Newsquawk Daily Asia-Pac Opening News - 24th August 2026

US President Trump said on Friday that Washington was observing what happens in the conflict with Iran, and he reiterated a warning against any country that provides a lifeline to Iran, while he said Iran would love to make a deal but isn’t ready to make the right deal in his opinion. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Baghaei criticised a looming US announcement of sanctions on Iran, which he said was an assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over independent member states of the UN and that such secondary sanctions have no foundation in international law. Trade discussions between the US and Canada collapsed on Friday partly due to a last-minute stand-off regarding cutting US tariffs on Canadian medium and heavy-duty vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. This means the 50% US tariffs on some Canadian goods have taken effect, while Canadian PM Carney vowed to retaliate by matching tariffs dollar for dollar on US goods from September 8th. Looking ahead, highlights include New Zealand Retail Sales, Singapore CPI, Supply from Japan. SNAPSHOT STOCKS S&P 500 +0.4% Nasdaq Comp. +0.4% DJIA +1.0% Russell 2000 +0.9% FX DXY 98.84 EUR/USD Flat USD/JPY +0.1% GBP/USD -0.1% BONDS US T-Note Sep'26 -7 ticks 10yr Bund Sep'26 -12 ticks US 10yr Yield 4.74% German 10yr Yield 3.26% ENERGY & METALS WTI Oct'26 -0.2% Brent Nov'26 +0.2% Spot Gold +1.9% CME Copper +1.7% CRYPTO Bitcoin +0.5% Ethereum +0.9% As of 21:50BST/16:50EDT LOOKING AHEAD Highlights include New Zealand Retail Sales, Singapore CPI, Supply from Japan. Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead. IRAN CONFLICT US President Trump said on Friday that Washington was observing what happens in the conflict with Iran, and he reiterated a warning against any country that provides a lifeline to Iran, while he said Iran would love to make a deal but isn’t ready to make the right deal in his opinion. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Baghaei criticised a looming US announcement of sanctions on Iran, which he said was an assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over independent member states of the UN and that such secondary sanctions have no foundation in international law. Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ghalibaf said they have received messages from neighbours about forming new security arrangements and economic cooperation, while he also stated that the US has put its allies at such risk through bullying and pure disregard of their interests for the sake of Israel that they briefly saw their entire existence on the line. Israel warned Hamas it will intensify military strikes against targets in Gaza if they do not immediately halt the launching of drones, balloons and kites from the Gaza Strip into Israel. China said it continues to support Iran talks and it is closely monitoring the Middle East situation. Iran-linked hackers were behind a cyber-attack that shut down a UK power plant last month. US TRADE US stocks closed in the green on Friday, with gains broad-based and the advances led by outperformance in the Dow and Russell 2000, while the Nasdaq slightly lagged. Breadth was strong, with the equal-weight S&P 500 rising around 0.6%, and sectors were also predominantly firmer. Materials, Health Care and Consumer Discretionary were the biggest gainers, and Utilities was the clear laggard, with notable pressure in sector heavyweights NEE, SO, DUK and AEP, likely weighed on by the continued rise in Treasury yields despite the Treasury's recent announcement of increased long-end buybacks. SPX +0.43% at 7,674, NDX +0.33% at 29,309, DJI +0.98% at 53,282, RUT +0.85% at 3,018. Click here for a detailed summary. TARIFFS/TRADE Trade discussions between the US and Canada collapsed on Friday partly due to a last-minute stand-off regarding cutting US tariffs on Canadian medium and heavy-duty vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg. This means the 50% US tariffs on some Canadian goods have taken effect, while Canadian PM Carney vowed to retaliate by matching tariffs dollar for dollar on US goods from September 8th. Canadian PM Carney said Canada was in a trade war with the US and that President Trump "miscalculated" by escalating his tariff attack, according to FT. US Transportation Secretary Duffy said Canadian PM Carney is going to “come to the table” on trade because tariffs will be “devastating”, while he suggested Canada is foolish to think it could win a trade war with US President Trump. Mexico’s Economy Minister Ebrard expressed optimism that Mexico can achieve lower US tariffs on cars and steel. German Lower Saxony Minister-President Lies called for import tariffs on Chinese hybrid cars. India said it is in discussions with China regarding business visa delays. NOTABLE HEADLINES Fed’s Kashkari (2026 voter, hawkish dissenter) said the Treasury market is functioning as it should and that the recent surge is unlikely to impact monetary policy deliberations. US President Trump said on Friday that he did not direct US Treasury Secretary Bessent to intervene in the bond market last week and that Bessent acted on his own authority. NVIDIA (NVDA) notified customers that prices of servers containing AI chips will increase by over 15% amid soaring memory chip costs. A state of emergency was called in Nevada as a brush fire expanded to over 10,500 acres. COMMODITIES Iran discovered over 7.5tln cubic feet of gas reserves at a field south of the Fars province. Over 50 Russian regions are experiencing severe fuel shortages amid Ukrainian drone attacks. Russia is planning several measures to support grain producers, including crop procurement, preferential loan extensions and sales subsidies, according to Interfax. GEOPOLITICAL MIDDLE EAST US Ambassador to Turkey Barrack issued a warning following Israel's recent strike on a Syrian base near the Turkish border. RUSSIA-UKRAINE Russian President Putin said Ukraine opened 'Pandora's Box' with its attacks against economic targets, while Russia has responded with its own effective strikes on Ukraine's economic infrastructure. Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russian President Putin rejected an offer for a Black Sea shipping truce. Zelensky also said that Ukraine believes Russia is planning to draft an additional 300,000 troops for the war after the Russian parliamentary elections in September. Ukrainian media reported explosions in Kharkiv on Sunday. French President Macron vowed to accelerate delivery of new French equipment to Ukraine following a call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. OTHER Philippines said the bilateral defence pact signed earlier this year with Japan regarding the exchange of supplies and services for joint exercises or crises is now in effect. ASIA-PAC NOTABLE HEADLINES Alibaba (9988 HK) is seeking to raise USD 10bln from a share sale for AI expansion. It was separately reported that ‘Big Short’s’ Michael Burry said he sold Alibaba (9988HK) shares to build a large position in JD.com (9618 HK) and suggested the former was overvalued. China’s DeepSeek halted weekend peak pricing for API users. Magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck Hokkaido, Japan. Singapore announced sweeping family support amid a tumble in the number of births. EU/UK NOTABLE HEADLINES UK PM Burnham is set to give mayors new authority to take control of local planning decisions and approve large-scale developments in proposals to be unveiled in the week ahead. ECB President Lagarde could become the president of the World Economic Forum at some point next year, while she was described as a punitive candidate to head the organisation and was also said to be ready to serve, according to Swiss newspaper NZZ. Fitch maintained Poland's sovereign credit rating at A-; Outlook Negative, while Moody‘s raised Ireland from Aa3 to Aa2; Outlook Positive.