Daily News
Nikkei Edges Higher as Kospi Slips; S&P 500 Falls on Final Day of September Despite Cooler PCE; Gold Slips Toward $4,150; Crude Drops Below $90 on Middle East Flow Recovery
01 October 2026
Today in Brief
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.86% while the Topix declined 0.44% and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8%; mainland China and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 dropped 0.25% to 7,651.54, the Nasdaq advanced 0.24% to 26,861.06 and the Dow fell 0.86%, or 443.87 points, to 50,906.05, even as August PCE inflation slowed to 3.4% annually from 3.7%. Gold slipped toward $4,150 an ounce on Thursday as elevated oil prices and Treasury yields outweighed the softer inflation data, while crude fell below $90 per barrel as Middle East flows neared pre-war levels despite the impasse in US-Iran negotiations.
In other news: UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Iran “played a part” in the incident at RAF Fairford; core PCE inflation came in at 3.0% in August, lighter than expected; Bank of Japan policymakers debated accelerating the pace of rate hikes at their September meeting; euro zone inflation jumped across major economies, raising pressure on the ECB to hike; Google unveiled its Gemini 4 Argon AI model; Micron beat on earnings and issued strong guidance as data center revenue surged; Meta stock posted its best month since 2022; and Tencent leased about 100,000 chips from Oracle to accelerate its AI push.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.86%, while the Topix declined 0.44%
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.86%, while the Topix declined 0.44%. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi was down 0.8%, while the small-cap Kosdaq Index started the trading day flat. Mainland China and Hong Kong markets were closed for a holiday. Investors are heading into the new trading month weighing a softer inflation picture against still elevated Treasury yields and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s next rate decision, which is scheduled for the end of October. They’re also looking ahead to a fresh round of earnings reports from companies.
S&P 500 falls Wednesday despite softer-than-expected inflation data; index posts losing September
The S&P 500 slid on Wednesday, the final day of September, even after new U.S. economic data showed inflation slowed last month. The broad-market index dropped 0.25%, giving up its gains from earlier in the trading day and closing at 7,651.54. The S&P 500 was up as much as nearly 0.7% at one point during the session. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.24% to end at 26,861.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.86%, or 443.87 points, to 50,906.05. The personal consumption expenditures price index for August increased at an annual rate of 3.4%, down from 3.7% the month prior. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for inflation to remain steady at 3.7%.
Gold slipped toward $4,150 an ounce on Thursday after surrendering intraday gains
Gold slipped toward $4,150 an ounce on Thursday after surrendering intraday gains in the previous session, as elevated oil prices and Treasury yields outweighed support from softer-than-expected US inflation data. The US PCE price index rose 0.3% in August, below the 0.4% forecast, while core PCE increased 0.2%, also falling short of expectations for a 0.3% gain. On an annual basis, headline PCE inflation came in at 3.4%, below the expected 3.7%. Markets now see roughly a 38% chance of a Federal Reserve rate hike in October, down from 51% before the PCE release. Meanwhile, oil prices remain elevated as the US and Iran make little progress in negotiations despite signs of recovering Middle East flows.
Crude oil fell below $90 per barrel on Thursday, paring gains from the previous session
Crude oil fell below $90 per barrel on Thursday, paring gains from the previous session as signs of a recovery in Middle East flows overshadowed ongoing impasse in US-Iran negotiations. Crude shipments from the region were nearing pre-war levels after Saudi Arabia restored half the capacity of its East-West pipeline, while flows through the Strait of Hormuz climbed to 13.2 million barrels per day. However, markets remain cautious about the durability of the recovery without a lasting agreement to end the Iran war, with both Tehran and Washington claiming full control over the strategic waterway. Meanwhile, Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said Tehran had received a US proposal regarding the reopening of the strait.
UK Prime Minister Burnham says Iran ‘played a part’ in British air base incident
United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Iran was involved in the incident at the Royal Air Force base in Fairford on Sunday that led to the arrest of five men on suspicion of explosive and terrorism offences. Speaking to the BBC Wednesday, Burnham said that “There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” without providing additional details. In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that Burnham was “barking up the wrong tree.” RAF Fairford, located in Gloucestershire, has been used as the U.S. Air Force’s command outpost for operations from Europe and for American strikes on Iranian missile sites.
