Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks were choppy and the indexes ultimately finished mixed after another weak US jobs report in which the headline print missed analyst expectations at 22k, with three of the last four months printing below the breakeven estimate. The data confirmed the labour market concerns after the July jobs report, alongside rising initial claims and falling JOLTS, which cemented expectations for a 25bps rate cut in September and bolstered rate cut bets through year-end, while stocks initially rallied on the report on the prospects of more Fed easing, but then sold off after the opening bell as fears over the state of the economy took focus.
• Japanese PM Ishiba said he has decided to resign as LDP president and gave instructions to hold an emergency LDP leadership election, while he will continue to carry out responsibilities until a new leader is elected.
• Eight OPEC+ members agreed to raise the oil production by 137k bpd in October, citing a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals, while the next meeting is to be held on October 5th.
• US President Trump posted that he had warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting a hostage deal and said this was his last warning.
• Looking ahead, highlights include Japanese Final Q2 GDP, Monthly Current Account Balance, Eco Watchers Survey & Supply.

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LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include Japanese Final Q2 GDP, Monthly Current Account Balance, Eco Watchers Survey & Supply.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US stocks were choppy and the indexes ultimately finished mixed after another weak US jobs report in which the headline print missed analyst expectations at 22k, with three of the last four months printing below the breakeven estimate. The data confirmed the labour market concerns after the July jobs report, alongside rising initial claims and falling JOLTS, which cemented expectations for a 25bps rate cut in September and bolstered rate cut bets through year-end, while stocks initially rallied on the report on the prospects of more Fed easing, but then sold off after the opening bell as fears over the state of the economy took focus.
• SPX -0.32% at 6,482, NDX +0.08% at 23,652, DJI -0.48% at 45,401, RUT +0.48% at 2,391.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US President Trump criticised EU fines on tech companies on Friday and said this cannot be allowed to stand, while he warned that if it does stand, they will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these taxpaying American companies.
• US President Trump is to direct Japan's USD 550bln investment in the US after the deal with Tokyo, according to a report in the FT on Friday, which cited a memo that gives Japan 45 days to fund projects earmarked by Trump or face the reimposition of his steep tariffs.
• US-China trade talks have reportedly made little progress towards a deal and an impasse was hit on the fentanyl issue, while senior China negotiator Li Chenggang’s trip to Washington suggests that China is attempting to keep talks open but is not willing to give any ground, according to WSJ.
• Japan’s trade negotiator Akazawa said he cannot say the trade issues with the US have been resolved, while he added that a US presidential order on auto tariffs was issued, but there are no orders yet on the most favoured nation status for pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Fed's Goolsbee (2025 voter) said on Friday that he is still undecided on the September decision and needs to assess the inflation side of the mandate, while he wants to make sure that services inflation uptick is a blip, according to a Bloomberg interview.
• US President Trump said Waller, Warsh and Hassett are the three finalists for Fed chair nomination. In relevant news, White House’s Hassett said Fed monetary policy needs to be fully independent of political influence, including from President Trump, according to a CBS News interview.
• US President Trump signed Executive Orders on Friday regarding changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, and on ordering penalties against countries complicit in holding wrongfully detained Americans.
• Disruptions to Microsoft (MSFT) Azure cloud services were reported due to multiple undersea fibre optic cables being cut in the Red Sea, although the cause of the damage wasn’t specified, while network traffic that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted.

DATA RECAP

• US Non-Farm Payrolls (Aug) 22k vs. Exp. 75k (Prev. 73k, Rev. 79k)
• US Unemployment Rate (Aug) 4.3% vs. Exp. 4.3% (Prev. 4.2%)
• US Average Earnings YY (Aug) 3.7% vs. Exp. 3.7% (Prev. 3.9%)

GLOBAL NEWS

• Tensions rose in Istanbul as hundreds of Turkish police blocked access to the main opposition’s Istanbul headquarters following a court-ordered leadership change of the party’s local administration, according to Bloomberg.

