Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Daily Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks finished higher on Friday, with the Dow outperforming, while the Russell lagged. Most sectors closed in the green, led by Technology, Industrials, Consumer Staples and Financials, while Energy was the clear laggard alongside lower crude, followed by Communication Services and Real Estate. Macro focus centred on renewed US-Iran diplomatic optimism as reports suggested negotiations have moved into a more detailed technical phase, while the Iranian President signalled readiness for an agreement with the US, although Iranian sources subsequently pushed back on the prospect of imminent progress.
• US President Trump said he rejected a deal from Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, while he stated Iran wants to make a deal in which they open the strait immediately because it is losing so badly. However, it was also reported that Trump said he expects talks with Iran to resume this week even though he rejected Iran’s latest proposal.
• US and China said they agreed to a USD 30bln reciprocal tariff reduction and to launch a bilateral dialogue on AI, according to WSJ.
• Looking ahead, highlights include Chinese Industrial Profits, Singapore Industrial Production, BoJ Minutes from the July Meeting, Supply from Australia, Taiwan Holiday Closure.

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LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include Chinese Industrial Profits, Singapore Industrial Production, BoJ Minutes from the July Meeting, Supply from Australia, Taiwan Holiday Closure.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

IRAN CONFLICT

• US President Trump said he rejected a deal from Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, while he stated Iran wants to make a deal in which they open the strait immediately because it is losing so badly.
• US President Trump said he expects talks with Iran to resume this week even though he rejected Iran’s latest proposal, while he stated the conditions Iran wants are something the US may have agreed to around a year ago and that Tehran overplayed its hand, according to Axios.
• US President Trump said that as soon as the Iran war is over, which is soon, oil will drop, while he stated that they took out a record oil amount from Hormuz on Saturday night. Trump also stated that they will win against Iran in military and economic warfare, while he didn't want to say regarding striking Iran before the Midterms and noted that Iran inflation was at 318%.
• US President Trump told Chinese President Xi during the summit to stop supporting Iran, according to Axios on Friday, citing US Ambassador to Beijing Perdue.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said they have seen the initial response from US President Trump to the 7-day ceasefire proposal, but are waiting to receive the official response via mediators, while he added that only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock. Araghchi also stated that Iran's conditions are clear and that any move towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said he and Iranian President Pezeshkian did not come to New York to sell a war and that they came to forge peace, while he added that Iran remains steadfast in the face of any aggression even if it comes to an apocalyptic war, but are at the same time, ready for real diplomacy.
• Iranian President Pezeshkian said regional states can safeguard their own security and he denied Iran's direct involvement in Yemen, describing the situation as unrelated to Iran, but stated that Iran is ready to help resolve the conflict and urged Yemeni Houthis and Saudi Arabia to enter talks instead of escalating.
• IRGC spokesman said not only is the Strait of Hormuz not open, but it is a hunting ground for the IRGC Navy against US submersibles.
• Iran army spokesman said Iran’s armed forces are prepared for any renewed US attacks after US President Trump said he rejected a deal from Iran.
• Local sources reported that a sea cruiser fired at a violating vessel in an unauthorised route of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Fars News.
• Saudi authorities suspended in-person classes in Riyadh for a week on Sunday, following reports the day before that Saudi air defences said they intercepted Houthi drones headed toward the capital and ballistic missiles targeting Khamis Mushait.

