Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

US stocks were sold on Friday with underperformance in the Nasdaq as Broadcom's (AVGO, -11.4%) Q4 earnings showed its AI order backlog fell short of expectations, adding to the AI concerns seen post-Oracle (ORCL, -4.6%) earnings. Oracle shares also declined after reports that data centres for OpenAI are reportedly delayed to 2028 from 2027; largely due to labour and material shortages, although Oracle denied the reports, which helped its shares pare some of the downside. Meanwhile, sectors were predominantly lower, with Tech slumping 3%, while energy and communication also lagged, albeit to a lesser extent.
US President Trump said on Friday that he is leaning towards Kevin Warsh or Kevin Hassett to lead the Fed and that the next Fed Chair should consult with him on interest rates.
Ukrainian presidential adviser said Ukraine and US teams meeting on peace proposals in Berlin lasted more than five hours on Sunday and will continue on Monday, while US special envoy Witkoff said a lot of progress was made during the talks.
Apollo Management took bets against technology companies vulnerable to AI, in which it is betting against several large loans to software makers and cutting exposure to the sector, according to FT.
Looking ahead, highlights include BoJ Tankan Survey, UK Rightmove House Prices, Chinese House Prices, Industrial Production & Retail Sales.

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LOOKING AHEAD

Highlights include BoJ Tankan Survey, UK Rightmove House Prices, Chinese House Prices, Industrial Production & Retail Sales.
Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

US stocks were sold on Friday with underperformance in the Nasdaq as Broadcom's (AVGO, -11.4%) Q4 earnings showed its AI order backlog fell short of expectations, adding to the AI concerns seen post-Oracle (ORCL, -4.6%) earnings. Oracle shares also declined after reports that data centres for OpenAI are reportedly delayed to 2028 from 2027; largely due to labour and material shortages, although Oracle denied the reports, which helped its shares pare some of the downside. Meanwhile, sectors were predominantly lower, with Tech slumping 3%, while energy and communication also lagged, albeit to a lesser extent.
SPX -1.07% at 6,827, NDX -1.91% at 25,197, DJI -0.51% at 48,458, RUT -1.51% at 2,551.
Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

US and Mexico reportedly struck a deal on Friday to settle the Rio Grande water dispute, which eases the bilateral tensions which had been stoked after US President Trump’s threat of an additional 5% tariff on Mexico if it did not provide additional water to help US farmers.
White House crypto czar Sacks said on Friday that he sees China not accepting NVIDIA's (NVDA) H200 chip and that China wants to be semiconductor independent.
China’s Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission Deputy Director said they will expand exports and increase imports in 2026.
EU plans a crackdown on very dangerous Chinese products sold on online platforms, including Alibaba (9988 HK) and Shein, according to FT.
France said conditions for an EU vote on a Mercosur deal are not yet met, despite recent progress, while France calls for the EU-Mercosur December meeting to be pushed back to continue work on mirror clauses.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

US President Trump is reportedly not certain his economic policies will translate to midterm wins, while he said his US investments haven’t fully taken effect and stated that by the time they have to talk about the election, which is in another few months, he thinks their prices are in good shape.
US President Trump said on Friday that he is leaning towards Kevin Warsh or Kevin Hassett to lead the Fed and that the next Fed Chair should consult with him on interest rates. Trump added that it is not typically done anymore but used to be done routinely and should be done, while he also commented that interest rates should be 1% or lower a year from now, according to WSJ.
White House economic adviser Hassett said he would consider US President Trump’s policy opinions, but added that the central bank would remain independent if he were to become the next Fed chair.
Fed's Daly (2027 voter) said on Friday that she favoured a cut at last week's Fed meeting and that the FOMC decision was not an easy choice, while she added that goals are in conflict as inflation is above target and the labour market is softening. Furthermore, she said Congress gave them two goals, and their job is to meet both of them, and the recent policy decision puts them in a good place to achieve that.
Apollo Management took bets against technology companies vulnerable to AI, in which it is betting against several large loans to software makers and cutting exposure to the sector, according to FT.

