Daily News 25th Aug 26
Daily News
Wall Street Slips on Chip Sell-Off as Gold Holds Near Three-Month High; Crude Steadies Above $85 on Iran Sanctions Push; Bitcoin Tops $80,000; Trump Hikes Canada Auto Tariffs to 50%
25 August 2026
Today in Brief
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed, with Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 0.27% and the Topix adding 0.41%, while South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.44% and the small-cap Kosdaq declined 0.26%; Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was 0.53% higher, as U.S. bond yields fell on reports the Treasury Department could tap its $1 trillion General Account to fund bond purchases, sending the 10-year Treasury yield down more than 3 basis points to 4.7%. The S&P 500 fell 0.28% to 7,652.86 and the Nasdaq lost 0.76% to 25,980.19 on Monday as chip stocks slid — Micron shed 5.8%, with AMD and Broadcom also lower — even as the Dow gained 140.15 points, or 0.26%, to 53,417.16. Gold eased below $4,650 an ounce on Tuesday but stayed close to a three-month high as government bond-market intervention revived the "debasement trade," while crude oil steadied above $85 per barrel after the prior session's decline, as the US intensified economic pressure on Iran and its trading partners.
In other news: the Trump administration unveiled a global sanctions plan dubbed "Operation Economic Outcast" targeting the "enablers" keeping Iran's economy afloat, signaling China would not be exempt; President Trump said the U.S. will hike auto tariffs on Canada to 50% starting January 1, 2027, after trade talks broke down; bitcoin surged past $80,000 as renewed ETF inflows and a short squeeze extended its recent rally; Trump Media's interim CEO defended the pricey Truth API service, saying customer signups are climbing; Xpeng shares sank on a weaker-than-expected delivery forecast despite its robotics unit securing a $6.3 billion valuation; Porsche signed a $1.5 billion AI deployment deal with Tata Consultancy Services; Nvidia said its Groq racks will be online later this year following its largest-ever acquisition; and Boeing was awarded a $131.2 billion contract to support the F-15 fighter program.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.27%, while the Topix added 0.41%
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.27%, while the Topix added 0.41%. South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.44%, and the small-cap Kosdaq declined 0.26%. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.53% higher. U.S. bond yields were lower after CNBC reported that the Treasury Department could use its $1 trillion General Account to fund its plans to ramp up government bond purchases. The U.S. 10-year Treasury fell more than 3 basis points on the day to 4.7%.
S&P 500 falls to start the week, dragged down by a sell-off in chip stocks
The S&P 500 fell slightly on Monday as a drop in key technology stocks overshadowed a move lower in Treasury yields. The broad market index fell 0.28% to 7,652.86, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.76% and closed at 25,980.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 140.15 points, or 0.26% to 53,417.16. Declines in chip stocks weighed on the broader market. Micron Technology shed 5.8%, while Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom pulled back more than 3% and 2%, respectively. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) slid 2.7%.
Gold eased below $4,650 an ounce on Tuesday, but stayed close to its highest level in more than three months
Gold eased below $4,650 an ounce on Tuesday, but stayed close to its highest level in more than three months as US government interventions in the bond market revived the so-called debasement trade that fuelled gold's 65% rally in 2025. The US Treasury Department announced an expansion of its buyback program for long-dated government debt last week in an effort to contain rising borrowing costs, with Secretary Scott Bessent saying he is prepared to increase the buybacks further while also flagging an upcoming longer-term fiscal plan. However, markets speculated that the measures may offer only a temporary solution, while renewing concerns over the risks of a US debt crisis, persistent inflation and dollar weakness
Crude oil steadied above $85 per barrel on Tuesday after declining in the previous session
Crude oil steadied above $85 per barrel on Tuesday after declining in the previous session, as the US intensified economic pressure on Iran and its trading partners, with China reportedly not exempt from the measures. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans to isolate Iran through sanctions targeting countries that continue doing business with the Islamic Republic, while President Donald Trump said those nations would be given a specific timeline to sever ties with Tehran or face unilateral US penalties. However, markets remain uncertain over whether the US measures will help accelerate or instead delay a potential resolution to the US-Iran conflict and the full reopening of Hormuz. Meanwhile, risks to energy flows in the Middle East remain elevated, with the UK Navy reporting that an oil tanker was struck and disabled near Oman, while Iran-backed Houthi militants said they had fired on a Saudi Arabian supertanker sailing through the Red Sea.
Trump admin unveils anti-Iran global sanctions plan, signals China not exempt
The Trump administration on Monday announced a plan to isolate Iran's economy by threatening to impose secondary sanctions on the “enablers” keeping the Islamic Republic afloat. “We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe,” Treasury Scott Bessent said as he unveiled the new sanctions scheme, dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast.” President Donald Trump is calling world leaders and making “specific requests to cease their interactions” with Iran, Bessent said at the Treasury Department. The promised sanctions have yet to be imposed. The U.S. will instead start by sending timelines to individual countries to “shut down activities we have identified,” Bessent said.
