Newsquawk Daily Asia-Pac Opening News - 21st September 2026

US stocks were mixed on quad-witching Friday, with the Nasdaq outperforming, while the S&P 500 was flat, and the Dow and Russell closed lower. Breadth was negative, with the RSP sliding, while most sectors were lower. Industrials, Technology and Consumer Discretionary outperformed, while Utilities, Materials and Real Estate lagged. Crude was choppy, initially pressured by reports of further regional diplomatic efforts before rallying after Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia told European refiners they would receive no crude in October, extending the disruption from September. However, oil ultimately pared the move to settle in the red. US and Chinese officials started talks in New York to prepare for the Trump-Xi summit. Iranian officials conveyed their conditions to mediators for re-engaging in negotiations for ending the war with the US, while the conditions include ending the war on all fronts and the naval blockade, as well as unfreezing Iranian funds and they also want an end to the war between Saudi Arabia and Yemeni Houthis. Highlights include UK Rightmove House Prices, Singapore Unemployment Rate, New Zealand Credit Card Spending, Japanese markets are closed through to Wednesday for holidays. SNAPSHOT STOCKS S&P 500 +0.2% Nasdaq Comp. +0.4% DJIA -0.2% Russell 2000 -0.5% FX DXY Flat (100.22) EUR/USD Flat USD/JPY Flat GBP/USD -0.1% BONDS US T-Note Dec'26 -11 ticks 10yr Bund Dec'26 -31 ticks US 10yr Yield 4.99% German 10yr Yield 3.52% ENERGY & METALS WTI Nov'26 -2.3% Brent Nov'26 -1.6% Spot Gold +0.4% CME Copper +0.8% CRYPTO Bitcoin -0.6% Ethereum -0.6% As of 21:50BST/16:50EDT LOOKING AHEAD Highlights include UK Rightmove House Prices, Singapore Unemployment Rate, New Zealand Credit Card Spending. Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead. IRAN CONFLICT US President Trump said on Friday that the Iran War will end soon, adding that once the war ends, US gasoline prices will revert to prior levels and could even fall further. US President Trump confirmed on Friday the US is talking to the Houthis, saying they want a deal, while adding "we'll see" on whether to annihilate Iran. US CENTCOM commander Cooper said oil and LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the past two weeks reached the highest levels in six months. More US troops had reportedly died amid the Iran war than the Pentagon disclosed publicly, according to a report on Friday in the Washington Post. Iranian officials conveyed their conditions to mediators for re-engaging in negotiations for ending the war with the US, while the conditions include ending the war on all fronts and the naval blockade, as well as unfreezing Iranian funds and they also want an end to the war between Saudi Arabia and Yemeni Houthis. Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ghalibaf said Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until its conditions are fulfilled and US commitments are carried out, according to Fars News Agency. France's Foreign Ministry said it will take appropriate measures in response after Iran closed France's language centre in Tehran, while it added that France will be the first to summon Iran's ambassador. Qatar's PM Al-Thani said Gulf states need to cooperate to restore regional stability and help reach a settlement between the US and Iran. It was separately reported that Qatar's Energy Minister said US Treasury Secretary Bessent is "wrong" in saying that the strategic Strait of Hormuz will be worthless in two years. Saudi Arabia issued rare air raid alerts for Riyadh on Saturday, which was the first in the capital since the height of the Iran conflict in March and April. Saudi Arabia had announced on Friday its readiness to lift the blockade on Yemen, provided Yemen agrees to a ceasefire, although it was unlikely that Yemen would accept the offer, according to SNN. Houthis said on Friday that Saudi Arabia had called for Iran's mediation with Yemen, while the group added that "The Yemeni people will not agree to any ceasefire until Saudi Arabia lifts the blockade of Yemen." Yemen’s Houthis launched an attack on a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu with drones and missiles, while the Saudis said they repelled the attack. Lebanon's Foreign Minister said they will restore sovereignty through negotiations and will not allow others to negotiate for Lebanon. US TRADE US stocks were mixed on quad-witching Friday, with the Nasdaq outperforming, while the S&P 500 was flat, and the Dow and Russell closed lower. Breadth was negative, with the RSP sliding, while most sectors were lower. Industrials, Technology and Consumer Discretionary outperformed, while Utilities, Materials and Real Estate lagged. Crude was choppy, initially pressured by reports of further regional diplomatic efforts before rallying after Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia told European refiners they would receive no crude in October, extending the disruption from September. However, oil ultimately pared the move to settle in the red. SPX +0.16% at 7,650, NDX +0.67% at 29,644, DJI -0.19% at 51,687, RUT -0.50% at 2,860. Click here for a detailed summary. TARIFFS/TRADE US President Trump said on Friday regarding Chinese President Xi's visit that they get along very well and that it is a great honour he is visiting, while he added that they will have a lot of different deals and that some say China is spying on the US, while the US is spying on China too. US and China were reported on Friday to be discussing cutting tariffs on US LNG ahead of Xi's visit, with potential USD 30bln reciprocal tariff cuts, while the visit could bring broader energy and agricultural deals. US and Chinese officials started talks in New York to prepare for the Trump-Xi summit, as both sides seek to preserve and potentially extend a fragile trade truce. US tariffs reportedly threaten Great Lakes shipping tied to Canadian trade, according to Bloomberg. French President Macron arrived in the French territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon on Sunday for discussions with Canadian PM Carney. China appointed Li Chenggang as its top international trade negotiator. NOTABLE HEADLINES Fed's Kashkari (2026 voter) said inflation remains too high and that price pressures have expanded beyond the oil-price shock from the Iran war and are affecting the broader economy. Fed's Schmid (2028 voter) said on Friday he supported the rate hike and that recent data suggests inflation is trending above 3%, while he added that the rate hike was a step towards returning to the 2% target. Schmid also stated the current inflation problem is "not just about energy", with price growth hot across a broad set of goods and services, while the economy was performing well outside of inflation. US President Trump said he is forming an AI force, much like the Space Force, and will appoint an AI czar in the near future, while the White House will hold a UN event on AI this upcoming week. US federal court in California filed a suit alleging that Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI (SPCX) and Google (GOOG) violated antitrust laws by making an illegal deal to slow the pace of AI development. Google said its Gemini AI model hacked into three company systems in May during cybersecurity testing. DBRS affirmed the US at AAA, with a Stable Trend. FX BoJ conducted a "rate check" with market participants late on Friday, signalling potential preparation for currency intervention, according to Nikkei. COMMODITIES Venezuela and TotalEnergies (TTE FP) signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday to pave the way for the French company to return to operations in Venezuela. GEOPOLITICAL MIDDLE EAST US President Trump's administration is preparing broader sanctions on the International Criminal Court that would bar most transactions with the ICC and potentially restrict its use of the US dollar after a 6–7 month grace period, as the Trump admin accelerated its efforts to dismantle the institution following the ICC’s 2024 arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu, according to WSJ. RUSSIA-UKRAINE US President Trump signed into law the Russian sanctions bill on Friday which grants him new powers to impose tariffs on countries that purchased Russian petroleum products. Ukrainian President Zelensky said he spoke with US President Trump and they agreed to meet in New York, while he added the meeting could bring important change and the diplomatic process is progressing. Ukrainian President Zelensky's meeting with US President Trump is expected to happen on Tuesday, according to Axios. UK Burnham hopes to build bridges with US President Trump at their first meeting and wants to press the case for the US to help Ukraine with air-defence systems. Moscow Oil Refinery was hit during a drone attack that was part of Ukraine's largest barrage this year. OTHER NATO chose German General Breuer to be its military chief. US, Denmark and Greenland reached a security agreement that expands the US’s role on the Arctic island to end the row that threatened NATO. North Korea launched two missiles off its eastern coast on Sunday. In relevant news, North Korea rejected a recent IAEA resolution regarding its nuclear program and vowed to keep its status as a nuclear-armed state. Japanese Defence Minister Koizumi and US Defence Secretary Hegseth agreed in a phone call to further strengthen security ties. ASIA-PAC NOTABLE HEADLINES Chinese 1-Year Loan Prime Rate (Sep) 3.00% vs. Exp. 3.00% (Prev. 3.00%) Chinese 5-Year Loan Prime Rate (Sep) 3.50% vs. Exp. 3.50% (Prev. 3.50%) China’s electricity consumption surpassed 1tln kWh in August and peak power load climbed to a record. Chinese state TV affiliate CCTV warned Anthropic’s privacy-policy revisions increased risk to user data by allowing information to be shared with US intelligence agencies when the company considers it necessary without legal procedures. Chinese DRAM chipmaker CXMT (688825 CH) said its fifth-generation technology platform entered mass production. CATL (300750 CH) has developed a new battery technology for American vehicles despite the Chinese group being mostly shut out by US trade barriers. China opened investigations into four online and travel booking platforms due to suspected practices that may undermine competition and merchants' rights. Hong Kong Chief Executive Chan said that they plan to expand the market for dim sum bonds. US President Trump will meet with Japanese PM Takaichi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York this week. Japan's government will work with major machinery manufacturers to collect machine-learning data for physical AI applications such as autonomous robots and assigning unique IDs to factory equipment to enable cross-vendor data aggregation, according to Nikkei. Australian Treasurer Chalmers warned that Australia’s economy faces serious risk as the population ages and grows more slowly. Australia’s real estate market remained subdued with auction clearance rates declining last week amid rate hike concerns. EU/UK NOTABLE HEADLINES Labour MPs warned against a move to lower the planned “mansion tax” threshold to GBP 1.5mln, with one claiming it would amount to “electoral suicide” for the party in its central London strongholds. ECB Stournaras said the central bank must be vigilant of upside inflation risks but not rush action. German Chancellor Merz vowed to stay on despite ‘disaster’ in regional elections with partial results showing his CDU at just above the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, while the centre-left SPD is projected as 35.5% of votes and the far-right AfD is expected to get 37.0% of votes, according to exit polls. Merz's conservatives are projected at 20% of votes in the Berlin state election, while the Left Party is seen at 24.5%, SPD is seen at 12%, and AfD is seen at 16% in Berlin. DBRS affirmed France at AA, outlook revised to negative, while Scope downgraded France's long-term ratings to A+; outlook revised to stable and upgraded Greece's rating to BBB+, outlook stable.