Daily News
Asia Rebounds as Kospi Surges 4% and Nikkei Adds 1.9%; Dow Jumps Over 500 Points as Investors Rotate Away From AI Trade; Gold Holds Above $4,150; Crude Tops $97 on Middle East Supply Fears
16 October 2026
Today in Brief
Asia-Pacific markets rallied on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 1.90%, the Topix up 1.87%, South Korea’s Kospi up 4.07%, the Kosdaq up 5.33%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 1.21%, mainland China’s CSI 300 up 0.75% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 up 1.12%. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 556.21 points, or 1.08%, to 52,177.69, the S&P 500 gained 0.33% to 7,744.06 and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.08% to 26,713.03 as investors rotated out of AI-related names. Gold held above $4,150 an ounce on safe-haven demand, while crude oil traded above $97 per barrel and was on track for a weekly gain of more than 6%.
In other news: Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said the AI path will be “very bumpy” but ultimately “very good” for wealth; Russia returned to the G20 table in Bangkok on a U.S. invitation that angered Europe; India’s rupee is forecast to weaken toward the 100-per-dollar level even as the RBI pushes back; Ukraine struck a Russian refinery as Zelenskiy said Kyiv is “done” with Trump’s energy truce; Axon secured federal contracts for cameras, drones and tasers; Apple and Meta teamed up to run the Muse AI model on Mac computers; Tesla revealed its next-generation Roadster; and Adobe expanded its Nvidia partnership.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1.90% while the Topix rose 1.87% on Friday
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1.90% while the Topix rose 1.87% on Friday. The Kospi advanced 4.07%, and the small-cap Kosdaq gained 5.33%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 1.12% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.21%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was 0.75% higher. The three major U.S. averages finished Thursday’s session in the green as investors rotated out of key tech names and into other parts of the market. The S&P 500 finished up roughly 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite lagged, inching up only about 0.1%. Both snapped a three-day losing streak.
Dow rises more than 500 points as investors rotate away from AI trade
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Thursday as concerns around tech companies overspending on artificial intelligence led investors to rotate out of the trade and seek value elsewhere. Traders also digested U.S. data that pointed to persistent inflation. The blue-chip index added 556.21 points, or 1.08%, to end at 52,177.69. The S&P 500 gained 0.33% to close at 7,744.06. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.08% at 26,713.03, rebounding from session lows. At one point, the index was down 1.4% on the day. Seagate Technology and Western Digital added to their declines this week, along with shares of SK Hynix, which drove a rout in South Korea’s Kospi index overnight.
Gold held above $4,150 per ounce on Friday after rebounding in the previous session
Gold held above $4,150 per ounce on Friday after rebounding in the previous session, as the recent selloff in equities drove safe-haven demand for government bonds and precious metals. The shift toward safer investments pushed bond yields sharply lower, easing pressure on non-yielding assets such as gold. Investors also weighed heightened geopolitical risks in the Middle East amid escalating hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, while a Singapore-flagged container ship was sunk in the Strait of Hormuz this week by an Iranian projectile. Meanwhile, market participants continued to evaluate the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy outlook, with stronger-than-expected US economic data reinforcing expectations of further interest rate increases.
Crude oil traded above $97 per barrel on Friday and was on track to gain more than 6% for the week
Crude oil traded above $97 per barrel on Friday and was on track to gain more than 6% for the week amid mounting supply concerns in the Middle East. The US Central Command confirmed that a Singapore-flagged container ship that sank in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week was hit by an Iranian projectile, adding uncertainty over the recovery of physical oil flows and pushing tanker rates to record highs. Rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen further heightened supply risks. Meanwhile, the IEA agreed to proceed with the release of the remaining 100 million barrels of oil from a coordinated intervention launched in March, following lobbying efforts by US officials.
Fed’s Warsh says AI path will be ‘very bumpy’ but ultimately ‘very good’ for wealth
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said he’s optimistic that artificial intelligence will make economies that use it well more productive and wealthier, though he warned the road there will be “very bumpy” and its nearterm effect on jobs is unknown. Warsh spoke at a fireside chat with the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, as part of the weeklong IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok on Friday. “I want you to hear from me optimism, but optimism leavened by the seriousness of purpose,” Warsh said. A decade from now, he said, people will look back “and say this was hugely consequential.” The Fed raised rates to a range of 3.75% to 4% last month, its first hike since 2023. A communication blackout period starts later Friday, ahead of its Oct. 27-28 meeting.
