1.Japan’s Nikkei 225 hits a new high as SoftBank surges over 10%
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 notched a record high of 44,396.95 on Thursday, mirroring gains on Wall Street overnight on Fed-rate cut hopes and positive inflation data. One of Nikkei 255′s heavyweights, tech investment firm SoftBank Group, jumped past 10% to notch a second straight day of gains. It follows a report that OpenAI struck a roughly $300 billion, five-year cloud-computing deal with Oracle, citing sources familiar with the matter. Oracle shares closed 35.95% higher Wednesday stateside after the cloud giant reported gobsmacking cloud demand numbers. Oracle now sees $18 billion in cloud infrastructure revenue in fiscal 2026, with the company calling for the annual sum to reach $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion and $144 billion over the subsequent four years.
2. S&P 500 closes at record for second day on inflation data, Oracle stock surge
The S&P 500 reached fresh highs on Wednesday after a reading on wholesale prices unexpectedly declined, a welcome development for investors clamouring for a Federal Reserve rate cut next week to boost the economy. The broad market index finished up 0.3% at 6,532.04, a record close for the index. It had risen about 0.7% at its peak to 6,555.97, scoring a new all-time intraday high as well. The Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.03% to end at 21,886.06, likewise notching a closing high after hitting an all-time intraday high prior to its afternoon pullback. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 220.42 points, or 0.48%, to finish at 45,490.92, bogged down by a decline in Apple shares as the latest iPhone announcement failed to impress investors.
3. Gold consolidates after record peak, U.S. CPI data in focus
Gold prices edged lower Thursday, hovering near record highs, as investors awaited U.S. consumer inflation data due later in the day following weaker-than-expected producer price figures that reinforced expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut next week. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $3,633.97 per ounce, as of 0411 GMT. Bullion hit a record high of $3,673.95 on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell 0.3% to $3,671.90. U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in August due to lower trade services margins and modest increases in goods costs. Weaker-than-expected nonfarm payroll data last week, along with revised estimates revealing 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March, have reinforced expectations of monetary easing.
4. Oil prices flat amid weak U.S. demand, softening economy
Oil prices were flat Thursday, cooling from the previous session as weak demand in the United States and broad oversupply risks countered concern over attacks in the Middle East and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures were up 1 cent, or 0.01%, at $67.50 a barrel by 0156 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures added 2 cents, or 0.03%, to $63.69. The benchmark contracts gained more than $1 each Wednesday following Israel’s attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar the day before, and as Poland scrambled its own and NATO air defences to shoot down suspected Russian drones that had strayed into its airspace during an attack on western Ukraine.
5. Wholesale prices unexpectedly declined 0.1% in August, as Fed rate decision looms
Wholesale prices surprisingly fell slightly in August, providing breathing room for the Federal Reserve to approve an interest rate cut at its meeting this month, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Wednesday. The producer price index, which measures input costs across a broad array of goods and services, dropped 0.1% for the month, after a downwardly revised 0.7% increase in July and well off the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.3% rise. On a 12-month basis, the headline PPI saw a 2.6% gain. The core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also was off 0.1% after being expected to climb 0.3% as well. Excluding food, energy and trade, the PPI posted a 0.3% gain and was up 2.8% from a year ago.
6. Trump appeals order blocking him from firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook
President Donald Trump on Wednesday appealed a federal judge’s order blocking him from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while a lawsuit challenging his removal of her continues. The appeal came a day after U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb, in her decision, said, “The public interest in Federal Reserve independence weighs in favour of Cook’s reinstatement.” Cobb also said that Cook has “made a strong showing” that Trump’s purported removal of her violated the Federal Reserve Act’s requirement that board governors be removed only for legal “cause.” Trump announced on Aug. 25 that he was firing Cook, who is the first black woman to serve as a Fed governor. Cook denies any wrongdoing. Her attorneys have argued that Trump is using Pulte’s claims as a pretext, and that her would-be removal is part of a pressure campaign by the president on the Fed to cut interest rates.