US TRADE

• US stocks finished higher on Friday, with the Dow outperforming, while the Russell lagged. Most sectors closed in the green, led by Technology, Industrials, Consumer Staples and Financials, while Energy was the clear laggard alongside lower crude, followed by Communication Services and Real Estate. Macro focus centred on renewed US-Iran diplomatic optimism as reports suggested negotiations have moved into a more detailed technical phase, while the Iranian President signalled readiness for an agreement with the US, although Iranian sources subsequently pushed back on the prospect of imminent progress.
• SPX +0.51% at 7,743, NDX +0.42% at 30,608, DJI +0.93% at 51,834, RUT +0.07% at 2,838.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US and China said they agreed to a USD 30bln reciprocal tariff reduction and to launch a bilateral dialogue on AI, according to WSJ.
• China signalled it could allow some domestic companies such as ByteDance and Alibaba (9988 HK) to buy Nvidia (NVDA) chips built for high-end computers, according to The Information.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US Treasury Secretary Bessent urged Fed policymakers to keep an open mind regarding interest rates, while he argued that AI-driven productivity gains and deregulation would help curb US inflation. Furthermore, he said that core inflation has been very stable and fell in recent months.
• US President Trump announced that he approved new fuel economy standards that terminate former President Biden's EV mandate, while he said the new standards will take the waste out of building cars in the US, which means lower prices, and noted that more than USD 100bln is being invested in American autos under his administration.
• US President Trump said he will talk about AI with Anthropic CEO Amodei, who will have dinner at the White House, while Trump said he will say to Amodei, 'let's go, let's win.
• Bill Gates joined calls for AI safeguards, including legislation, while he stated that law enforcement and politicians need to get in discussion regarding safeguards and monitoring.
• OpenAI agents bombarded a UN website with search requests and used a variety of aggressive techniques to access data on the system in June, according to a research report cited by WSJ.

COMMODITIES

• US President Trump said he is thinking about it very seriously regarding a diesel export ban and may do it, while he blamed a diesel shortage on Ukraine hitting a Russian refinery and said a diesel export ban may cause a little increase in car gasoline.
• US Senator Cruz said late on Friday that the White House offered assurances that the Trump administration won’t ban US diesel exports.
• EU warned member states regarding a potential energy price crisis driven by the Middle East conflict, while it asked them to consider measures to reduce demand and continue filling gas storage ahead of winter.
• Azerbaijan’s Socal, TotalEnergies (TTE FP) and ADNOC’s XRG unit approved a project to boost natural gas production in the Caspian Sea.

GEOPOLITICAL

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• US President Trump said he told Ukrainian President Zelensky to take it easy on refineries.
• Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Sunday morning that Russian strikes overnight killed four in Ukraine and damaged a data centre in Kyiv.

OTHER

• US President Trump said the Taiwan issue came up during meetings with Chinese President Xi, but noted that they didn’t talk about it too much and that Xi understands how he feels.
• China’s Southern Theatre Command conducted a joint air and sea training exercise around the Scarborough Shoal on Sunday.
• Proposed US military base in Poland will cost as much as USD 4.4bln and could be open as early as 2029.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• South Korea‘s excess tax revenue could surpass KRW 50tln won this year amid a stronger-than-expected semiconductor cycle, according to Yonhap.
• Australian Treasurer Chalmers said figures to be published on Monday will show the deficit during the prior financial year was billions of dollars smaller than forecast in the budget in May.

EUROPE/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• UK PM Burnham hinted regarding new taxes to pay for social care reform and confirmed he wants care for the elderly and infirm to operate on NHS principles, while he didn’t deny that this would be paid for with tax increases.
• UK PM Burnham insisted he can deliver a real change for people in the country despite the nation facing severe economic headwinds, while he acknowledged they are facing a challenging set of circumstances at the budget. It was also reported that Burnham announced a new help-to-buy scheme to get first-time buyers on the housing ladder.
• UK PM Burnham suggested he could block plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
• British police arrested several suspects over a ‘major incident’ near an airbase used by the US, while US President Trump said the men arrested at the UK airbase were looking to do ‘big damage’.
• France is mulling a change to the way payroll tax deductions are calculated in its 2027 budget bill, which would effectively be a payroll tax increase for firms and could bring in an additional EUR 3bln-3.5bln.
• Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia premier Wuest, who is a key figure in Chancellor Merz’s CDU, criticised the government regarding the pace of economic reforms and said delays in enacting legislation contributed to the party’s disastrous performance in regional elections this month.
• ECB’s Sleijpen said the Netherlands needs to keep government spending in check and that state debt will increase if they do nothing, while he warned it would be highly irresponsible to borrow more, which is also not good for inflation.
• SNB President Schlegel said the central bank is in a comfortable situation amid muted expectations for inflation in Switzerland.
• Several major foreign banks expressed interest in a potential merger or combination with Switzerland’s UBS (UBS SW).