Daily News
Asia Slips as AI-Trade Concerns Take Center Stage; Nasdaq Posts Worst Week Since June, Tumbling 4.5%; Gold Climbs Above $4,170 on Dovish Warsh Remarks; Crude Slips Below $101 but Keeps Most of Last Week’s 10% Surge
19 October 2026
Today in Brief
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 1.65%, the Topix down 1.12%, South Korea’s Kospi down 1.29%, the Kosdaq down 0.93% and mainland China’s CSI 300 down 0.28%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.37%. On Wall Street Friday, the S&P 500 lost 1.09% to 7,659.44, the Nasdaq Composite shed 2.14% to 26,140.03 and the Dow fell 175.28 points to 52,002.41, with the VIX topping 22 for the first time in four months; the Nasdaq tumbled 4.5% for the week, snapping a four-week winning streak. Gold climbed above $4,170 an ounce on Monday as dovish remarks from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh prompted traders to scale back expectations of an October rate hike, while crude oil fell below $101 per barrel but retained most of last week’s 10% surge.
In other news: Putin reportedly suggested a summit with Trump and Xi to decide the fate of Ukraine; Iran said it has a “new operational plan” if the U.S. resumes attacks; India’s Finance Minister said easy exits and excess liquidity are fuelling equity underperformance; China’s third-quarter growth quickened to 4.5%, beating estimates; CXMT shares fell over 6% despite a profit turnaround; Microsoft pulled out of a UK data centre deal with Nscale; Starboard sees big upside in Skyworks after the Qorvo merger; and a sharp CoreWeave bond sell-off is testing the market’s math on the AI buildout.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.65%, while the Topix was down 1.12%
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.65%, while the Topix was down 1.12%. South Korea’s Kospi was 1.29% lower, while the small-cap Kosdaq Index fell 0.93%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.37%. Mainland China’s CSI 300 slid 0.28%. The S&P 500 lost nearly 2% last week, its biggest weekly decline since late June. The Nasdaq tumbled 4.5%, snapping a four-week winning streak. Concerns around the health of the AI trade took center stage after CNBC reported, citing sources, that Anthropic’s third-quarter revenue totalled $16.8 billion.
Nasdaq slides 2% Friday to post worst week since June, pressured by AI sell-off and oil prices
Stocks slid on Friday as traders notched a mostly losing week amid a shift away from tech and artificial intelligence-related names as well as a rise in oil prices. The S&P 500 lost 1.09% and ended at 7,659.44, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 2.14% to close at 26,140.03. Both indexes ended the session below their 50-day moving averages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 175.28 points, or 0.34%, to 52,002.41. The sell-off sent the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) above 22 for the first time in four months. Chipmakers were lower again. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) lost 3%, led by declines in Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Sandisk. Semiconductors have struggled this week amid jitters about competition from China.
Gold climbed above $4,170 an ounce on Monday, extending its recent gains
Gold climbed above $4,170 an ounce on Monday, extending its recent gains as dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh prompted traders to scale back expectations of an October rate hike. Speaking at the IMF’s annual meetings in Bangkok on Friday, Warsh avoided signalling the outcome of this month’s FOMC meeting but noted that hotter-than-expected inflation had not changed his assessment of the US economy. The Fed has since entered its blackout period ahead of the October 27–28 policy meeting, with markets pricing in an approximately 84% probability of rates remaining unchanged. Gold also benefited from safe-haven demand as growing concerns over AI-related investments triggered an equity selloff and pushed bond yields lower.
Crude oil prices fell below $101 per barrel on Monday but retained most of last week’s 10% surge
Crude oil prices fell below $101 per barrel on Monday but retained most of last week’s 10% surge, as escalating hostilities in the Middle East and Eastern Europe kept supply risks elevated. Clashes between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels showed little sign of abating, with a Saudi helicopter crashing near the border with Yemen and the Houthis targeting Yanbu, a key oil export hub. Three tankers were also damaged in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend as Iran’s IRGC navy maintained that the waterway remained closed and vessels could pass only with its authorization. In Europe, Ukrainian attacks sparked fires at an oil export terminal and a storage depot in St. Petersburg on Sunday, as Kyiv launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in one of the war’s largest aerial assaults.
