1. Asia markets trade mixed as investors assess SCO summit amid tariff uncertainty: Markets Wrap
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 was flat, while the BSE Sensex index ticked up 0.18% in early trade. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.47%, while the broader Topix index rose 0.73%. Over in South Korea, the Kospi index increased by 0.86%, while the small-cap Kosdaq moved up 0.83%. The country’s consumer price index rose 1.7% in August from the year before, after increasing by 2.1% the month before. This marks its slowest year-on-year rise since November and is marginally weaker than the 2% rise forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.61% in choppy trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 dropped 0.91%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 pared earlier losses and was last seen flat. This comes after a U.S. federal appeals court on Friday ruled that most of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal.
2. Stock futures are little changed to start September with new uncertainty about tariffs after court decision
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Monday night, with investors weighing the latest developments on the trade front to kick off a seasonally poor month for equities. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 41 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 futures were higher by about 0.12% and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.13%. Those moves come after a federal appeals court on Friday ruled that most of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined in a 7-4 ruling that only Congress has the authority to apply sweeping levies. September is historically the worst month for equities, with the S&P 500 averaging a 4.2% drop over the last five years, and falling more than 2% on average over the last 10.
3. Gold hits record high as US rate-cut hopes, softer dollar boost appeal
Gold prices climbed to an all-time high on Tuesday, extending gains to a sixth session on the back of a weaker dollar and rising bets of a U.S. interest rate cut this month. Spot gold was up 0.5% at $3,492.26 per ounce, as of 0157 GMT, after hitting a record high of $3,508.50. U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 1.4% to $3,563.40. Trump has criticized the Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome Powell, for months for not lowering rates, and recently took aim at Powell over a costly renovation of the central bank’s Washington headquarters. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Fed is and should be independent but added that it had “made a lot of mistakes” and defended Trump’s right to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud.
4. Oil rises as Russia-Ukraine tensions stoke supply concerns
Oil prices rose in early Asia trade on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions grew amid an escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Brent crude added 20 cents, or 0.29%, to $68.35 a barrel by 0039 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $64.82 a barrel, up 81 cents, or 1.27%. WTI futures did not settle on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. Recent Ukrainian drone attacks shut down facilities accounting for at least 17% of Russia’s oil processing capacity, or 1.1 million barrels per day. On Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine plans new strikes deep into Russia after weeks of intensified attacks on Russian energy assets.
5. China’s Xi urges AI cooperation, rejects ‘Cold War mentality’ at SCO summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to strengthen artificial intelligence cooperation, while rejecting what he called a “Cold War mentality.” Xi was speaking at the largest-ever summit of the SCO to date, with more than 20 foreign leaders gathered in Tianjin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting comes as China seeks to cast itself as a global peacemaker, against a backdrop of persistent trade tensions with the United States, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict. Xi said China has invested $84 billion in other SCO countries and pledged support for 10,000 students to join Beijing’s “Luban” vocational education program. He added that the SCO gathering presents an opportunity to chart a new phase of high-quality development and cooperation.
6. UK’s Starmer reshapes team, names ex-BoE official as top economic adviser
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed Minouche Shafik, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, as his chief economic adviser, part of efforts to bolster his team before what is set to be a difficult end to the year. Shafik’s appointment and a move to bring Darren Jones, finance minister Rachel Reeves’ deputy, to his Downing Street office indicate that Starmer believes he needs better economic advice before a budget later this year that is expected to include further tax rises. Jones will be replaced by Labour lawmaker James Murray, who held a more junior role in the finance ministry, Starmer’s office said in a statement. In a wider shake-up of Downing Street operations, Starmer also replaced his principal private secretary, who runs his team’s office, and appointed a new director of communications.
