Archived briefing
Compiled via live web search in the early hours of 24 September 2026 Hong Kong time, covering developments from the preceding 48 hours plus market data through Wednesday's close in New York and Hong Kong; where a price series lags, that is noted.
Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Iranian officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, days after Trump threatened to 'annihilate' the Islamic Republic. Iran reportedly proposed a up-to-60-day regionwide ceasefire, a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to the US naval blockade; Trump called it a 'very good meeting' while Secretary of State Rubio said military options remain on the table. CBS News / Al Jazeera / The National
Meeting Trump at the UN, Zelensky proposed a reciprocal halt to strikes on energy infrastructure if Russia does the same, while Trump signalled openness to licensing Patriot interceptor production in Ukraine. Russia's defence ministry said it is preparing 'massive strikes' on Ukraine's power grid, and Kyiv has been hitting refineries deep inside Russia with long-range drones. CNBC / Al Jazeera
An Israeli drone strike killed three Palestinians in Gaza City's Tuffah neighbourhood on Tuesday evening, part of near-daily violations including shelling and home demolitions reported since the October 2025 truce. Talks continue over Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal terms. IMEMC
Trump met Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez on the UN sidelines, their first direct encounter since the US military operation that captured Nicolas Maduro. The two discussed restructuring Venezuela's sovereign debt, Rubio said. Yahoo News / Al Jazeera
Brent crude rose above $98-100 and WTI to around $92 on Wednesday, snapping a five-session losing streak, as markets weighed the US-Iran talks against a planned Saudi restart of its East-West pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. A surprise US crude inventory build of 2.97 million barrels also pressured the market. Reuters / CNBC
Xi Jinping, on his first US state visit since 2015, is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House later on Thursday Washington time, with a state dinner to follow. Trade-truce extension beyond its 10 November expiry, rare-earth export controls, Taiwan arms sales and AI safeguards top the agenda; analysts call it a 'management summit' unlikely to produce a transformational deal. CSIS / Reuters
The PBOC set Wednesday's midpoint at 6.7468 per dollar, a modest 9-basis-point weakening from Tuesday's 6.7459 after a record run of firmer fixings, while onshore yuan closed around 6.7019. The currency remains near its strongest levels since 2023 as Beijing signals comfort with a firmer yuan ahead of the Xi-Trump meeting. China News Service / 21jingji
Alibaba said it will bring to market what it describes as China's top-performing AI chip, part of Beijing's semiconductor self-reliance push as US export curbs continue to constrain access to advanced foreign chips. Bloomberg
Hong Kong swimmer Siobhan Haughey took gold in the women's 200m freestyle in 1:54.96, teammate Ian Ho won silver in the men's 50m freestyle, and cyclist Chloe Leung took bronze, extending Hong Kong's strong showing at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. SCMP / SwimSwam
The HKSAR government strongly rejected the European Commission's latest annual report on Hong Kong, calling its claims about national security law and freedoms unfounded and accusing Brussels of interfering in Hong Kong affairs and applying double standards. SCMP / The Standard
At least 12 Hongkongers convicted over the 2019 protests have had British National (Overseas) visa applications refused since Andy Burnham became UK prime minister, with the Home Office citing riot convictions of over 12 months, reversing an earlier pattern of approvals for such cases. The Standard / dimsumdaily
US stocks fell Wednesday as Treasury yields spiked: the S&P 500 dropped 0.71% to 7,709.27, the Dow lost 0.59% to 51,559.85 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.18% to 26,922.49, pulling back from Tuesday's record close. The 10-year Treasury yield jumped as high as about 5.07-5.09%, its highest since 2007, after the S&P Global services PMI hit 58.7 (a near five-year high) and Fed governor Michael Barr said more rate hikes are needed against sticky inflation; traders now price roughly 70% odds of an October hike. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.9% to about 24,873, snapping a three-session winning streak as investors booked profits in tech names ahead of the Xi-Trump summit; Hang Seng ADR trading afterward pointed to a firmer open.
