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Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

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Sunday, Aug 17, 2025 - 09:51 PM
  • US stocks finished mostly in the red on Friday albeit with mild losses amid tentativeness leading into the Trump/Putin meeting and as participants digested mixed data including US Retail Sales which matched expectations in July alongside a stronger-than-expected control figure, while industrial production unexpectedly declined, import prices were hot and UoM Sentiment unexpectedly worsened, but NY Fed Manufacturing surged above expectations. As such, stocks came under pressure ahead of and after the cash open in which financials were hit the most alongside Tech, with the latter weighed by fresh Trump remarks on tariffs on chip imports as he stated "I'm going to have a rate that is going to be 200%, 300%", while Healthcare notably outperformed among the sectors due to Berkshire Hathaway's Q2 13F unveiling a new stake in UnitedHealth.
  • US President Trump said they made great progress in the meeting with Russian President Putin which he said was "a 10" and there are just a few points left to agree upon and a few things left to resolve, but added there is no deal until there is a deal and there are one or two significant items left to agree on and it is ultimately up to NATO and Ukraine to agree. Trump said they negotiated on NATO, security and land, while he also stated that he could meet Putin again soon and could see a Moscow meeting possibly happening, as well as noted that Russian President Putin also wants to see an end to the killing, like he does. Furthermore, it was announced that Ukrainian President Zelensky and European officials will visit the Oval Office on Monday afternoon.
  • Looking ahead, highlights include New Zealand Performance of Services Index, Singapore Non-oil Exports, Thailand GDP.

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LOOKING AHEAD

US TRADE

  • US stocks finished mostly in the red on Friday albeit with mild losses amid tentativeness leading into the Trump/Putin meeting and as participants digested mixed data including US Retail Sales which matched expectations in July alongside a stronger-than-expected control figure, while industrial production unexpectedly declined, import prices were hot and UoM Sentiment unexpectedly worsened, but NY Fed Manufacturing surged above expectations. As such, stocks came under pressure ahead of and after the cash open in which financials were hit the most alongside Tech, with the latter weighed by fresh Trump remarks on tariffs on chip imports as he stated "I'm going to have a rate that is going to be 200%, 300%", while Healthcare notably outperformed among the sectors due to Berkshire Hathaway's Q2 13F unveiling a new stake in UnitedHealth.
  • SPX -0.26% at 6,451, NDX -0.51% at 23,712, DJI +0.08% at 44,946, RUT -0.56% at 2,286.
  • Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

  • US President Trump said he will hold off on raising tariffs on Chinese goods over the country's purchases of Russian oil.
  • US government officially posted the Section 232 tariff codes for steel and aluminium products on Friday, in which the BIS is adding 407 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) codes to the list of products that will be considered as steel or aluminium derivative products.
  • US negotiators’ August 25th visit to New Delhi for trade talks was called off and the current round of negotiations for a proposed US-India bilateral trade deal is now likely to be deferred to another date, according to NDTV Profit.
  • EU push to prevent the US from targeting the bloc’s landmark digital rules is reportedly holding up a trade statement with the US, according to FT.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

  • Fed’s Daly (2027 voter) said a couple of cuts are warranted this year and maybe a few more, while she added that they have to be ahead in order to not be behind and that Fed officials have to balance inflation and labour mandates. Daly also stated that the economy has slowed but is not slow, and there is still room to recalibrate the policy rate.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

  • Israel’s navy carried out an attack against a power station south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday.
  • Israel’s military began providing tents and shelter equipment for Gazans in preparation for relocating residents from combat zones to southern Gaza.
  • Hamas said the entry of tents by Israel into the southern Gaza Strip under ‘humanitarian arrangements’ is blatant deception and the new Israeli relocation plan is a new wave of genocide and displacement.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