COMMODITIES

• Eight OPEC+ members agreed to raise the oil production by 137k bpd in October, citing a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals, while the next meeting is to be held on October 5th.
• OPEC Secretary General said projections indicate OPEC+ under the leadership of OPEC members will increase production from 49mln bpd to around 64mln bpd by 2050.
• Iraq’s PM said they will make arrangements to facilitate the entry of oil majors into Iraq, and they are in talks with ExxonMobil (XOM) on major energy projects, while Iraq hopes fellow producers will reconsider its oil export quota to better reflect its production capacity.
• Iraq’s SOMO and Oman’s OQ signed two MOUs on oil storage and Iraqi oil trading, while one MOU includes developing an integrated crude oil storage project in Oman’s Raz Markaz with an initial capacity of 10mln bbls.
• Russia’s Novak said they discussed 7-month OPEC+ compliance, which is high and they agreed to monitor the market further, while he added the market is balanced and Russia is fully compliant with the OPEC+ deal.
• ADNOC is said to mull USD 10bln plus financing for the Santos (STO AT) deal, according to Bloomberg.
• Italy’s Energy Minister said there is no plan to dismantle coal-fired plants in continental Italy by year-end and they are relaxed about the level of gas storage filling in Italy and in Europe, while the official added that US suppliers are currently offering LNG at a competitive price.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• US President Trump posted that he had warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting a hostage deal and said this was his last warning.
• Hamas said it received some ideas from the US side through mediators to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
• Israel’s Foreign Minister Saar said the war in Gaza can end tomorrow if hostages are released and Hamas lays down its arms, while he said establishing a Palestinian state would jeopardise Israel’s security and urged Denmark not to recognise a Palestinian state. It was also reported that Denmark’s Foreign Minister said they are not ready to recognise a Palestinian state but added Israel does not have a veto over any Danish recognition of a Palestinian state.
• Yemen’s Houthis targeted Israel’s Ramon Airport with drones, although operations at the airport were resumed following the drone strike from Yemen.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• Ukraine’s PM said the main building of the Ukrainian government was damaged by an enemy strike for the first time during the war and that firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze at the government building. In relevant news, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Sunday morning that Russia launched 805 drones and 13 missiles on Ukraine overnight, while it was separately reported that Ukraine attacked Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline in the Bryansk region.
• Russian Defence Ministry said Russian forces took control of Khoroshe in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region and carried out strikes on Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and transport infrastructure facilities, according to TASS.
• US President Trump said he is ready to go to the second round of sanctioning Russia, while Trump commented on Friday that the Ukraine war will end, or there will be hell to pay, and they are working on security guarantees to Ukraine.
• US envoy to Ukraine said Russia’s latest strike on Kyiv is not a signal it wants to diplomatically end the war.
• US and the EU plan to discuss new Russia sanctions on Monday, according to AP News.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Japanese PM Ishiba said he has decided to resign as LDP president and gave instructions to hold an emergency LDP leadership election, while he will continue to carry out responsibilities until a new leader is elected and thought it was the right timing to step down given the conclusion of the Japan-US trade agreement. Furthermore, he said the party will decide on the schedule for the leadership race and he will not run in the LDP leadership race.
• South Korea’s Foreign Minister said over 300 Koreans were detained by US authorities at the Hyundai plant and President Lee ordered all-out efforts to respond to the arrest of Korean nationals. Furthermore, South Korea’s Presidential Office said it is in the final stage of negotiations to release Korean workers detained in the US and it will try to improve the visa system to prevent a similar incident, according to Yonhap.
• China is preparing to reopen its domestic bond market to major Russian energy companies, according to FT.

DATA RECAP

• Chinese Foreign Reserves (USD)(Aug) 3.322T (Prev. 3.292T)

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Italy’s Economy Minister said the government sees 2025 GDP growth in line with its 0.6% target.