Asian Tech and Auto Stocks Rise as Nvidia Announces Tie-Ups, Doubles Revenue Forecast for Key Chips
17 March 2026
Today in Brief
Asian tech and auto stocks rose as Nvidia announced partnerships and doubled its revenue forecast for key chips.
Iran war tensions, oil price swings, and central bank decisions continued to dominate global market sentiment.
Asia Markets
Story 01
Asian tech and auto stocks rise as Nvidia announces tie-ups, doubles revenue forecast for key chips
Asia-Pacific markets rose Tuesday as auto and tech stocks gained after Nvidia announced robust revenue forecast for its key chips, and partnerships with carmakers from the region. Memory makers SK Hynix, which supplies memory chips to Nvidia, and Samsung Electronics, a decades-old partner of Nvidia, rose over 3% and 4%, respectively. This comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he expects purchase orders between Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips to reach $1 trillion through 2027 at Nvidia's annual developer conference on Monday. Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker and manufacturer of Nvidia's advanced AI GPUs, rose 1%.
U.S. Markets
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S&P 500 rebounds Monday following three straight weeks of losses as oil prices cool a bit
Stocks rose on Monday, while oil prices pulled back as Wall Street tried to recover from another losing week, with investors monitoring the latest developments of the Iran war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 387.94 points, or 0.83%, closing at 46,946.41. The S&P 500 rose 1.01% to end at 6,699.38, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.22% and settled at 22,374.18. Meta shares gained more than 2% on a report — which the company has called "speculative" — that it is planning to lay off more than 20% of its workforce. Additionally, Nvidia shares rose more than 1% as its GTC conference kicked off Monday. The moves come after the S&P 500 notched its third losing week in a row and closed at its lowest level of the year on Friday.
Commodities
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Gold edged higher to around $5,020 per ounce on Tuesday but remained close to its lowest level in nearly a month
Gold edged higher to around $5,020 per ounce on Tuesday but remained close to its lowest level in nearly a month, as traders continued to assess the impact of the Middle East conflict on the outlook for inflation and monetary policy. The US-Israeli conflict with Iran is now in its third week, with Iran intensifying strikes on energy infrastructure across the region, while President Trump has warned of direct attack on Iran's oil facilities on Kharg Island. The conflict has kept energy prices elevated, fuelling concerns that sustained increases could further stoke inflation and reinforce a hawkish stance among central banks. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold rates steady this week, while other major central banks, including the ECB, BOE, and BOJ are also anticipated to maintain their current policy settings.
Energy
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WTI crude futures rose toward $96 per barrel on Tuesday after losing more than 5% in the previous session
WTI crude futures rose toward $96 per barrel on Tuesday after losing more than 5% in the previous session, as investors continued to assess the impact of the Middle East conflict on global supply. On Monday, oil prices retreated sharply as fears of a prolonged Strait of Hormuz closure eased after several tankers safely navigated the chokepoint over the weekend, raising hopes the waterway could soon reopen. India is also negotiating six additional vessels as several countries pursue back-channel talks with Iran to ensure safe passage for their ships.
Economy
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Australia central bank hikes rates to a near 1-year high as Iran war raises inflation risks
Australia's central bank on Tuesday raised benchmark policy rates for a second straight time, pushing them to their highest since April 2025 at 4.1%, amid sticky inflation. The 25-basis points hike was in line with expectations from analysts polled by Reuters, and comes as Australia's inflation stays above the central bank's upper limit of 3%, with the war in the Middle East risking a further rise in prices. "While inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, it picked up materially in the second half of 2025," the Reserve Bank of Australia said in its statement. While developments in the Middle East remain highly uncertain, the RBA also said, they are likely to add to global and domestic inflation.
Geopolitics
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Trump says U.S. asked China to delay Xi meeting 'a month or so' due to Iran war
President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. has asked to delay his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing by "a month or so" due to the ongoing war with Iran. Trump was expected to travel to China at the end of March for the meeting with Xi. But when asked in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon if that trip was still on, Trump said, "I don't know, we're working on that right now." "We're speaking to China. I'd love to, but because of the war, I want to be here. I have to be here, I feel," Trump said. "And so, we've requested that we delay it a month or so," Trump said. "I'm looking forward to being with him. We have a very good relationship." The comments came as tensions between the two economic superpowers have recently appeared to ratchet up, spurred by the Iran war and the U.S. announcing a new investigation into Chinese trade practices.
