Daily News
Asia Stocks Edge Higher as Chipmakers Rebound; S&P 500 Flat as Big Banks Report; Gold Holds Near $4,150; Crude Climbs Toward $95 on Saudi-Houthi Escalation
14 October 2026
Today in Brief
Asian stocks edged higher as semiconductor shares recovered, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan rising 0.5%, South Korea’s KOSPI gaining 1.6%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.6% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advancing 0.3%, while China’s CSI 300 slipped 0.2% and the Shanghai Composite added 0.1% after stronger-than-expected Chinese trade figures. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 slipped 0.02% to 7,805.45 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.15% to 27,204.38, while the Dow fell 180.45 points, or 0.35%, to 51,670.10 as big banks reported earnings and memory chip stocks declined. Gold traded near $4,150 an ounce as investors awaited US consumer inflation data, while crude oil climbed toward $95 per barrel, marking its fifth consecutive session of gains as hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels escalated.
In other news: President Trump said Taiwan agreed to buy 30% of the gas from a proposed Alaska LNG project; China’s producer prices rose 5% in September, the fastest pace since June 2022; Singapore’s third-quarter GDP growth softened to 5.4% but beat estimates; New York Fed President John Williams said he sees no need for a rate hike in 2027; a Delaware jury found Arm breached its license agreement with Qualcomm but awarded just $2 in damages; Bank of America was fined $1.21 billion by US regulators for failing to police suspicious activity; Nvidia agreed to buy stakes in French startups Doctolib and Genesis AI; and Google launched its flagship AI model Gemini 4 Argon for developers and businesses.
Asia stocks edge higher as chipmakers rebound; China trade beats forecasts
Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday as semiconductor shares recovered, although elevated oil prices and caution ahead of U.S. inflation data limited gains. Stronger-than-expected Chinese trade figures offered some support, while subdued consumer inflation highlighted the uneven nature of the country’s recovery. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan rose 0.5%. South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.6%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.6%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.3%. China’s CSI 300 slipped 0.2%, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.1%. Wall Street provided a mixed backdrop. U.S. bank shares declined overnight following mixed quarterly results from Citigroup and other lenders, while the technology selloff earlier had sent the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 2.7% to its lowest level since mid-September.
S&P 500 closes near flat after big banks post earnings and memory chip stocks decline
The S&P 500 ended near the flatline on Tuesday, with traders digesting a slew of corporate earnings reports from major banks along with a steep overnight decline in South Korea that put pressure on memory chip names. The broad market index was down 0.02% to end at 7,805.45, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.15% to 27,204.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 180.45 points, or 0.35%, to close at 51,670.10. At its high of the day, the 30-stock index was up more than 460 points. JPMorgan Chase reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that missed analyst expectations, but the bank raised its net interest income guidance for 2026. Shares ended the session 0.9% lower.
Gold traded near $4,150 an ounce on Wednesday, holding its losses
Gold traded near $4,150 an ounce on Wednesday, holding its losses after declining for two consecutive sessions as investors awaited US consumer inflation data for clues on the Federal Reserve’s next policy move. Markets are currently pricing in roughly a 77% probability that the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged this month, while assigning an 88% chance of a rate hike in December. Meanwhile, New York Fed President John Williams indicated that one additional rate hike may be warranted this year, but further monetary tightening is unlikely to be necessary in 2027.
Crude oil climbed toward $95 per barrel on Wednesday, marking its fifth consecutive session of gains
Crude oil climbed toward $95 per barrel on Wednesday, marking its fifth consecutive session of gains as escalating hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels intensified concerns over Middle East supply disruptions. On Tuesday, Yemen’s Houthi militants struck Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, eastern Saudi Arabia, with a missile attack that sparked a fire in part of the complex. The rebels also targeted Riyadh’s main airport over the weekend, while a Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive to retake rebelcontrolled territory in Yemen. Meanwhile, Tehran has intensified attacks on tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, although the US said it had helped facilitate the passage of more than 19 million barrels of crude through the strategic waterway.
Taiwan agrees to buy 30% of gas from Alaska LNG project, Trump says
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Taiwan had agreed to buy 30% of the gas from a proposed liquefied natural gas project in Alaska. “Taiwan has just agreed to buy 30% of the gas coming off the pipeline for the next 20 years,” Trump said at a rally in Alaska. “That guarantees a success.” His latest remarks follow repeated claims earlier this month that South Korea had agreed to join the $50 billion Alaska LNG project, even as Seoul maintained that its participation had not been finalized. “We’ll also invest $4.4 billion into the project, on top of $50 billion already committed by South Korea to Alaska,” Trump said. However, the terms of the Taiwan deal cited by Trump were not immediately clear.
