News

Asian Development Bank: Issued 20 billion yen in yen-denominated bonds to fund projects related to water infrastructure.

The governor of Russia’s Tambov region said that a Wildberries warehouse in the region caught fire after a drone attack.

JERA, Japan's largest power company, will invest in Emerald AI in the United States to advance energy solutions for artificial intelligence data centers.

According to TASS: Russia and Ukraine discussed exchanging prisoners of war.

The yield on Japan's 20-year government bonds fell 2.0 basis points to 4.040%.

Microsoft 365: Maintenance activities unexpectedly impacted Microsoft Teams services, causing a decrease in functionality for users in the Asia Pacific region. Maintenance activities have been suspended, and services have been restored to standard availability levels.

SK Innovation: SK IE Technology's battery separator business has been affected by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

Former U.S. diplomat Joey Hood stated that neither the U.S. nor Iran's accounts of the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz are entirely accurate. While Trump frequently says the strait is open, this isn't entirely true, and Iran's claim that they have closed it is equally inaccurate. Hood points out that Iran lacks the physical means to completely block the waterway. It's not like a highway where you can put up a gate or erect some kind of barrier to stop shipping. Instead, Iran relies on coercion; they threaten and then launch missiles at unarmed merchant ships in an attempt to force their will upon them. Not all shipping complies with Iran's threats. Some ships turn off their transponders, sail at night, and stay close to the Omani coastline, while the U.S. military tries to "use all available assets to protect them."

Japan offered 650 billion yen in Japanese government bonds through an enhanced liquidity auction.

Australia's building completions grew at an annualized rate of 2.7% in the second quarter, compared with 6.3% in the previous quarter.

Australia's seasonally adjusted CPI rose 0.6% month-on-month in July, compared with a previous reading of -0.1%.

Australia's unadjusted CPI rose 3.5% year-on-year in July, below the expected 3.3% and the previous reading of 3.80%.

Australia's unadjusted CPI rose 1% month-on-month in July, below the expected 0.8% and the previous reading of -0.1%.

Australia's second-quarter building completion rate fell 2.1% quarter-on-quarter, compared to an expected 0.5% and a previous reading of 3.40%.

Intercontinental Exchange data shows that the near-month Dutch natural gas contract fell more than 5% to €63.18 per megawatt-hour.

The Hang Seng Index (HSI) opened 124.14 points higher, or 0.49%, at 25635.24 on Wednesday, August 26th; the Hang Seng Tech Index opened 34.44 points higher, or 0.75%, at 4622.98 on Wednesday, August 26th; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index opened 55.18 points higher, or 0.65%, at 8500.55 on Wednesday, August 26th; and the Hang Seng Red Chip Index opened 3.39 points higher, or 0.08%, at 4232.46 on Wednesday, August 26th.

Hong Kong stocks opened higher, with the Hang Seng Index up 0.49% and the Hang Seng Tech Index up 0.75%; XPeng Group (09868.HK) opened up 3.33% and JD.com (09618.HK) opened up nearly 2%.

Bank of Japan: Bank of Japan policy board member Naoki Tamura will replace Kazuo Ueda at the Jackson Hole meeting and will not be given an interview opportunity to the media.

Bank of Japan: Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will be absent from this week's Jackson Hole meeting.

According to CNN, a source revealed that three U.S. Secret Service officials, including the communications director, have been suspended. The specific nature of the alleged misconduct is currently unclear.