7. Narendra Modi hails India’s energy ties with Russia despite US anger
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed his country’s growing energy ties with Russia at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, defying punitive tariffs levied on New Delhi by the US over its purchases of discounted Russian oil. At a meeting on the sidelines of a regional summit in China on Monday, Modi told Putin that “even in the most difficult circumstances India and Russia have walked together, shoulder to shoulder. Our close co-operation is important not just to our two countries but for global peace, stability and prosperity.” India’s foreign ministry said the two leaders had “discussed bilateral co-operation, including in the economic, financial and energy sectors and expressed satisfaction with the sustained growth in bilateral ties in these areas”.
8. ‘No room for complacency’, warns top ECB policymaker after traders cool on rate cuts
A top European Central Bank policymaker has pushed back against the view among some investors that another interest rate cut over the coming months is off the table, stressing that inflation risks are currently “tipped to the downside”. In an interview with the Financial Times, Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn warned against “complacency” around price stability, even though annual inflation has been in line with the ECB’s medium-term 2 per cent target in the past two months. Over the summer, traders have dialled back expectations of another quarter-point cut in the ECB’s deposit facility rate this year. Derivative contracts currently put the probability of another cut by the end of the year at less than 40 per cent, compared with more than 50 per cent in late July
9. US shareholders fail to pass any green proposals for first time in 6 years
No environmental proposals have passed shareholder votes during this year’s proxy season, for the first time in six years, in a further sign of diminishing investor support for the climate agenda in the US. Green resolutions failed across groups in the broad Russell 3000 index of US stocks as most companies concluded their annual meetings, according to a Conference Board/Esgauge report. The number of successful environmental proposals peaked at 14 in 2022, at the height of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement, and has since fallen sharply to only 2 in 2024 and zero in 2025. The number of environmental resolutions filed this year also fell to 110, from 149 in 2024. The average support among investors for these measures fell to just 10 per cent this year, down from 18 per cent in the previous year.
10. Trump calls India-U.S. trade relationship ‘a totally one-sided disaster’ after Modi visits China
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his criticism of India, calling trade ties with the country “a totally one sided disaster!” after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Trump in a post on Truth Social also said that India had offered to cut its tariffs to zero, but it was “getting late,” and that the country should have done so “years ago,” without elaborating on when such an offer was made. This comes against the backdrop of the U.S. imposing 50% tariffs on the country, including secondary duties of 25% last month for purchasing Russian oil, which India has called “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” Trump reiterated that India was buying oil and arms from Russia, and accused New Delhi of selling the U.S. “massive amounts of goods,” but imposing high tariffs on U.S. exports to India.
11. BYD’s shares slide after steep fall in quarterly profit
Shares in electric vehicle maker BYD slid on Monday after it reported quarterly profit fell for the first time in more than three years, with analysts saying its competitive advantage was being eroded by Chinese government efforts to stop a price war. Net profit at the world’s biggest EV producer tumbled 30% in the second quarter to 6.4 billion yuan ($895 million) from a year earlier, it reported. That followed a doubling of profit in the first quarter. Its Hong Kong-listed shares closed 5.2% lower, after an 8% drop at the open, which was its biggest one-day percentage decline since May 26. Its Shenzhen-listed shares fell 3.8%. But Chinese authorities, worried about the health of the sector, have ordered automakers to stop the price cuts.
12. Tesla’s sales rout in some European markets continues for eighth month
Tesla’s sales rout in some European markets extended to an eighth month in August amid mounting competition from both Chinese EV rivals and traditional automakers, as well as a backlash against CEO Elon Musk’s courting of far-right parties. Car registration numbers from France, Denmark and Sweden – the first European countries to report monthly numbers for August – also showed that Tesla’s revamped Model Y has had little impact on stemming declining sales. Data from France on Monday showed that registrations of new Tesla cars fell 47.3% in August versus the same month in 2024, while the overall car market grew nearly 2.2%. Tesla registrations fell more than 84% in Sweden – where electric vehicle sales were flat and the market overall was up 6% – and dropped 42% in Denmark. Norway, where Tesla has deep roots and virtually all new car sales are electric, remained an outlier with a 21.3% jump in registrations for the U.S. EV maker.