Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: The offshore yuan strengthened against the dollar, with USD/CNH falling to 6.710 and last quoted at 6.70959, a 24-hour decline of 0.2%. The move marks a further slide in the dollar-yuan pair, which has been drifting lower.

TREE NEWS reports: MSCI’s emerging markets stock index dropped 1.3%, while the gauge tracking developing-nation currencies slipped 0.2%. The moves mark a broad decline across emerging-market equities and foreign exchange.

TREE NEWS update: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the 28th that the just-concluded election to the ninth State Duma was significant and constructive, and that high voter turnout proved the vote’s absolute legitimacy. Meeting with leaders of parties entering the new Duma at the Kremlin, he said all attempts to disrupt the election and interfere in Russia’s internal affairs had completely failed. Putin called on parliamentary factions to strengthen unity and coordination in the Duma and at all levels of government.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will adopt a unified single-family mortgage pricing grid, with VantageScore added alongside the existing FICO Classic grid. Pulte did not say in his social-media post when the unified grid takes effect. The two government-controlled companies set upfront fees on mortgages they acquire through these grids.

TREE NEWS update: Workers at Antofagasta’s Centinela copper mine in Chile voted overwhelmingly to strike after contract talks failed, with about 99% of members of the Minera Esperanza and Centinela District unions rejecting the company’s final wage offer. The two unions represent more than 700 workers; the core dispute is pay and benefit differences for employees in the same roles who belong to another union.

TREE NEWS update: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced a 30-day suspension of the state’s gasoline tax. The move temporarily halts collection of the levy at a time of elevated fuel prices for drivers in the state. No further details on the start date or revenue impact were given.

TREE NEWS update: White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said the “pocket recession” does not face judicial risk or court challenges. The statement addresses the legal exposure of the term, which Vought characterized as unassailable in court.

TREE NEWS reports: The gold ETF closed down 3.94% on Monday, September 28, leading declines among major US asset-class ETFs. Soybean, emerging-market, Barclays US convertible bond, Nasdaq 100 and agricultural funds fell between 1.33% and 1.02%, while the 20+ year Treasury ETF dropped 0.88%. The US dollar index long gained 0.28%, the VIX long rose 0.92% and the Brent oil fund added 1.14%.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bloomberg Electric Vehicle Price Return Index fell 1.41% on Monday, September 28, closing at 3,154.61 points. After a brief early climb-and-fade in Asia-Pacific trading, the gauge held near 3,190 at the US open before extending losses. Aurora Innovation, Plug Power, Ambarella, PM Materials and Rivian led the declines, while Hong Kong-listed Horizon Robotics rose 2.11%, Geely Auto gained 3.65% and RoboSense climbed 4.31%.

TREE NEWS update: Iran’s Supreme National Security Council deputy said the nuclear issue is no longer the central focus of negotiations, with the Strait of Hormuz now at the center of the talks. The statement marks a shift in the stated priorities of the negotiations, placing the strategic waterway rather than the nuclear file at the core of the discussion.

TREE NEWS reports: The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 1.1%, with NetEase rising 4.8% and Huazhu and Zai Lab each adding 2.9%. Pinduoduo, Li Auto, Bilibili, Atour, Miniso, Yum China and Trip.com gained at least about 1.2%, Tencent rose 0.8% and Xiaomi was flat, while Baidu fell 0.3% and Alibaba dropped 0.8%. Among ETFs, CQQQ fell 2.2% and KWEB rose 0.4%.

TREE NEWS reports: The S&P 500 closed down 0.8%, with telecom, consumer discretionary, financials and industrials falling as much as 1.7%, while tech dropped 0.8% and energy gained 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 fell 1%, as Arm Holdings slid 8.5% and DoorDash, Qualcomm, Intel, Meta, Marvell and Tesla each lost at least 3.8%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 1.6% and the storage-chip index fell 1.8%.

TREE NEWS update: A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck southern Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, at 4:45 a.m. local time on September 29, with a maximum seismic intensity of 4 on Japan’s scale, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The epicenter was at a depth of 50 kilometers, and shaking was clearly felt in Tokyo.

TREE NEWS reports: Argentina has moved to stop a British oil project in the Falkland Islands. The item gives no further detail on the specific project, the companies involved, the legal or diplomatic mechanism used, or any official response from the United Kingdom. No figures, dates or named parties were provided.

TREE NEWS update: White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said Monday that US economic growth should run around 4%, above the Trump administration’s target of at least 3%, citing rising productivity and wages. Speaking at an event hosted by the Economic Club of New York, Hassett called that his baseline forecast, assuming no disruption from the outside world, and warned that “external” factors could prevent the administration from reaching its growth and deficit goals.

TREE NEWS reports: The dollar rose 0.08% against the yen to 157.40 in New York trading on Monday, September 28, with an intraday range of 157.86 to 156.51. The yen weakened 0.24% against the offshore yuan, while the euro fell 0.14% and sterling gained 0.16% versus the Japanese currency. The yen briefly dropped sharply around 16:00 Beijing time.

TREE NEWS reports: CBOT soybean futures closed down 2.44% at $12.8775 a bushel and wheat fell 2.20% to $6.8750 on Monday, September 28, leading a broad agricultural selloff. Soymeal slid 3.33% and corn lost 1.14% to $5.2225, while the Bloomberg Grains Subindex dropped 1.80% to 33.6782, touching its lowest since August 25. ICE arabica coffee bucked the trend, gaining 3.52%.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said on September 28 that American officials spoke that day with mediators working to end the war between the United States and Iran. Earlier the same day, an official familiar with the talks said the US and Iran were expected to meet again through mediators on September 28 or 29.

TREE NEWS update: An informed Iranian official said media reports suggesting Iran has shown flexibility on its nuclear position are untrue. The official said the US government is stuck in a stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz and is trying to divert attention from that predicament by hyping the nuclear issue. Iran’s stance on the nuclear issue remains unchanged, and no discussions on the matter are currently under way.

TREE NEWS reports: The ICE US Dollar Index closed up 0.23% at 101.207 in New York late trade on Monday, September 28, moving within an intraday range of 101.141 to 101.308. The Bloomberg Dollar Index also gained 0.25% to 1,215.98, with an intraday range of 1,212.94 to 1,216.47.