Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks were predominantly bid on Friday, in which the SPX, NDX and DJI all posted gains, although the RUT saw further pressure. Nonetheless, the regional banking ETF had pared some of the prior day's losses following woes at ZION and WAL, as bank earnings were strong and helped with the reversal in sentiment, while US commentary on China was also supportive of the risk-on trade, as President Trump responded "no" when asked if he thinks the high tariffs on China will stay, and noted they get along well with China and that he will be meeting Chinese President Xi in two weeks.
• US President Trump signed a proclamation on Friday to address the threat to national security from imports of medium and heavy-duty vehicles, parts and buses, while an official had announced that Trump is to impose 25% tariffs on heavy-duty trucks effective November 1st and will impose 10% tariffs on imported buses, as well as provide significant tariff relief for automakers’ US production.
• US President Trump said on Friday that they are getting along with China, and it looks like the meeting with China will go forward, while he could move the November 1st deadline up if he wanted. Trump added that they will make a deal that will be good for both countries and thinks they will be in a strong position in trade talks with China.
• Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Israel was attacking Gaza, while the Israeli military said Hamas carried out multiple attacks against Israeli forces beyond the ‘yellow line’, violating the ceasefire.
• Looking ahead, highlights include New Zealand CPI, Chinese House Prices, GDP, Industrial Production & Retail Sales, PBoC Loan Prime Rates, Singapore Holiday Closure.

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LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include New Zealand CPI, Chinese House Prices, GDP, Industrial Production & Retail Sales, PBoC Loan Prime Rates, Singapore Holiday Closure.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US stocks were predominantly bid on Friday, in which the SPX, NDX and DJI all posted gains, although the RUT saw further pressure. Nonetheless, the regional banking ETF had pared some of the prior day's losses following woes at ZION and WAL, as bank earnings were strong and helped with the reversal in sentiment, while US commentary on China was also supportive of the risk-on trade, as President Trump responded "no" when asked if he thinks the high tariffs on China will stay, and noted they get along well with China and that he will be meeting Chinese President Xi in two weeks.
• SPX +0.53% at 6,664, NDX +0.65% at 24,818, DJI +0.52% at 46,191, RUT -0.60% at 2,452.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US President Trump signed a proclamation on Friday to address the threat to national security from imports of medium and heavy-duty vehicles, parts and buses, while an official had announced that Trump is to impose 25% tariffs on heavy-duty trucks effective November 1st and will impose 10% tariffs on imported buses, as well as provide significant tariff relief for automakers’ US production.
• US President Trump said on Friday that they are getting along with China, and it looks like the meeting with China will go forward, while he could move the November 1st deadline up if he wanted. Trump added that they will make a deal that will be good for both countries and thinks they will be in a strong position in trade talks with China.
• US President Trump’s administration is reportedly quietly watering down some tariffs and has exempted more products from US tariffs in recent weeks, while it offered to exempt hundreds of more goods from farm products when countries strike deals with the US, according to WSJ.
• US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng engaged in candid, in-depth and constructive discussions regarding trade and will meet in person in he week ahead to continue their discussions.
• Dutch Economy Minister Karremans said the Nexperia intervention was needed due to the former CEO’s actions, and he will speak with a Chinese government official about Nexperia within days. Furthermore, he said China and Europe both have an interest in solving problems around Nexperia, and commented that China has the wrong impression that the Netherlands and the US ‘teamed up’ on Nexperia.
• South Korea sees a higher chance of a trade deal with the US by the APEC summit.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Fed's Musalem (2025 voter) said on Friday that he could support a path with another cut if more risks to the jobs market emerge and inflation is contained, while he sees limited space before rate cuts would make policy accommodative. Musalem said the Fed should not be on a preset course and that it is important for the Fed to be cautious right now, as well as noted that it is premature to say what comes with FOMC meetings after October.
• US said on Friday that about 1,400 workers will be furloughed at the nuclear weapons security agency as of Monday due to the government shutdown.
• NVIDIA (NVIDIA) and TSMC (2330 TT) unveiled the first completed US-made wafers that will eventually become Blackwell chips, and which are said to be the single most important chips now being produced in America, according to Axios.
• Microsoft (MSFT) leaders are reportedly worried that meeting OpenAI's rapidly expanding computing demand could lead to overbuilding servers that might not generate a financial return, according to The Information. It was separately reported on Friday that new analysis of download trends and daily active users provided by Apptopia showed that ChatGPT’s mobile app growth may have hit its peak as estimates indicate that new user growth, measured by percentage changes in new global downloads, slowed after April, according to TechCrunch.

