Finance
South Korea's Kospi Closes Down 5.46% After Falling as Much as 7.4%, Led by SK Hynix and Samsung; Micron Fell 3.9% in U.S. Trading the Day Before
Investors sold memory-chip stocks after China's CXMT said it plans to launch a denser server memory chip by year-end and after a Broadcom executive warned about AI spending. The drop started on Wall Street Monday and spread to Seoul on Tuesday.
Brent Swings Between About $102 and $105 Monday After Trump Announces Russia-Ukraine 'Energy Ceasefire'; Energy Department Loaned Up to 4 Million Barrels of Reserve Crude to Exxon and BP on Saturday After Isaias
Brent was down $1.54 at $103.18 in early Asian trading, then reversed; Reuters had it at $105.41 by 0923 GMT. A drone strike on a tanker off Oman and a projectile strike near Hormuz kept Gulf risk in focus. The Kremlin has not confirmed the truce. U.S. stock futures were mixed and the bond market was closed for Columbus Day.
S&P 500 Rises 0.6% to 7,811.54 Friday and 1.15% for the Week; Brent Settles at $104.72 as Hurricane Isaias Shuts 71.5% of U.S. Gulf Oil Output
Stocks rose Friday after Thursday's AI-led tech selloff, and oil ended slightly higher after giving up early losses tied to President Trump's Iran remarks. Ahead are a hurricane landfall, the Oct. 14 inflation report and the start of earnings season.
Initial Jobless Claims Dip 2,000 to 197,000; 10-Year Treasury Yield at 5.23% Ahead of Oct. 14 CPI Report
Layoffs stayed near their lowest level since the late 1960s in the week ending Oct. 3. Hiring stayed slow. Treasury yields sit near their highest since 2002 and Brent crude is above $100, and that is the backdrop for next week's September inflation data.
Nasdaq Falls 1.25% to 27,193.34, Its Worst Day Since Mid-August, After Report Puts OpenAI's Annualized Revenue Near $50 Billion; Futures Rise Friday
Chip and AI-infrastructure stocks led Thursday's drop. A widely reported $70 billion figure turned out to count partner sales that OpenAI's own figure leaves out. On Friday, a Bloomberg report that OpenAI expects $70 billion or more by December lifted futures.
Fed Minutes: All 19 Officials Backed September Hike to 3.75%-4.00%; Most Said Another Increase Is Likely by Year-End
Minutes released Oct. 7 show officials agreed on the quarter-point hike but gave different reasons for it. Weak jobs data released since the meeting has cut market odds of an October move.
Brent Falls 38 Cents to $100.20 After IEA Members Agree to Put Diesel First in Emergency Stock Release
Oil was higher earlier Wednesday amid Gulf and Yemen attacks, then turned lower after the IEA backed a faster, diesel-first release of the 100 million barrels the G7 announced Oct. 2. U.S. diesel stays near $6.32 a gallon.
ISM Services Index Reads 54.9% in September; Prices Gauge Rises to 74.0, Highest Since July 2022
The Institute for Supply Management's survey shows U.S. service businesses still growing but more slowly, hiring roughly flat after two months of decline, and reporting the broadest input-price increases in more than four years.
Brent Trades Near $101 After Kpler Reports Gulf Crude Exports Back at Pre-War Levels; G7's 100 Million-Barrel Reserve Release Was Agreed Oct. 2
The Kpler recovery figure counts Gulf crude exports outside Iran, including pipelines that skip the Strait of Hormuz, while fuel shipments through the strait stay far below normal and Houthi strike claims and Iran's conditions for reopening keep traders cautious.
Stocks Rose Friday After U.S. Added 29,000 Jobs in September; ISM Services, Fed Minutes Lead the Week of Oct. 5
Short-term Treasury yields fell after the weak jobs report, but the 10-year yield closed slightly higher. ISM services data is due Monday, minutes of the Fed's September rate-hike meeting come out Wednesday, and earnings season starts Thursday with PepsiCo.
Accenture Stock Closes Up 15.6% After Quarterly Earnings of $3.29 a Share Top Analyst Forecasts
The consulting giant's fiscal fourth-quarter profit and revenue beat Wall Street estimates, and it forecast 3% to 6% revenue growth for fiscal 2027. The results came after a year in which investors had marked its shares down on fears that AI would shrink demand for consultants.
Yen Ends Week Near 158 per Dollar as Tokyo and Washington Repeat Warnings and Bank of Japan Weighs Its Next Hike
The dollar bought 157.66 yen on Oct. 2. That is weaker for the yen than in early September, but stronger than the near-164 level that set off this summer's joint U.S.-Japan intervention. Policymakers in Tokyo are split on how fast to keep raising rates.