China’s producer prices rise at fastest pace since June 2022, beating expectations
China’s producer price index climbed at its fastest pace in over four years, rising 5% in September as higher fuel prices pushed up costs for businesses. The increase was higher than the 4.5% expected by economists polled by Reuters, and sharply up from the 3.8% seen in the previous month. China’s National Bureau of Statistics said higher prices were also seen in the country’s coal sector, due to increased demand for coal for winter heating, temporary tight supply in major coal-producing areas, and expectations of rising international coal prices. Consumer saw a 0.9% rise, marginally missing expectations of 1%, but up from 0.8% in the month before.
Singapore third-quarter GDP growth softens from four-year high but beats estimates
Singapore’s economic expansion decelerated in the third quarter of 2026, with GDP growth dropping to 5.4% after hitting a four-year high in the last quarter. However, the GDP print beat expectations of a 5% growth from economists polled by Reuters. Government data showed a decline in the country’s manufacturing sector, although this was offset by an expansion in construction. Manufacturing is one of the city-state’s largest sectors, contributing about 20% of its GDP. Singapore back in August had lifted its annual economic growth forecast as AI-related sectors and exports powered its economy to beat expectations for the first two quarters of the year. This forecast is still maintaining GDP growth for 2026 is expected to come in at 4.5% to 5.5%, more than double the lower end of its previous forecast of 2%-4%.
Fed’s Williams sees no need for rate hike in 2027
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams has reaffirmed his view that the US central bank may need to raise interest rates once more this year in its bid to lower inflation. “I haven’t changed my view that it may be appropriate to have one more rate hike” in 2026, Williams told Bloomberg News in an interview published on Tuesday. And when it comes to 2027, “I don’t think at this time I have any reason to believe that we would need to do more,” Williams said, though he left the door open for data to change that outlook. “We’ll have to see” what happens next year, Williams said, adding that “it’s still mid-October. This economy is being affected by lots of different influences, and we just have to keep watching the data.” The Fed raised its policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point to the 3.75%-4.00% range last month. Those remarks last month caused investors to price out the prospect of a hike at the Fed’s October 27-28 meeting.
Delaware jury awards Qualcomm $2 in damages, finds Arm breached license agreement
Chip technology supplier Arm Holdings breached a licensing agreement with Qualcomm and intentionally interfered with the chipmaker’s business relationship with Meta Platforms, a Delaware jury found on Tuesday, but awarded nominal damages of just $2. The verdict followed a five-day trial last week, the second in two years between the companies, that highlighted the deterioration of their business relationship after SoftBank Group acquired control of Arm in 2016 and Arm shifted from licensing the technology needed to make chips to selling chips of its own. Shares of Arm were down 1% following the verdict, while shares of Qualcomm rose 1%, although its stock was down slightly from gains of around 2.4% before the verdict.
BofA fined $1.2 billion by US government for failing to police suspicious activity
Bank of America has been fined $1.21 billion by US regulators for widespread failures to detect potential money laundering and other illicit activity, a penalty the bank said will hurt third-quarter earnings. The Treasury Department said the fine, the third-largest in department history, is due to the bank’s failure to report more than $5 billion in suspicious activity to the government, including $1 billion that posed national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks. “Financial institutions are on the front lines of protecting our economic and national security,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire US financial system to significant illicit finance risks.”
Nvidia buys stakes in French tech startups Doctolib, Genesis AI
US chipmaker Nvidia has agreed to buy stakes in French technology startups Doctolib and Genesis AI, the two French companies said on Tuesday. Doctolib said that Nvidia had agreed to buy a minority stake without specifying the size of the stake or its value, though it said the presence of Nvidia would help it to develop artificial intelligence tools. Genesis AI confirmed an earlier report from Les Echos newspaper. “We are excited that Nvidia is a strategic investor in Genesis AI,” it said in a statement. The newspaper added the chip maker bought stakes in Entalpic and Pigment. The two companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Google launches flagship AI model Gemini 4 Argon for developers, businesses
Alphabet’s Google on Wednesday released its flagship AI model Gemini 4 Argon to developers and businesses worldwide, seeking to regain ground against rivals OpenAI and Anthropic after months of delays and a leadership shakeup at its DeepMind lab. The model excels at “deep work” on complex, multi-step tasks in coding, finance, law, cybersecurity and science, Google said. API pricing at launch starts at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with rates set to double after November 30. The release follows a rocky stretch in Google’s AI efforts. The company announced in September that it no longer planned to release Gemini 3.5 Pro, which CEO Sundar Pichai had originally said would be released in June. It also overhauled DeepMind after the AI lab’s co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis stepped aside and several leaders of its Gemini model left the company.
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