Archived briefing
Compiled early Saturday morning in Hong Kong from the latest closes in Asia, Europe and the US through Friday 18 September; markets are shut over the weekend so figures reflect Friday's session.
The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, signed Friday, lets Washington impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries buying Russian oil and gas, targets Moscow's banks and 'shadow fleet' of tankers, and extends the Iran Sanctions Act for five years. CBS News
Reporters from all three outlets were denied White House access and had press credentials seized on Saturday after Trump accused them of 'fake news' coverage; the organisations say they will challenge the ban legally. NPR
Iran-backed Houthi forces seized a stretch of Red Sea coastline and struck Saudi energy facilities, disrupting a major pipeline and reigniting Yemen's 12-year civil war; Brent briefly topped $108 before easing back toward $105. NPR / Time
The FOMC voted 12-0 for its first rate hike in more than three years, citing inflation stoked by the oil-price spike, and its dot plot signalled at least one more increase is likely before year-end. CNBC
The IAEA said the reactor kept running at full capacity with radiation levels unchanged after Thursday's strike, but condemned the attack and repeated calls for military restraint around nuclear sites amid the wider Russia-Ukraine war. IAEA / US News
China's coast guard said a Philippine vessel deliberately cut across and collided with its ship near Xianbin Reef (Sabina Shoal) in the Spratlys on Friday, and warned Manila to halt what it called 'provocations'; the Philippine side disputes responsibility. CCTV
Industrial output rose 5.2% year-on-year in August, up from July and led by 16.7% growth in high-tech manufacturing, while retail sales growth slowed to just 0.4%, underscoring uneven momentum in the economy, per the National Bureau of Statistics. National Bureau of Statistics
The 29th Beijing-Taiwan Science and Technology Forum opened this week under the theme of technology-led industrial integration, with business and academic representatives from Taiwan attending despite cross-strait political tensions. China.com.cn
The city's first chief executive, who died on 8 September aged 89, lay in state at the Hong Kong Funeral Home on Saturday; a state-funeral-style ceremony led by a Beijing-appointed committee follows on Sunday, with public mourning stations open across the city through the weekend. HK01
A 54-year-old dementia patient who required a pureed diet was given a normal meal on Wednesday, choked and later suffered cardiac arrest and died; the nurse and care assistant involved have been taken off clinical duties pending investigation. TVB News
A 31-year-old woman was slashed on the hand near Yuen Long Business Association Secondary School on Friday night; police say she had recently been fired from a beauty salon over an alleged data theft and are hunting a male suspect. HK01
US stocks closed out a choppy week on Friday, still digesting Wednesday's Federal Reserve decision. The S&P 500 edged up 0.2% on the day but finished the week lower; the Dow slipped 0.2% Friday and lost more than 1.5% over the week, its worst in months; the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4% Friday and stayed in the green for the week, helped by a roughly 3% rally in semiconductor names. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed Friday at 24,750.78, up 0.6% (+146.49 points), with mainland stimulus hopes supporting sentiment.
The Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point to a 3.75%-4.00% range on Wednesday, its first hike in more than three years, after policymakers flagged inflation running hot on the back of surging energy prices. The 10-year Treasury yield, which had climbed as high as 5.01% on 16 September, eased slightly to 4.94% by 17 September (the most recent print in our data, two days stale) as investors weighed how much further the Fed's hawkish dot plot — which points to at least one more hike this year — will push borrowing costs.
Oil remains the story behind the rate move. WTI crude in our series last stood at $107.02 on 15 September (a four-day-old print), up sharply from $101.27 on 11 September, as Iran-backed Houthi forces seized Red Sea coastline and struck Saudi energy facilities, disrupting a major pipeline. Brent briefly topped $108 a barrel this week before settling near $105, with Goldman Sachs lifting its year-end forecasts by $5 a barrel.
Chipmakers were the bright spot. Nvidia climbed to $222.27 on 18 September, up from $210.96 a week earlier, as investors digested its confirmed $12.9 billion acquisition of Hugging Face — the company's second-largest deal ever. Broadcom rebounded to $357.61 from a $339.27 low on 15 September, Micron jumped to $1,015.80 (from $924.03 on 14 September, near its recent record), and TSMC rose to $434.67 from $418.01 over the same span.
Elsewhere in tech, the picture was more mixed. Microsoft slipped to $493.78, down from $505.41 a week earlier, while Palantir edged up modestly to $177.64. Fintech names lagged: Block fell to $76.28 from $79.49 and SoFi dropped to $16.96 from $17.65 over the week.
Crypto had a strong Friday: bitcoin jumped to $80,875 on 18 September from $76,349 the prior day, a near-6% move, while ether rose almost 7% to $2,611 from $2,445, tracking the broader risk-on tone in equities.
| Name | Last | 1 day | Move | Volume | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equities & semis | |||||
| NVDANvidia | $222.27 | +1.34% | 1.6x avg | 09-18 | |
| AVGOBroadcom | $357.61 | +2.97% | 1.8x avg | 09-18 | |
| MSFTMicrosoft | $493.78 | -0.80% | 1.8x avg | 09-18 | |
| PLTRPalantir | $177.64 | +0.79% | 1.2x avg | 09-18 | |
| TSMTSMC | $434.67 | +1.02% | 1.3x avg | 09-18 | |
| MUMicron | $1,016 | +3.92% | 1.3x avg | 09-18 | |
| XYZBlock | $76.28 | -0.25% | 1.5x avg | 09-18 | |
| SOFISoFi | $16.96 | +1.37% | 1.1x avg | 09-18 | |
| Crypto | |||||
| BTCBitcoin | $80,875 | +5.93% | 1.7x avg | 09-18 | |
| ETHEthereum | $2,611 | +6.78% | 1.9x avg | 09-18 | |
| Commodities & rates | |||||
| WTICrude oil (WTI) | $107.02 | +4.49% | — | 09-15 | |
| US10YUS 10-year yield | 4.94% | -7 bp | — | 09-17 | |
The deal, Nvidia's second-largest ever, brings under its ownership a platform hosting 3 million models and used by more than 18 million developers; Hugging Face reportedly turned down a $500m offer late last year before agreeing to the larger sum. TechCrunch / CNBC
Hundreds of contractors paid over $50 an hour are rating real user conversations on a 1-7 scale to curb sycophancy and 'AI-speak'; OpenAI says a privacy filter strips personal data first, though its own documentation admits it can miss identifiers. 404 Media
Alongside their gigawatt-scale commitments, both labs are now also chasing deployments as small as 20-30 MW in the UK, Nordics and US, seeking to deploy compute faster while diversifying away from a handful of giant sites. CNBC
Meta, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic are shipping new model versions at such a frenetic pace that developers and users are struggling to keep track of what has actually improved, according to industry observers. CNBC
The experimental Google Labs assistant, previously limited to a single user's inbox and calendar, now supports shared accounts of up to six household members with a joint daily briefing, starting with a phased rollout this week. Google