Putin reportedly suggests summit with Trump and Xi to decide fate of Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin had reportedly suggested a summit between himself, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping for a deal to end the Ukraine war. The meeting was mentioned in a phone call to Trump on Oct. 9, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter. The call also produced a deal for Moscow to sell diesel oil on the global market. The summit is not confirmed, but if it takes place will not involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and may take place at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Iran says it has a ‘new operational plan’ if the U.S. resumes attacks, as shipping vessels report strikes
A senior Iranian security official warned Sunday that Tehran has prepared a new response plan for any renewed U.S.-Israeli attack, as maritime authorities reported several separate attacks on commercial vessels around the Arabian Peninsula. “Iran’s armed forces have prepared a response to any new act of adventurism that would be far more devastating than the 12-day and 40-day wars,” Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in a post on X, referring to attacks by Israel in June 2025, and the conflict triggered by the U.S. and Israel in February. “Iran’s new operational plan will not follow the rules with which they are familiar,” Rezaei said in comments translated by Google.
India’s Finance Minister says easy exits and excess liquidity fuel equity market’s underperformance
Excess liquidity in India’s equity market has contributed to underperformance and may continue to do so, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “Because of the ease of liquidity, ease of availability, people are even exiting easily” from equities, Sitharaman told CNBC in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank meetings in Bangkok on Friday. However, the fundamentals of the Indian economy are “fine,” she said. Since January, India’s key benchmark indexes have slipped nearly 12%, as per LSEG data, even though the country’s economic growth has been resilient amid trade uncertainty and geopolitical shocks. India has been hit with record outflows by foreign investors from its equity markets, and Sitharaman said that continued capital outflows are one of the biggest risks for India in 2027.
China’s third-quarter economic growth quickens to 4.5% as exports surge, beating estimates
China’s economic growth accelerated to 4.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier, as robust foreign demand for the country’s technological goods largely offset drags from a deepening property slump and sluggish consumer demand. Third-quarter growth beat Reuters-polled economists’ expectation of a 4.4% expansion, and was also higher than the three-year low of 4.3% in the second quarter. “The rebound in September salvaged the lukewarm performance in July and August,” said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at Economist Intelligence Unit, attributing the recovery to improved government investment that helped arrest the consistent worsening in fixed asset investment, an “ever-strong” external sector and a weak base.
China’s CXMT sees shares drop over 6% as investors look past chipmaker’s profit turnaround
Shares of ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, fell 6.5% Monday even as the company on Friday forecast a sharp swing to profitability for the first nine months of 2026. CXMT said in a filing Friday that it expects net profit attributable to shareholders of between 131 billion yuan ($19.58 billion) and 132.5 billion yuan for the January-to-September period, reversing a net loss of 5.28 billion yuan a year earlier, according to a Google translation of the filing. The company expects revenue of around 265 billion yuan to 270 billion yuan, an increase of 232.9 billion yuan to 237.9 billion yuan from the same period a year earlier.
Microsoft pulls out of UK data centre deal with Nscale
Microsoft has pulled out of a data centre deal with British cloud provider Nscale, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported on Sunday. The US tech giant, one of Nscale’s two largest customers, recently terminated its agreement for the Loughton, Essex, data centre, according to the report. The newspaper did not specify why Microsoft withdrew from the project. Microsoft and Nscale did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours. Nscale filed for an initial public offering in the US last month, with Microsoft and Anthropic expected to be its major customers, according to its prospectus.
Starboard sees big upside in Skyworks after Qorvo merger,
Starboard Value sees significant upside in Skyworks Solutions if the wireless chipmaker delivers on the cost savings and margin targets of its merger with Qorvo, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The activist investor believes that Apple chip supplier Skyworks remains undervalued following the completion of its acquisition of Qorvo this month, the report said. Starboard sees growth opportunities from the companies’ complementary product portfolios and believes investors have yet to fully recognize the potential benefits of the combination, Bloomberg reported. The merger includes a target of at least $500 million in annual cost savings within three years, while management has forecast operating margins of 30% to 35% within two to three years.
CoreWeave bond rout tests market’s math on AI buildout
A sharp decline in CoreWeave’s bonds this week is emerging as a test of investors’ willingness to keep financing the massive buildout of AI infrastructure, as rising borrowing costs and scrutiny of debt-funded expansion hit the sector. Analysts and portfolio managers said the selloff in the data centre operator’s debt carries more significance than a concurrent rout in its shares because it may signal a broader reassessment of the risks tied to financing AI projects that may take years to generate revenue. CoreWeave bonds issued in June at a yield of 9.675% have plunged in value, sending their yield to 15% this week. “CoreWeave is absolutely the canary in the coal mine” for a market segment that is coming under more stress, said Max Frumes, global head of distressed and leveraged finance at 9fin, a fintech corporate credit data and analytics company.