7. U.S. appeals court reinstates Copyright Office director fired by Trump
A Washington-based federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from firing U.S. Copyright Office Director Shira Perlmutter while she appeals a lower court’s ruling against her attempt to stop the administration from terminating her. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted Perlmutter’s request to reinstate her to the position temporarily and said Trump’s move to terminate her was likely unlawful. Perlmutter’s attorneys and spokespeople for the White House and Copyright Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Trump Administration fired Perlmutter by email on May 10. Her removal sparked a backlash from Democratic politicians who said that Congress had insulated the Copyright Office, a department of the Library of Congress, from political influence.
8. Labour Department watchdog opens probe of BLS jobs, inflation data collection
The Labour Department’s internal watchdog said Wednesday it has opened an investigation into how jobs and inflation data is collected by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. The probe by the department’s Office of Inspector General comes as the BLS is under pressure from the Trump administration, which has pointed to recent downward revisions to employment data to contend that the agency’s data cannot be trusted. President Donald Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in August, accusing her of being motivated by politics hours after her agency released a weak monthly jobs report. The inspector general is a nonpolitical appointee whose office is independently staffed and legally insulated from interference by the Labour secretary or other political appointees.
9. Trump Fed nominee Stephen Miran advanced by Senate Banking committee, tees up final vote
The Senate Banking Committee voted Wednesday to advance the nomination by President Donald Trump of Stephen Miran, a top White House economic advisor, to become Federal Reserve governor for at least the next several months. The 13-11 vote along party lines came a day after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked Trump from firing another Fed governor, Lisa Cook, while her lawsuit challenging his removal of her plays out in court. And it came a week before the Fed board is set to meet to discuss possibly cutting interest rates, as Trump has demanded it do for months. Every Republican on the Banking Committee voted to send Miran’s nomination to the full Senate, and every Democrat voted no on that question.
10. Alibaba to raise $3.2bn via convertible bond to boost cloud expansion
Alibaba Group on Thursday said it plans to raise about $3.2 billion through a zero-coupon convertible bond offering, with most of the proceeds earmarked for strengthening its cloud infrastructure. The senior notes, due 2032, will be sold to non-U.S. investors, the company said in a statement. Alibaba intends to allocate around 80% of the funds to expand data centres, upgrade technology to meet the rising demand for cloud services. The remaining 20% will go toward its international commerce operations. A report, citing a term sheet, stated that the company will offer the bond with a 27.5% to 32.5% conversion premium above its U.S.-listed share price, and will mature on September 15, 2032, and convert into U.S. shares. Hong Kong-listed shares of the company traded 1.3% higher as of 05:24 GMT. Alibaba, has been investing heavily in its cloud division, which it sees as a core driver of future growth.
11. Oracle soared 43% to record high on Wednesday on AI cloud gains
Oracle shares surged about 43% to a record high on Wednesday, putting the company on track to join the elite trillion-dollar club and propelling co-founder Larry Ellison closer to the top of the world’s richest list. The company unveiled four multi-billion-dollar contracts on Tuesday, amid an industry-wide shift, led by companies such as OpenAI and xAI, to aggressively spend to secure the massive computing capacity needed to stay ahead in the AI race. The stock was last up 36.7%, after rising to hit a record high of $345.69, set for its biggest one-day percentage jump since 1992. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that OpenAI has signed a contract to purchase $300 billion in computing power from Oracle over roughly five years, marking one of the biggest cloud contracts ever signed. A majority of the new revenue Oracle described on Tuesday will come from the OpenAI deal, the report said.
12. Joby to bring helicopter and seaplane rides to Uber app as soon as 2026
Joby Aviation said on Wednesday that it planned to bring Blade’s helicopter and seaplane services to the Uber app as soon as next year. Shares of the Santa Cruz, California-based air taxi maker rose more than 8.5% in premarket trade. Joby acquired Blade Air Mobility’s passenger business in August for up to $125 million, and plans to use the helicopter ride-share firm’s infrastructure to launch its own electric air taxi service globally in the future. Air-taxi firms are racing to secure approvals and commercialize electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to meet the growing demand for faster and more sustainable urban transportation. Backed by major airlines and defence contractors, these firms aim to ease congestion in crowded cities by offering short-haul flights between airports and urban canters.