Geopolitics
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Trump seeks support on Hormuz as he sets sights on Cuba
U.S. President Donald Trump's appeals that other countries help the U.S. secure the Strait of Hormuz seem to have received a less than enthusiastic response, but Trump struck a confident tone Monday stateside, telling reporters the White House will soon announce the names of nations that have agreed to assist. Washington, meanwhile, is looking to postpone a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping as the conflict with Iran prolongs. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading about 2% higher at $95.34 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent was up 1.8% at $102.03, after prices declined on Monday. The jump in prices comes as Iran continues to target its neighbours, with reports of missile and drone strikes hitting Dubai on Tuesday, prompting the United Arab Emirates to temporarily close its airspace. Despite the U.S. being embroiled in Iran, Trump seems to be mulling taking the world's largest economy into another conflict, saying Monday that he will have the "honour" of "taking Cuba."
Energy Markets
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UAE reopens airspace after brief shutdown as Iran attacks keep region on edge
The United Arab Emirates reopened its airspace on Tuesday after a brief shutdown, as Iran continued missile and drone attacks in a conflict with the U.S. and Israel now in its third week. The UAE's Defense Ministry said Monday that air defenses have intercepted more than 300 ballistic missiles and 1,600 drones so far. The General Civil Aviation Authority said the decision followed a comprehensive assessment of operational and security conditions and was made in coordination with relevant authorities. It added that real-time monitoring of the situation remains in place to ensure the highest levels of aviation safety.
Technology
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CEO Jensen Huang sees $1 trillion in orders for Blackwell and Vera Rubin through '27
At Nvidia's annual developer conference on Monday, CEO Jensen Huang took the stage to a packed house and said he expects purchase orders between Blackwell and Vera Rubin to reach $1 trillion through 2027. Last year, the company had projections for a $500 billion revenue opportunity between the two chip technologies. Following Nvidia's earnings report last month, Finance chief Colette Kress said the company expects growth this year to exceed what was included in that estimate. Huang said demand is booming from startups and big companies alike. Nvidia shares rose about 2% on Monday. "If they could just get more capacity, they could generate more tokens, their revenues would go up," Huang said at GTC in San Jose, California.
Corporate
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Apple acquires video editing company MotionVFX to boost subscribers
Apple has acquired video editing company called MotionVFX, which offers plug-ins, templates and visual effects tools that work with Apple's Final Cut Pro. "We are extremely excited to share that MotionVFX is joining Apple team to continue to empower creators and editors to do their best work," the startup said on its website Monday. "From the very beginning, we've been all about quality, ease of use, and great design. These are also the values that we admire most in Apple's products, and we're thrilled to be able to embrace them together." Apple declined to comment or disclose deal terms. Founded in 2009, MotionVFX offers packages starting at $29 a month for editing inside Final Cut Pro. The acquisition will allow Apple to integrate MotionVFX's capabilities directly rather than relying on third-party extensions.
Finance
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Blue Owl tipped UK lender into insolvency after discrepancy concerns
Blue Owl Capital Inc triggered the recent collapse of UK mortgage lender Century Capital after discovering irregularities in its financial reporting, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The American private credit firm tipped Century into administration last month after discovering the group had dismissed a director over financial discrepancies, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the matter and documents seen by the publication. Century's collapse preceded the insolvency of larger peer Market Financial Solutions, whose entering administration sparked allegations of fraud and heightened concerns over private credit risks. Blue Owl has also become a major focus point for concerns over private credit, especially after the firm halted redemptions at one of its flagship funds. The asset manager's shares have slumped some 40% so far in 2026.
Corporate
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US government confirms Tesla and LG Energy Solution's $4.3 billion battery deal
The U.S. government on Monday said electric vehicle maker Tesla and South Korea's LG Energy Solution had signed a supply agreement to build a $4.3 billion lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic battery cell manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, with an expected production launch in 2027. "American-made cells will power Tesla's Megapack 3 energy storage systems produced in Houston, creating a robust domestic battery supply chain," the U.S. Department of the Interior said in a statement on Monday. The agreement was part of a broader statement on deals highlighted by President Donald Trump's administration from the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Summit. A source told Reuters in July that LG Energy Solution had signed a $4.3 billion deal to supply Tesla with energy storage system batteries as the U.S. company looked to reduce its reliance on Chinese imports due to tariffs.