Trump says U.S. will hike Canada auto tariffs to 50% as trade war escalates
President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. will raise tariffs on imports of cars, trucks and auto parts from Canada to 50% on Jan. 1, 2027, following a breakdown in trade negotiations last week. “Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, accusing the longtime trading partner of hurting U.S. farmers through its own tariff policies. “Not sustainable, and NOT ANYMORE!” he wrote. “On January First, 2027, Tariffs on all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel, will be increased to 50%.”
Bitcoin surges past $80,000 as crypto rally gathers pace
Bitcoin surged past the $80,000 mark on Tuesday, as renewed inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs and improving risk appetite extended the cryptocurrency's recent rally. The flagship cryptocurrency last jumped over 2% to $80,501. The latest move extends a sharp rally that began last week, when bitcoin surged more than 20% in three days, its biggest three-day gain since 2023. The rally was fuelled partly by a short squeeze, with more than $4 billion in bearish crypto positions liquidated as prices rose. The gains followed the U.S. Treasury's announcement that it would double its purchases of longer-dated government bonds.
Trump Media CEO defends selling faster access to president's Truth Social posts, says more have signed up
Trump Media & Technology Group interim CEO Kevin McGurn on Monday defended his company offering faster access to President Donald Trump's Truth Social posts, and said more customers have signed up for the pricey and controversial service. “We're getting into the mid-teens now, and we're climbing,” McGurn told CNBC's “Squawk Box” when asked if more companies had started paying for the service dubbed Truth API, which costs up to $100,000 per month. That's an increase from two weeks earlier, when McGurn said on Trump Media's first-ever quarterly earnings call that “more than 10” customer agreements had been signed. The service went live on Aug. 1. Truth API has garnered intense scrutiny from critics who argue that since the president often makes market-moving announcements through his Truth Social account, the service effectively lets deep-pocketed firms trade on valuable information before the rest of the public. Trump is a top shareholder in TMTG, with his stake being held in a revocable trust.
Xpeng shares sink as weak delivery forecast overshadows $6.3 billion robot unit valuation
Shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng fell more than 9% in Hong Kong on Tuesday after the company issued weaker-than-expected forecast for third-quarter deliveries, despite its robotics business unit securing a valuation of over $6.3 billion in a funding round. Xpeng's U.S.-listed shares closed 8.5% lower on Monday. The company reported a second-quarter net loss of 1.34 billion yuan (200 million), wider than a year earlier, while revenue rose 8% to 19.74 billion yuan. It forecast deliveries of between 115,000 and 121,000 vehicles in the third quarter.
Porsche inks $1.5 billion deal for AI deployment with India's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy
Porsche has signed a five-year contract worth 1.25 billion euros ($1.46 billion) for artificial intelligence with India's largest IT services firm, Tata Consultancy Services. As part of the deal, TCS will acquire Porsche's IT consulting business, MHP, for 320 million euros, the company said in a release. This will combine Porsche's “automotive expertise with TCS's digital and AI capabilities,” Michael Leiters, chairman of Porsche, said in the press release. The partnership will boost the European sports-car maker's innovation, efficiency and competitiveness “in an increasingly data- and software-driven world of mobility.” Since the start of the year, TCS has secured multiple AI-led business transformation deals and has said its annualized AI revenues were $2.6 billion in the June quarter, up 13.6% from a quarter earlier.
Nvidia says Groq racks will be online this year following $20 billion purchase
Nvidia announced Monday that its Groq 3 LPX rack is in full production, marking the commercialization of technology from the company's largest acquisition on record. The Groq rack will be deployed alongside Vera central processors and Rubin graphics processors at neocloud Nebius, and will be online later this year, Nvidia senior director Dion Harris told reporters. Nvidia's race to manufacture Groq's chip and make it available to customers highlights the growing importance of low-latency inference that's needed to make artificial intelligence agents feel responsive without long lags for users, especially for coding. Cloud companies can charge more for these kinds of tokens, Nvidia says.
Boeing awarded contract with ceiling value of $131.2 billion for F-15 program
The U.S. Department of War on Monday awarded Boeing a $131.23 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the F-15 Eagle Crest program, which oversees the F-15 fighter aircraft fleet. The contract covers aircraft production, systems integration, upgrades and sustainment, including new organic depot maintenance aimed at keeping F-15 aircraft mission-ready for the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard and other Department of War customers. The work will be performed at St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by August 2037, the department said in its website. The ordering period runs through August 24, 2031, with an option to extend it through August 24, 2036. The contract also covers Foreign Military Sales to Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Poland.