Russia returns to G20 table in Bangkok on U.S. invitation that angers Europe
Russia’s finance minister attended a Group of 20 meeting in Bangkok on Thursday, his second in-person appearance at the event since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, testing how far Washington’s rapprochement with Moscow will strain ties with Europe. Anton Siluanov and Bank of Russia Deputy Governor Elizaveta Danilova were listed as Russia’s delegates at the finance ministers and central bank governors’ meetings on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, according to a seating plan seen by CNBC. Siluanov was in the meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter. According to the layout document, Russian delegates were seated between attendees from South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
India’s rupee forecast to weaken toward 100-per-dollar level even as RBI pushes back
Fund outflows and a rising energy bill are expected to keep putting pressure on India’s rupee, even as the central bank works to slow depreciation. Over the last several days, the currency has recovered from 96.79 rupees per dollar to the 95-level, aided by the Reserve Bank of India’s latest measures. But while those will provide short-term relief, the currency is expected to weaken toward the end of the year and mid-2027, and a 100 rupee-per-dollar mark could not be ruled out, strategists said. The RBI’s steps will slow the rupee’s depreciation, but they cannot “fully offset the fundamental pressures stemming from elevated oil prices, a wider current account deficit, and a challenging global capital flow environment,” Hanna Luchnikava-Schorsch, head of Asia-Pacific economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told CNBC.
Ukraine hits Russian refinery as Zelenskiy says ’we’re done’ with Trump’s energy truce
Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery on Thursday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv was “done” supporting a ceasefire on energy targets announced by US President Donald Trump and ignored by Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin played down the effect of Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian refineries, saying they had caused “nothing particularly significant.” Since Trump’s surprise announcement on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to halt attacks on energy, Kyiv had suspended attacks on Russian refineries, which Trump blames for raising diesel prices on global markets. But in the days that followed, Russia rained down missile and drone strikes, including on energy targets such as power stations, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s patience had run out.
Axon secures federal contracts for cameras, drones, tasers
Axon Enterprise Inc. announced Thursday it has received multiple contract awards from federal agencies for its public safety technology products. Federal agencies added over 22,000 Axon body-worn cameras and digital evidence management licenses, including translation tools, this year, according to a press release statement from the company. The Department of Homeland Security selected Axon’s Dedrone platform under an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to provide real-time airspace monitoring, drone identification and threat mitigation for critical infrastructure protection. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs added over 1,600 TASER 10 devices to equip VA police officers at medical centres. The devices are intended for protecting veterans and healthcare staff. The contracts span federal law enforcement, homeland security and veteran healthcare operations.
Apple and Meta team up to make Muse AI model run on Mac computers
Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg have clashed for years, but with John Ternus taking the reins at Apple, the rivals are finding common ground in artificial intelligence. Meta and Apple revealed a new collaboration Thursday that will enable developers to easily run Meta’s new open-weight AI model on Apple’s high-end desktop computers. The collaboration centres on Muse Spark Open, the most capable open-weight model released under a license that allows for limited commercial use, according to Meta. It’s an 816-billion-parameter model using a so-called mixture-of-experts architecture. As an open-weight model, developers can download the technology’s parameters, or weights, from the internet and run the model on a wide range of hardware.
Tesla reveals next-generation Roadster after almost a decade of delays
Tesla showed off its long-delayed next-generation Roadster on Thursday, almost a decade after Elon Musk’s company started taking deposits for the electric sports car. The event was livestreamed from a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, near Waco, starting at 7:55 p.m. local time, or 8:55 p.m. ET. In attendance along with Musk were design leader Franz von Holzhausen and Lars Moravy, vice president of vehicle engineering. “You’re going to see some crazy stuff tonight,” Musk said. “You’re going to see the results of what happens when you have a collaboration with the world’s best car company and the world’s best rocket company.”
Adobe expands Nvidia partnership to optimize creative tools
Adobe announced Wednesday an expansion of its partnership with NVIDIA to optimize several of its creative applications, including Photoshop, Premiere, Substance 3D, Frame.io and Brand Concierge. The collaboration integrates NVIDIA’s RTX Spark superchip into Adobe’s creative applications, delivering up to 2x faster AI processing for editing, colour and effects, according to a press release statement. The optimized applications include Photoshop, which has been rearchitected around GPU-accelerated compositing for tasks such as the Remove Tool and effects like Gaussian Blur. Premiere’s post-production workflows, including playback, rendering, effects and colour processing, are RTX-accelerated and optimized for RTX Spark. Substance 3D Painter receives performance improvements for texturing workflows.