Newsquawk Daily Asia-Pac Opening News - 17th August 2026

• US stocks were modestly lower on Friday in quiet trade, with the Nasdaq underperforming, while the Russell bucked the trend to close higher and the equal-weight S&P 500 was flat. Sectors were mixed, with Energy outperforming alongside firmer crude prices, while Technology and Health Care lagged. US data was soft but had little lasting market impact, as Retail Sales disappointed, while UoM Consumer Sentiment fell notably alongside declines in both Current Conditions and Expectations.
• US President Trump described Iran as "very evil" at a political rally on Friday and told Americans to prepare for continued high fuel prices as a result of the war, which he said was worth the cost to ensure Iran could not have a nuclear weapon.
• Looking ahead, highlights include New Zealand Electronic Card Retail Sales & Food Price Index, Japanese GDP, Singapore Non-Oil Exports, Chinese House Prices, Industrial Production & Retail Sales Data.

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SNAPSHOT

STOCKS
S&P 500	-0.2%	Nasdaq Comp.	-0.3%
DJIA	-0.2%	Russell 2000	+0.6%

FX
DXY	99.64	EUR/USD	Flat
USD/JPY	Flat	GBP/USD	Flat

BONDS
US T-Note Sep'26	-10.5 ticks	10yr Bund Sep'26	-75 ticks
US 10yr Yield	4.70%	German 10yr Yield	3.20%

ENERGY & METALS
WTI Oct'26	+1.3%	Brent Oct'26	+1.8%
Spot Gold	+0.3%	CME Copper	Flat

CRYPTO
Bitcoin	Flat	Ethereum	-0.1%

As of 22:15BST/17:15EDT

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LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include New Zealand Electronic Card Retail Sales & Food Price Index, Japanese GDP, Singapore Non-Oil Exports, Chinese House Prices, Industrial Production & Retail Sales Data.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

IRAN CONFLICT

• US President Trump described Iran as "very evil" at a political rally on Friday and told Americans to prepare for continued high fuel prices as a result of the war, which he said was worth the cost to ensure Iran could not have a nuclear weapon.
• US President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Hamas leaders in Egypt to discuss a Gaza peace deal, while it was reported by Axios that the meeting was said to be very productive and Hamas leaders reaffirmed their commitment to disarmament and demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said Iran had not decided to resume talks with the US, and that Washington must meet conditions on the strait in order for shipping to resume in the waterway, according to an interview with Shahrara News.
• Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Gharibabadi said the Strait of Hormuz will be opened and closed only under Iran's command, while he warned that as long as the US does not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade.
• Iran and Oman seem to be moving closer to reaching an agreement regarding management of the key waterway, despite increasing ship attacks, while a finalisation of the shipping map is said to form part of a wider accord to govern shipping through the strait.
• Qatar's PM spoke with Jordan's Foreign Minister and discussed diplomatic efforts aimed at easing regional tensions.

US TRADE

• US stocks were modestly lower on Friday in quiet trade, with the Nasdaq underperforming, while the Russell bucked the trend to close higher and the equal-weight S&P 500 was flat. Sectors were mixed, with Energy outperforming alongside firmer crude prices, while Technology and Health Care lagged. US data was soft but had little lasting market impact, as Retail Sales disappointed, while UoM Consumer Sentiment fell notably alongside declines in both Current Conditions and Expectations. However, 1-year inflation expectations ticked up to 4.3% from 4.2%, while the 5-year remained at 3.3%. Treasury yields rose in a bear steepening despite the softer data, with no obvious catalyst in quiet trade. Firmer oil and higher near-term UoM inflation expectations may have provided some pressure, while Fed pricing was little changed with a September hold still around 67%.
• SPX -0.18% at 7,785, NDX -0.13% at 30,046, DJI -0.20% at 53,733, RUT +0.56% at 3,070.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US President Trump’s administration doesn’t want Apple (AAPL) to purchase memory chips from Chinese firms CXMT and YMTC, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal on Friday citing an interview with Commerce Secretary Lutnick.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US President Trump said he had "a great weekend" and held "many meetings", while he separately talked up the US in a post on Truth Social and said he is heading back into the Oval Office to continue working on more triumphs and successes for the country.
• US President Trump called for the Senate to vote on the NO MORE CHANGING THE CLOCKS ACT as soon as possible.

FX

• US mulls new sanctions against a Brazilian Supreme Court judge as a diplomatic crisis threatens to drag relations between the two countries to their lowest point in decades, according to FT.

COMMODITIES

• India is preparing a large LPG output increase amid the ongoing uncertainty regarding the Strait of Hormuz.

GEOPOLITICAL

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• Ukrainian President Zelensky said Ukraine attacked a production unit of the Roscosmos space agency in Samara, as it continued its strikes targeting military and related infrastructure deep inside Russia. Zelensky also announced that Ukraine's military struck an oil facility in Ust-Luga.
• Ukrainian drones struck the Moscow region overnight on Sunday in what the provincial governor called one of the largest ‌attacks in the region.
• NATO F-18 jet shot down a suspected Russian drone after it breached Romanian airspace.
• Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it requests an explanation from the US and Turkey regarding alleged plans for arms supplies to Ukraine, while it stated that such action would undermine Moscow’s relations with Washington and Ankara.

OTHER

• UK Ministry of Defence is stepping up scrutiny of its supply chain after discovering some naval drones transmitted signals to China.
• South Korean President Lee called for a sit-down with North Korea to pursue peaceful coexistence and wants to transform the Korean peninsula’s unstable armistice into a peace regime.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• China revised the release time for July economic data to 15:00 local time (08:00BST/03:00EDT) on Monday, while the State Council Information Office will hold a briefing on the data at the same time.
• China is speeding up establishing rules for recycling and reusing wind and solar equipment, while it aims to set up a closed-loop system for waste from the industry before 2030.
• Hong Kong air passenger traffic rose 11.7% Y/Y, according to Financial Secretary Chan.
• Alibaba’s (9988 HK) open-weight models reached more than 3bln global downloads during the last six months, making Qwen the world’s number one AI model.
• Around 5,000 people have been evacuated after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake hit eastern Indonesia, which killed at least 51 people.
• Indian PM Modi said they are determined to make India a ‘developed’ nation by 2047, and that India will have up to 8 more chip plants in the next 7 or 8 years.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• UK Housing Secretary Rayner is to announce changes to the national planning policy framework to make it impossible for developers to shut down pubs unless there is “no reasonable prospect” of keeping them going, according to FT.
• JPMorgan Chase CEO Dimon warned UK Chancellor Healey against raising bank taxes and creating a more hostile tax environment for banks, as the financial services sector prepares to embark on a major lobbying campaign ahead of the October Budget, according to FT.
• Belgium's largest wildfire on record was heading towards the German border.