COMMODITIES

• Ukrainian drones struck the Orenburg plant, which is a major gas processing plant in southern Russia, forcing it to suspend its intake of gas from Kazakhstan, according to AP.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Israel was attacking Gaza, while the Israeli military said Hamas carried out multiple attacks against Israeli forces beyond the ‘yellow line’, violating the ceasefire. It was separately reported by Axios that US and Israeli sources said that Israel notified the US administration in advance of the strikes in Gaza, while the Israeli military said it began a wave of attacks against Hamas targets in southern Gaza, but later said it is resuming enforcement of the Gaza ceasefire after it was ‘violated’ by Hamas.
• Israeli government spokesperson said Israel has continued to fulfil its obligations to the ceasefire and noted that they are in a ceasefire but soldiers can act to defend themselves.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu instructed that the Rafah crossing will not be opened until further notice, while an opening will be considered based on whether Hamas returns deceased hostages and implements the agreed-upon framework. It was separately reported by Israeli media that Israel is to halt the supply of aid to Gaza until further notice, while an Israeli official said aid into Gaza was halted due to the truce breach by Hamas.
• US informed the guarantor nations of the peace agreement of credible reports indicating an imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas against the people of Gaza, according to the State Department which stated that if Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire.
• US official cited by Axios stated that Israel told the US it will open the crossing to Gaza on Monday morning, while the Palestinian embassy in Egypt earlier stated that the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is to reopen on Monday which will allow Palestinians residing in Egypt to return to Gaza.
• Israeli PM’s office said Israel received the bodies of two hostages from the Red Cross in Gaza.
• Senior Hamas official Nazzal said on Friday that he cannot confirm whether Hamas will give up arms, and stated that disarmament is a broad issue that would have to include other armed Palestinian groups.
• Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire during talks mediated by Turkey and Qatar in Doha.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• US President Trump told Ukrainian President Zelensky in a tense meeting on Friday that he doesn’t intend to provide missiles, at least for now, according to Axios. It was separately reported that Trump urged Zelensky to accept Russian President Putin’s terms and said that Putin warned he would “destroy” Ukraine if it did not agree, according to FT.
• Russian President Putin reportedly demanded during a phone call with US President Trump that the territory of the Donetsk region must completely come under the control of the Russian army to end the war, but with Russia now ready to give up “parts” of the territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in exchange for it, according to The Washington Post.
• Russia said its forces captured Pleshchivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, while Russian forces also captured Chunyshyne and Poltavka in eastern Ukraine, according to RIA.
• IAEA said work has begun to repair damaged off-site power lines to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after a four-week outage, following the establishment of local ceasefire zones to allow work to proceed.
• UK PM Starmer said the UK would continue to step up its support and would ensure Ukraine was in the strongest possible position, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

OTHER

• China's Defence Ministry warned the US against perilous attempts to arm the region of Taiwan on Friday and said any move would cost the US a heavy price, according to Reuters.
• China said it found evidence of a US cyberattack on a Chinese state agency.
• US President Trump officials are quietly discussing the idea of a meeting with North Korea’s leader Kim during an upcoming Asia trip, according to CNN.
• US President Trump said on Friday that Spain has not been loyal to NATO and should be reprimanded.
• US President Trump said they destroyed a very large drug-carrying submarine that was navigating towards the US on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route, while US intelligence confirmed the vessel was loaded up with mostly fentanyl.
• US President Trump called Colombian President Petro a ‘drug dealer’ and announced the use would end “large-scale payments and subsidies”, according to The Sunday Times.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• PBoC Governor Pan said on Friday that the Chinese economy remains on track with positive signs, and noted that prices remain stable with Core CPI picking up, while he also said that monetary policy will remain appropriately loose.
• Chinese tech giants paused stablecoin plans after Beijing raised concerns about the rise of currencies controlled by the private sector, according to FT.
• Japan’s LDP and the Japan Innovation Party agreed to form a coalition government, while it was separately reported that Japan’s Innovation Party is considering staying out of the Cabinet and cooperating from outside.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• BoE Governor Bailey said Brexit is to have a negative impact on UK economic growth for the foreseeable future.
• BoE's Greene said on Friday that core and services inflation are going sideways and noted indications that the disinflation process is slowing, while she is concerned about second-round effects and stated that firms are more sensitive to upside inflation surprises. Furthermore, Green said policy is not meaningfully restrictive, as well as stated that they should slow down the rate-cutting cycle and should not cut every quarter, but added that the rate-cutting cycle is not over.
• UK Energy Secretary Miliband suggested the government is looking at the possibility of cutting the rate of VAT on energy bills, but said that he would not speculate ahead of the Chancellor's Budget in November.
• ECB’s Nagel said the inflation story looks good and that inflation is pretty much on target for the next years.
• ECB's Rehn said on Friday that the European economy has shown remarkable resilience and that the Euro currency can only be as strong as the economy behind it.
• France’s wealthy are reportedly investing record amounts in Luxembourg-based annuities and shifting other funds to perceived havens such as Switzerland amid concerns about political turmoil at home, according to FT.
• S&P lowered France to 'A+' from 'AA-'; Outlook Stable, while it cited heightened risks to budgetary consolidation.