  • US President Trump said they made great progress in the meeting with Russian President Putin which he said was "a 10" and there are just a few points left to agree upon and a few things left to resolve, but added there is no deal until there is a deal and there are one or two significant items left to agree on and it is ultimately up to NATO and Ukraine to agree. Trump said they negotiated on NATO, security and land, while he also stated that he could meet Putin again soon and could see a Moscow meeting possibly happening, as well as noted that Russian President Putin also wants to see an end to the killing, like he does.
  • US President Trump commented on Truth Social that it was a great and very successful day in Alaska and that the meeting with Russian President Putin went very well, as did a late-night phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky and various European leaders. Trump added it was determined by all that the best way to end the Russia-Ukraine war is to go directly to a peace agreement and not a mere ceasefire agreement which often does not hold. Furthermore, he said Ukrainian President Zelensky will visit the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, and if all works out, they will then schedule a meeting with Russian President Putin.
  • Russian President Putin said he is sincerely interested to end the conflict, but all ‘root causes’ must be eliminated and all Russia’s concerns must be taken into account. Putin said negotiations were productive and useful. Putin said the personal meeting has been overdue and was necessary to rectify the situation, while he hopes that a mutual understanding will bring peace to Ukraine and he agrees with US President Trump on the need for Ukraine’s security. Furthermore, he said the agreements should be a starting point and that a Russia-US Investment partnership has huge potential. It was also reported that Putin told Trump that if Ukraine fully withdraws from eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russia would freeze the front line in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. It was also reported that the Kremlin said a trilateral summit with Ukraine was not discussed yet and there is no date set for another Trump-Putin meeting.
  • Ukrainian President Zelensky said Ukraine is ready for constructive cooperation and will travel to Washington D.C. on Monday, while he added that Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace and the call with US President Trump and Europeans discussed positive signals and lasted for more than 90 minutes. Furthermore, he said Ukraine supports President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US and Russia. It was separately reported that Zelensky said he emphasised to Trump that pressure on Russia should be stepped up and noted that security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term.
  • US Special Envoy Witkoff said US President Trump and Russian President Putin agreed at their summit that the US would be able to offer security guarantees to Ukraine.
  • US Secretary of State Rubio said both Ukraine and Russia will have to make concessions to get a peace deal and there were things discussed in the Trump-Putin meeting that have potential for breakthroughs to end the war. Rubio suggested that to end the war, there are things Russia and Ukraine want but cannot get and it may not be possible for the US to create a scenario to end the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, he said security guarantees will be discussed in Monday’s meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky and others, while Rubio added that he is not saying they are on the verge of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, but they saw enough movement to justify a follow-up meeting with Zelensky.
  • European leaders have been invited to join US President Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the White House on Monday and it was reported that UK PM Starmer, German Chancellor Merz, French President Macron, Italian PM Meloni, Finland’s President Stubb, European Commission President von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Rutte will join the Trump-Zelensky meeting on Monday.
  • European leaders issued a joint statement on the Trump-Putin summit in which they stated that they welcome US President Trump’s efforts and support for providing security guarantees, while they added that Russia cannot have a veto on Ukraine’s pathway to the EU and NATO.
  • EU Council President Costa said transatlantic unity is paramount at this moment to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine and if no ceasefire is agreed, the EU and the US must increase pressure on Russia, while he added that Ukraine’s sovereign right to determine its conditions for peace must be respected.
  • EU Commission spokesperson said Ukraine’s allies held a positive exchange ahead of Monday’s meeting with US President Trump and the video conference focused on key matters such as the need to stop the killing in Ukraine and the commitment to maintain full pressure on Russia via sanctions.
  • German Chancellor Merz said the US is ready to take part in security guarantees for Ukraine, while he added they would have liked there to have been an agreement on a ceasefire and stated there are no territorial negotiations on Ukraine that are going over the heads of the Europeans. It was separately reported that Germany’s Foreign Minister said any Ukraine peace agreement requires security guarantees for Ukraine, and that Europe is ready to provide them together with the US.
  • French President Macron said the situation ahead of talks in Washington is extremely serious for Ukraine and Europe, while he added they want Ukraine’s territorial integrity to be respected and want a strong and lasting peace for Ukraine. Macron said their goal for talks on Monday is to present a united front between Ukraine and its European allies, as well as warned that if they show weakness today in front of Russia, they are laying the ground for future conflicts. Furthermore, Macron said he thinks the answer is no to the question of whether he thinks Russian President Putin wants peace.
  • Statement from the Nordic Baltic eight leaders noted that they will continue to arm Ukraine and enhance Europe’s defences to deter further Russian aggression, while they will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy.
  • Ukrainian President Zelensky said Ukrainian forces saw a success for a second day in a row repelling a Russian assault near Dobropillya and Russia might step up frontline attacks in the coming days. It was separately reported that Ukraine’s military said its forces advanced up to two kilometres on the Sumy front.
  • Russia said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 300 Ukrainian drones, while it announced it hit a storage site for Ukrainian Sapsan operational-tactical missiles, according to IFAX. It was also reported that Russia’s FSB security service said it prevented a Ukrainian drone attack on the Smolensky nuclear power plant.
  • US President Trump said in a pre-recorded interview with Fox that if they have to do sanctions, they will do it and the next meeting will have both Ukrainian President Zelensky and Russian President Putin.

OTHER

  • US President Trump said he believes that Chinese President Xi will not act on Taiwan, while it was separately reported that Trump said Chinese President Xi told him that he would never invade Taiwan while Trump is President, while he also said that he and China are very patient, according to a Fox News interview.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

  • Chinese authorities have increased calls on investors to pay taxes on their global gains, forcing wealthy individuals to reassess their trading strategies as Beijing tries to boost its funds to counter economic pressures, according to FT.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

  • Universities & Colleges Employers Association warned that UK ministers risk exacerbating staff job cuts at post-1992 universities in England and Wales unless they allow institutions more flexibility with their pension offerings, according to FT.
  • ECB's Holzmann called for more transparency on the ECB's policy decisions in a last suggestion before departing the central bank this month.
  • Moody’s affirmed Ireland at Aa3; Outlook Positive.
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