Buffeted by Middle East, propelled by China
Customers at a restaurants on Nanjing East Road in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Geopolitical uncertainty
Major U.S. indexes all closed slightly above the flatline on Wednesday. Oil prices continued rising, helping energy stocks outperform. Nike fell 6.8% and Tesla lost 3.5%. Asia-Pacific stocks traded mixed Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose about 2% as the yen slipped, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped around 1.4% after enjoying a strong rally on Wednesday.
Yen slides on Ishiba’s dovish comments
The Japanese yen fell to as low as 147.15 against the U.S. dollar during Asia trading hours today on dovish comments from new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. “I do not believe that we are in an environment that would require us to raise interest rates further,” Ishiba said Wednesday. Analysts, however, think the Bank of Japan will still raise rates by early 2025.
OpenAI’s $157 billion valuation
OpenAI has raised $6.6 billion in its latest funding round, putting it at a valuation of $157 billion. The round was led by Thrive Capital – which planned to invest $1 billion – and included participation from Microsoft, Nvidia and Softbank, said a person with knowledge of the matter.
Behind India’s booming market
India Nifty 50 index is up 18.7% year to date, hitting record highs on its way there. Several factors are driving its rally: public infrastructure investments by the government, companies diversifying their supply chains away from China to India, healthy economic growth, a growing population and lower U.S. Federal Reserve interest rates.
[PRO] Opportunities amid disruptions
Strikes by longshoremen at U.S. coastal ports are only the latest in a series of supply chain disruptions we’ve experienced in recent years. While those interruptions are generally bad for the global economy by increasing shipment prices and delivery times, Goldman Sachs thinks some stocks can benefit from such events.
The bottom line
The nature of today’s globalized world means that the manufacturing process of one smartphone may take it to more places around the world than I will ever be.
It may begin with designing a blueprint in the U.S., sourcing minerals from China, manufacturing semiconductors in Taiwan, assembling the product in India and working with the European Union to meet standards.
But supply lines are so intricately connected that the moment one link in the chain snaps, the whole process can be interrupted.
That’s why the recent tension in the Middle East – already simmering for a year, now bubbling slightly more furiously – has weighed on investor sentiment across the world. The conflict’s effects are magnified because the…
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