Chip and AI-infrastructure names remain the story of the month, though prices.json's equity rows currently run only through Tuesday 22 September's close, one session behind the index moves above. As of that close, AMD stood at $623.77, having crossed a $1 trillion market cap for the first time on Monday after a roughly 24% five-day surge tied to AI demand and optimism around the Xi-Trump meeting's tech agenda; it joins Nvidia ($228.87), Broadcom ($364.54) and Micron in the trillion-dollar club. Micron closed Tuesday at $1,096.16, up sharply again as it heads into its 30 September earnings after a 256% year-to-date run, while TSMC reached $452.00 and Nvidia $228.87.
Software and fintech names were more mixed as of Tuesday's close: Palantir stood at $184.99 and SoFi at $17.16, while Microsoft eased to $498.00 and Block slipped to $77.53.
Gold (GLD ETF) closed Tuesday at $400.07 per prices.json, still holding most of its strong summer run from around $374 in late July. Bitcoin and ether readings in prices.json run through Tuesday 22 September, when bitcoin traded near $86,198 and ether near $2,753; bitcoin had topped $86,000 on Monday, an eight-month high, on roughly $999 million of single-day spot ETF inflows, its strongest since October 2025, after rebounding from a 15 September low near $74,900.
Oil reversed sharply higher into Wednesday: the WTI series in prices.json is lagged to 15 September ($107.02) and does not reflect this, but current reporting puts WTI near $92 and Brent near $98-100 a barrel as of Wednesday's close, snapping a five-day losing streak on US-Iran diplomatic uncertainty, a planned Saudi pipeline restart to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, and a surprise US crude inventory build.
The 10-year Treasury yield's last prices.json reading was 4.96% on 21 September, already stale: yields have since jumped to roughly 5.07-5.09%, the highest since 2007, on hot PMI data and hawkish Fed commentary ahead of an expected October rate decision.
| Name | Last | 1 day | Move | Volume | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equities & semis | |||||
| NVDANvidia | $228.87 | +0.66% | 0.8x avg | 09-22 | |
| AVGOBroadcom | $364.54 | +0.52% | 0.8x avg | 09-22 | |
| MSFTMicrosoft | $498.00 | -0.72% | 1.0x avg | 09-22 | |
| PLTRPalantir | $184.99 | +1.04% | 0.7x avg | 09-22 | |
| TSMTSMC | $452.00 | +1.54% | 1.2x avg | 09-22 | |
| MUMicron | $1,096 | +5.00% | 1.1x avg | 09-22 | |
| XYZBlock | $77.53 | -0.49% | 0.9x avg | 09-22 | |
| SOFISoFi | $17.16 | +1.12% | 2.3x avg | 09-22 | |
| Crypto | |||||
| BTCBitcoin | $86,198 | -0.46% | 1.3x avg | 09-22 | |
| ETHEthereum | $2,753 | -0.80% | 1.2x avg | 09-22 | |
| Commodities & rates | |||||
| XAUGold (GLD ETF) | $400.07 | +0.42% | 0.6x avg | 09-22 | |
| WTICrude oil (WTI) | $107.02 | +4.49% | — | 09-15 | |
| US10YUS 10-year yield | 4.96% | -5 bp | — | 09-21 | |
OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei, joined by Hugging Face's Clément Delangue, were due to address the 15-member UN Security Council on AI capabilities and safeguards, with Chinese labs DeepSeek and Moonshot also invited to speak. Altman planned to urge adoption of common benchmarks for measuring AI capability and safety. CNBC / Bloomberg
OpenAI added GPT-6 Sol and Luna models priced roughly 50% below its prior GPT-5.6 promotional rates, intensifying competition with Anthropic for cost-conscious enterprise customers. Reuters
Alphabet's Intrinsic unit released Intrinsic Core at ROSCon 2026 in Toronto, a hardware-agnostic robotics environment combining real-time control, Nvidia FoundationPose-based pose estimation, and motion and grasp planning with Intrinsic-ROS drivers. Industry press
Google, Anthropic and OpenAI have all pushed cybersecurity-oriented models in recent weeks; Google's Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber is being marketed as leading in autonomous vulnerability discovery ahead of Anthropic's Mythos 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-5.5-Cyber. The Hacker News
Alibaba said it will roll out what it calls China's leading AI chip, underscoring Beijing's semiconductor self-reliance push as US export controls continue to limit access to advanced foreign hardware. Bloomberg