Fed’s preferred gauge showed core inflation at 3.0% in August, much lighter than expected
Consumer prices posted a smaller-than-expected increase in August from a year ago, according to the Federal Reserve’s primary inflation gauge, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The personal consumption expenditures price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% for the month, putting the 12-month gain at 3.4%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% and 3.7%, respectively. Excluding food and energy, PCE posted a 0.2% climb that put the annual core level at 3%. The respective forecasts were for 0.3% and 3.3%. Though the Fed officially follows the headline PCE number, officials generally consider core a better gauge of longer-term trends. While the annual increases were less than expected, they came as the Bureau of Economic Analysis changed the way it computes several components of the index.
BOJ debated need for more rate hikes at September meeting, summary shows
Some Bank of Japan policymakers saw the need to accelerate the pace of interest rate hikes or bring them closer to the central bank’s “goal” soon, a summary of opinions at its September meeting showed on Thursday. “If signs of an upward deviation in prices are observed, the Bank will need to accelerate the pace of rate hikes,” one member was quoted as saying. At the September meeting, the BOJ raised interest rates to a 31-year high with its governor signalling the central bank has entered a new phase focused on preventing inflation from overshooting its target, opening the door to further rate hikes.
Inflation jumps across euro zone, raising pressure on ECB to hike
Inflation rose far quicker than expected in some of the euro zone’s biggest economies this month due to the energy-price shock of the Iran war, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to raise interest rates again. The ECB has lifted rates twice this year to prevent rapid price growth from getting embedded, and investors have sharply raised rate hike bets in the past few weeks as natural gas, petrol and diesel prices have all soared. France’s harmonized inflation rate was 3.4% year-on-year in September, up from 2.6% in August, while in Italy it jumped to 4.1% from August’s 3.2%, all above the ECB’s 2% target, data showed on Wednesday. German inflation accelerated slightly more than expected in September, rising to 3.3% year-on-year from 2.9% in the month before. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile prices of energy and food, remained unchanged for the third consecutive month at 2.4%. In Spain, the inflation rate rose to 5.0% in September from 4.6% in August, data showed on Tuesday.
Google rolls out Gemini 4 Argon, its most advanced AI model
Alphabet unveiled Gemini 4 Argon on Wednesday, its most advanced artificial intelligence model yet, offering major improvements in coding, cybersecurity, and complex professional work. The company said the model sets a new record in real-world software engineering, ties for first in cybersecurity, and leads another benchmark measuring performance across finance, legal, and other professional tasks. Argon is already being used internally to optimize memory at Google’s data centers, freeing up hundreds of terabytes of memory without buying additional hardware, the company said. Quantum computing researchers have also utilized the model. Google plans to launch the new model in phases, starting with trusted cybersecurity partners while working with the U.S. government on pre-release safety evaluations.
Micron beats on earnings and issues strong guidance as data center revenue jumps 11-fold
Micron reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday as the memory maker continues to benefit from soaring demand for AI infrastructure. The stock rose slightly in extended trading. Revenue almost quadrupled in the fiscal fourth quarter from $11.32 billion a year earlier, according to a statement. For the fiscal first quarter, Micron said it expects revenue of about $61.5 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $38.15. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $35.40 in adjusted earnings per share on $57 billion in revenue. Micron’s stock has soared more than 500% in the past year, benefiting from a worldwide supply crunch caused by historic levels of demand for memory chips needed for artificial intelligence models and workloads.
Meta stock enjoys best month since 2022 on AI momentum
Meta’s stock just wrapped its best month since 2022 as investors cheer the social media giant’s recent momentum in artificial intelligence. The company’s shares closed at $725.18 Wednesday, representing a 27% increase from the closing price of $572.34 at the end of August. Wall Street has been optimistic about the company’s business since the Sept. 8 debut of its Muse personal AI agent app, which became a major hit and topped rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT in Apple iOS downloads. The last time Meta stock had a bigger month was November 2022, the month OpenAI launched ChatGPT. Meta was rebounding at the end of a brutal year as it was kicking off its efficiency push. Meta also held its annual Connect conference for developers in September, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg characterized Muse as a “centrepiece” for its product and business strategy while revealing new hardware products such as the Muse Charm AI pendant.
China’s Tencent leases 100,000 chips from Oracle to accelerate AI push
Tencent signed its largest overseas lease deal with US cloud provider Oracle to access about 100,000 advanced AI chips that were not available in China, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Chinese technology giant this year agreed to a five-year lease across multiple Oracle data canters in south-east Asia, according to the report. The deal is estimated to be worth about $7 billion, with an upfront payment of about 30%, the report said. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Oracle and Tencent did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the report. The deal highlights the surging computing needs of Tencent’s AI expansion, as the company ramps up investment in developing and deploying large language models.