COMMODITIES

Kuwait sees a fair oil price at USD 60-65/bbl under current conditions, and they had expected prices to remain at least as they were, if not better, but were surprised by the drop, according to the Kuwaiti Oil Minister. Furthermore, he said they are searching for a partner in a petrochemical project in Oman’s Duqm, but are ready to move ahead with Oman if no investor is found.
Egypt proposed a unified Arab emergency oil and gas purchases mechanism, according to the Petroleum Ministry.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

Israel’s military conducted a strike on Gaza, which killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saed, while the Israeli military said it put a planned strike on a southern Lebanon site on hold after the Lebanese Army requested access.
Two US Army soldiers and a civilian US interpreter were killed in Syria, while the Syrian government said the attacker was a member of Syrian security forces with extremist views. It was later reported that US President Trump said they will retaliate against ISIS and that there will be a lot of damage done to the people who attacked the troops in Syria.
US CENTCOM will host a Doha conference on 16th December with partner nations to plan the international stabilisation force for Gaza, according to US officials.
US forces raided a ship and seized cargo headed to Iran from China, according to WSJ.
Iran was reported on Friday to have seized a foreign tanker carrying 6mln litres of smuggled diesel in the Gulf of Oman, according to state media.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

US President Trump said a lot of progress is being made on Russia and Ukraine, while he responded that they don’t want it now, and it would be complex when asked about the idea of a free economic zone in the Donbas region.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said services have been working to restore electricity, heating and water supply to regions following Russian strikes on energy infrastructure. Zelensky also commented that there won’t be a peace plan that everyone will like and there will be compromises, while he also stated that US and European security guarantees, instead of NATO membership, are a compromise from Ukraine’s side and that security guarantees should be legally binding.
Ukrainian presidential adviser said Ukraine and US teams meeting on peace proposals in Berlin lasted more than five hours on Sunday and will continue on Monday, while US special envoy Witkoff said a lot of progress was made during the talks.
Ukrainian military said it struck a Russian oil refinery in the Krasnodar region and a Russian oil depot in the Volgograd region, while Ukraine’s Navy said a Russian drone attack hit a Turkish civilian vessel carrying sunflower oil to Egypt on Saturday.
Russian Defence Ministry said Russian forces captured Varvarivka in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to RIA.

OTHER

US envoy John Coale said Belarusian President Lukashenko agreed to do all he can to stop weather balloons flying into Lithuania, while Coale also stated that the US will remove sanctions on Belarusian potash and that around 1,000 remaining political prisoners in Belarus could be released in the coming months.
US President Trump said land strikes against Venezuela will start happening and don’t necessarily have to be in Venezuela.
US President Trump said on Friday that he had a very good conversation with the Thai and Cambodian PMs, while he added that they agreed to cease all shooting effective that evening and go back to the original peace accord. However, it was reported over the weekend that Thailand’s PM Charnvirakul said his country has not reached a ceasefire agreement with Cambodia and the Thai military will continue fighting on the disputed border.
Philippine Coast Guard said three Filipino fishermen were wounded and two fishing boats suffered significant damage from high-pressure water cannon blasts by Chinese Coast Guard ships in the South China Sea, while it called on China’s Coast Guard to adhere to internationally recognised standards of conduct.

GLOBAL NEWS

At least 16 people were killed and 40 were injured in a targeted, mass shooting terror attack against a Jewish celebration of Hanukkah held at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday. Furthermore, police said a bomb disposal unit was working on several suspected improvised explosive devices, and they were looking at anyone in the community who has similar intent, as well as noted that the national terrorism threat level remained probable. However, police later announced there were only two offenders in the attack.
Israeli PM Netanyahu said he warned Australia about anti-Semitism and told the Australian PM that anti-Semitism spreads when leaders stay silent.

ASIA-PAC