Daily briefing
Compiled early Sunday 20 September in Hong Kong, covering developments from the preceding 48 hours; read the markets section alongside data/prices.json, some of whose series lag by a day.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels stormed down the Red Sea coast over the past week, seizing the port of Mokha and islands near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, through which about 12% of world trade passes. They are now roughly 32km from Djibouti and have struck at Saudi oil infrastructure, displacing at least 112,000 people inside Yemen. NPR / Bloomberg
President Trump announced an agreement with Denmark to build a larger US military presence in Greenland, which he described as giving Washington 'permanent control' over the island's security while the deal formally preserves Greenland and Danish sovereignty. It is due to be signed next week at the UN General Assembly but still needs Danish parliamentary approval. NPR / Al Jazeera
Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, giving his administration sweeping new authority to sanction Russian officials, banks and energy revenue as well as Iran's weapons and energy sectors. The same day, the State Department approved a potential $2.68 billion air defense equipment sale to Ukraine, including missiles, launchers and counter-drone radars. RFE/RL / CP24
Russia's State Duma election is running from 18 to 20 September, the first parliamentary vote since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Polling shows the Kremlin-aligned United Russia party far ahead with about 46% support, with the outcome widely expected to preserve its dominance of the 450-seat chamber. Foreign Policy / Time
The 2026 Asian Games opened on 19 September at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, running through 4 October with about 10,840 athletes from 46 nations competing across 43 sports. Olympics.com / ABS-CBN
A Philippine government vessel and a Chinese coast guard ship made contact twice within minutes near Sabina (Xianbin) Shoal in the South China Sea on 18 September, damaging the Philippine ship's railing and structure with no injuries reported. Beijing said the Philippine vessel deliberately altered course into its ship despite warnings; Manila accused China's coast guard of intentional ramming. Sina / Epoch Times
Both onshore and offshore yuan strengthened past the 6.70 per dollar level on 18 September, the strongest since early 2023, supported by strong exports, repatriation of trade proceeds and a pullback in the dollar following the Fed's rate hike. Sina Finance / NBD
China's industrial output rose 5.2% year-on-year in August, up from 4.5% in July and ahead of expectations, led by high-end manufacturing and a recovery in upstream sectors such as coal and chemicals. Retail sales growth slowed to 0.4%, weaker than July's 0.6% pace, even as services spending on travel and dining stayed relatively firm. National Bureau of Statistics / stheadline
Hong Kong's first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, who died on 8 September aged 89, lay in state at Hong Kong Funeral Home on 19 September, with mourners including Chief Executive John Lee and former chief executives Leung Chun-ying, Donald Tsang and Carrie Lam paying respects. A public memorial service, open only to invited guests, was set for Sunday morning, with public condolence stations open in Causeway Bay, Kai Tak and Tsuen Wan. TVB News / Sing Tao
Shenzhen and Hong Kong authorities held a large-scale fire drill overnight at the new joint-inspection building at the rebuilt Huanggang port, the first such exercise since reconstruction. The checkpoint, which will use a 'one location, two inspections' co-location model designed to cut clearance times to about five minutes, is expected to formally open in the fourth quarter. RTHK / HK01
The Hong Kong government said it will extend a half-rate profits tax concession to physical commodity trading and is studying further tax incentives for gold and commodities trading, part of an effort to build out the city's commodity trading ecosystem. RTHK
US stocks closed out a volatile week on a mixed note. The S&P 500 edged up about 0.2% on Friday but still finished the week lower, the Dow fell roughly 0.2% on the day and lost more than 1.5% over the week, while the Nasdaq rose about 0.4% to end the week in the green as chip stocks led gains. The Federal Reserve's quarter-point rate hike to 3.75%-4.00% on Wednesday, its first increase in more than three years, initially cheered markets but the accompanying signal of another hike likely before year-end kept pressure on longer-dated Treasuries.
The US 10-year yield touched 5.01% on 16 September, its highest in this run, before easing slightly to 4.94% on 17 September (the latest reading available); note this series lags the equity data by a day. Oil has been the other big macro story: WTI crude jumped from around $94 on 8 September to $107.02 by 15 September, tracking the Houthi advance toward the Bab el-Mandeb strait and fears for Saudi export infrastructure — a genuine inflation risk the Fed flagged in its statement.
Among individual names in the dashboard, chipmakers rallied into the weekend: Nvidia rose to $222.27 on 18 September from $210.96 a week earlier, Broadcom climbed to $357.61, and TSMC gained to $434.67. Micron was the standout, jumping to $1,015.80 as investors positioned ahead of its 30 September earnings, with its AI-driven high-bandwidth memory capacity reported sold out for the year. Microsoft slipped modestly to $493.78 and Palantir added to $177.64.
Block fell further to $76.28 and SoFi ticked up to $16.96, while Palantir has now more than doubled since late July. In crypto, Bitcoin jumped about 6% to $80,875 and Ethereum rose to $2,611 on 18 September, with traders citing relief after the Fed decision, even as a crypto-market-structure bill (the CLARITY Act) stalled in the Senate.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed up about 0.6% at roughly 24,751 on 18 September. The strengthening yuan, which broke through 6.70 to the dollar for the first time since early 2023, added a supportive backdrop, alongside August activity data showing industrial output accelerating even as retail sales growth cooled.
| 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 | |
Anthropic published early results from a prototype 'R&D Automation Index' showing Claude leads 26% of the company's AI research and engineering work as of August, up from under 1% in February, with roughly 30,000 agents doing research and engineering work under human oversight. TechXplore / CP24
OpenAI released a legal-industry edition of its GPT-6 Astra flagship model, its first vertical version of the model, positioning it against legal AI products such as Harvey. AI Weekly
Security researchers from a firm called Hacktron said they had breached OpenAI earlier this year by chaining two vulnerabilities — one in third-party forum software Discourse and one in OpenAI's employee validation process — to access staff ChatGPT accounts, adding to concerns about AI-lab security. NBC News
An investigation found that Aivres, the US subsidiary of a blacklisted Chinese server maker, exported over $5.6 billion in advanced hardware including more than $3 billion of Nvidia Blackwell-based servers to Southeast Asia, which ultimately served Chinese customers including ByteDance and Alibaba — complicating planned US-China AI safety talks. Asia Times
Washington and Beijing are preparing a bilateral AI safety dialogue, reportedly to be led on the US side by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, ahead of a planned Trump-Xi summit on 24 September; discussion topics include curbs on frontier model releases and monitoring AI-directed cyberattacks. Reuters via CNBC / NPR