Newsquawk Daily Asia-Pac Opening News - 8th June 2026

• US stocks were hit hard on Friday, with the Nasdaq-100 the clear laggard, falling more than 4% as technology stocks remained under pressure. Broadcom (AVGO) extended losses following its earnings report earlier in the week, while additional weakness came after the FT reported that Meta (META) is considering raising tens of billions of dollars through a stock offering. As a result, Technology was the clear sectoral laggard, followed by Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services. However, the main macro driver of the session was the stronger-than-expected US jobs report, which set the tone for trading throughout the day and spurred Fed rate hike bets, with traders now fully pricing a 25bp Fed rate hike by year-end, compared with around 16bps of tightening priced before the release.
• Israel conducted airstrikes on a couple of apartment buildings in Beirut’s Dahiya district on Sunday, in what the military described as targeting a Hezbollah command centre.
• Iran launched four waves of strikes against Israel on Sunday evening in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Beirut, which it stated ‘crossed all red lines’, while it threatened devastating blows if Israel expands Lebanon operations. Iran signalled a halt to attacks if Israel refrains from strikes, but vowed stronger retaliation if Israel strikes back, and it closed its western airspace until further notice.
• Looking ahead, highlights include Japanese Revised Q1 GDP & Eco Watcher Survey, Holiday Closure in Australia.

LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include Japanese Revised Q1 GDP & Eco Watcher Survey, Holiday Closure in Australia.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

IRAN CONFLICT

• Israel conducted airstrikes on a couple of apartment buildings in Beirut’s Dahiya district on Sunday, in what the military described as targeting a Hezbollah command centre.
• Iran launched four waves of strikes against Israel on Sunday evening in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Beirut, which it stated ‘crossed all red lines’, while it threatened devastating blows if Israel expands Lebanon operations. Iran signalled a halt to attacks if Israel refrains from strikes, but vowed stronger retaliation if Israel strikes back, and it closed its western airspace until further notice.
• IRGC said that the Ramat David Airbase was hit by ballistic missiles and that future attacks are to target US-Israel regional assets, while Tehran Times noted reports of missiles being fired at a US airbase in Jordan.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu was reported to be holding security consultations following the latest developments, while the Israeli military said the missiles launched by Iran were intercepted, although Iran claimed a successful strike on northern Israel.
• US President Trump said he was supposed to announce that a deal with Iran would be signed this week, and now this is happening, while he called for Iran to end the missile fire and return to talks. Trump also stated that he was not happy about Israel striking Beirut and that Israel’s attacks were not coordinated with the US. Furthermore, Trump said he would call Israeli PM Netanyahu to tell him not to attack Iran in response, and noted that they are close to a final deal, which he doesn’t want to blow up.
• US attacked Iranian coastal surveillance sites on Saturday after shooting down drones launched towards the Strait of Hormuz. US military said that Iran had fired missiles and drones towards Kuwait and Bahrain, while drones were also fired towards 4 commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Iran Supreme Leader’s military adviser Rezaei said Iran’s attack on Israel on Sunday serves as a warning to Israel to cease strikes on Beirut, while he warned of a further response to aggression.
• US is to make Iranian assets available to Gulf allies to repair the damages caused by Iran, according to a source.
• IAEA's Grossi said on Friday that the US and Iran are close to agreeing on a nuclear framework.

US TRADE

• US stocks were hit hard on Friday, with the Nasdaq-100 the clear laggard, falling more than 4% as technology stocks remained under pressure. Broadcom (AVGO) extended losses following its earnings report earlier in the week, while additional weakness came after the FT reported that Meta (META) is considering raising tens of billions of dollars through a stock offering. As a result, Technology was the clear sectoral laggard, followed by Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services. However, the main macro driver of the session was the stronger-than-expected US jobs report, which set the tone for trading throughout the day and spurred Fed rate hike bets, with traders now fully pricing a 25bp Fed rate hike by year-end, compared with around 16bps of tightening priced before the release.
• SPX -2.64% at 7,384, NDX -4.77% at 28,958, DJI -1.35% at 50,872, RUT -3.47% at 2,834.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US is proposing strict new rules aimed at squeezing Chinese parts out of North America’s cars in trade talks with Mexico, according to an FT on Friday.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Fed’s Barr (voter) warned regarding risks related to looser rules for US lenders and said that regulators’ moves over the last year considerably weakened bank regulation and supervision.
• US President Trump said a Fed rate increase would be wrong, while Trump also said he is interested in reviving the anti-weaponisation fund and called the fund a great idea, despite the backlash from Republicans.
• US President Trump announced on Friday that TrumpRx.gov is adding another 160 prescription drugs at highly discounted prices.
• A second case of the New World screwworm case in the US was confirmed in a Texas calf.

DATA RECAP

• US Non Farm Payrolls (May) 172K vs. Exp. 85K (Prev. 115K, revised to 179k, Low. 50K, High. 125K); Two-month net revisions +93k (prev. -16k)
• US Unemployment Rate (May) 4.3% vs. Exp. 4.3% (Prev. 4.3%)
• US Average Hourly Earnings MoM (May) M/M 0.3% vs. Exp. 0.3% (Prev. 0.2%)
• US Average Hourly Earnings YoY (May) Y/Y 3.4% vs. Exp. 3.4% (Prev. 3.6%)

GLOBAL NEWS

• Brazil’s partial budget freeze on the National Civil Aviation Agency threatens to delay the arrival of new aircraft and planned capacity expansions.

COMMODITIES

• OPEC+ agreed to another modest symbolic output quota increase of 188k bpd for July.
• India raised the prices of LPG for the second time since the beginning of the Iran war to help state retailers cut losses on discounted fuel sales.
• British Airways chief warned that air fares will rise again if fuel costs stay high.
• PBoC extended its gold-buying streak to a 19th consecutive month with the purchase of 320k troy ounces in May.

GEOPOLITICAL

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russia deliberately struck a nuclear-fuel storage facility, which he described as an ’extremely vile’ attack.
• Ukrainian President Zelensky invited former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich to Kyiv last month in a failed attempt to convince Russian President Putin to hold direct peace talks, according to people familiar with the matter cited by FT.

OTHER

• North Korean leader Kim said the navy must be developed into a force capable of taking charge of the country’s nuclear war deterrent plans.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• China’s first prefabricated computing power hub began operations, which offers a faster and lower-cost way to build and supply electricity to data centres.
• China reportedly wants slimmer EVs following years of larger batteries and increasing demand for space and features that had contributed to making cars larger and heavier.
• South Korea announced measures to stem the depreciation in KRW and curb speculation.
• RBNZ Governor Breman said she is seeing encouraging signs that will help counter the negative effects of deepening protectionism.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• EU is drawing up plans to reduce taxes on renewable energy and make electricity systems more flexible in an effort to reduce power bills.
• S&P affirmed Sweden at 'AAA'; Outlook Stable.