metals shares soar over 200% after U.S. takes stake in minerals explorer
Shares of U.S.-listed minerals explorer Trilogy Metals surged more than 200% on Tuesday, shortly after the White House said it would take a 10% stake in the Canadian company. The White House on Monday announced a partnership with Trilogy Metals as part of a push to unlock domestic supplies of copper and other critical minerals in the Ambler mining district in Alaska. The partnership included a $35.6 million investment, which makes the U.S. government a 10% shareholder in Trilogy Metals. Trilogy Metals welcomed Trump’s decision to grant permits to enable the development of critical minerals in Alaska, saying the Ambler mining district is “home to some of the world’s richest known copper-dominant polymetallic deposits.” Western officials have repeatedly flagged Beijing’s supply chain dominance as a strategic challenge, particularly given that critical mineral demand is expected to grow exponentially, as the clean energy transition picks up pace.
14. Anthropic to open first India office in 2026 as demand for AI tools grows
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup backed by Alphabet’s Google and Amazon.com, said on Tuesday it will open its first office in India next year, aiming to tap into the country’s growing appetite for AI tools. The move comes as AI adoption in India accelerates, fuelled by rising enterprise tech spending, a growing pool of skilled talent, and increasing investor interest. India, home to nearly a billion internet users, is becoming a major battleground for global AI players. The Asian country has emerged as Anthropic’s second-largest consumer market for its chatbot Claude, which competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and is noted for its strong coding capabilities.