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Market news: US President Trump said that US Middle East envoy Witkov is currently working to reach an agreement with Iran and has made very good progress.

Market news: US President Trump said the Iranians are willing to offer any terms to stop the current situation from escalating, although reaching an agreement with them is "not an option I really want".

Hong Kong-listed AI concept stocks weakened, with QuantGroup (02685.HK) falling 8.83%, DeepMind Intelligent (02723.HK) falling 4.01%, DeepTech (01384.HK) falling 2.31%, and Zhipu (02513.HK) falling 2.30%.

The Hang Seng Index (HSI) opened down 98.84 points, or 0.41%, at 24031.66 on Thursday, October 8th; the Hang Seng Tech Index opened down 10.66 points, or 0.25%, at 4183.83 on Thursday, October 8th; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index opened down 18.47 points, or 0.23%, at 8063.93 on Thursday, October 8th; and the Hang Seng Red Chip Index opened up 4.03 points, or 0.1%, at 4012.33 on Thursday, October 8th.

The US trade deficit widened to its highest level since March 2025 in August, potentially dragging down overall economic growth in the short term. However, strong imports also reflect robust US consumer demand and continued growth in business equipment investment, including capital expenditures related to artificial intelligence. We project US GDP growth of 2.2% in 2026 and 2.0% in 2027, providing a favorable environment for businesses to expand operations and generate profits. This economic resilience will also help the US economy withstand the pressure from the Federal Reserve's moderate tightening monetary policy. Historical data shows that since 1954, in the 16 Fed rate hike cycles, the S&P 500 has risen by an average of 10.8% in the year following the first rate hike. Current economic conditions still conform to the characteristics of sustained expansion. Therefore, we believe that corporate earnings growth is capable of offsetting some of the valuation pressure caused by rising interest rates. Considering the above factors, we believe investors should continue to maintain investment allocations that can benefit from rising stock markets. We forecast the S&P 500 will reach 8400 points in June 2027. At the same time, we emphasize the importance of maintaining broad diversification across different industries and regions to reduce portfolio concentration risk. For investors seeking a more defensive allocation, capital preservation strategies can be considered to strengthen downside risk management while participating in potential upward trends. (The above content is based on UBS's views on October 7th and is for reference only; it does not constitute investment advice.)

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: It has not yet been confirmed whether South Korean fuel has been exported to Russia.

The Trump administration has approved exemptions for autonomous trucks from Aurora and other companies from regulations requiring human drivers to place reflective warning triangles around parked trucks.

According to Japan's Kyodo News, SoftBank Group's IDC Frontier stated that a ransomware cyberattack disrupted some of its cloud services for enterprise customers.

Artificial intelligence-related transactions have rebounded, driving the latest rally in US stocks. Positive progress in the market application of recently launched AI models and products has further boosted investor confidence. Without making investment decisions on individual stocks, it's worth noting that Marvell has raised its fiscal 2028 revenue forecast above Wall Street expectations and provided an optimistic outlook for long-term profitability, driven by growing demand for customized data center chips and other AI hardware. This indicates that overall demand for AI computing power and related infrastructure will remain strong and is expected to support further capital investment. We expect global AI-related capital expenditure to grow by more than 33% in 2027, reaching $1.2 trillion, providing strong momentum for profit growth in some companies across the AI ​​industry chain. Market consensus forecasts show that Nasdaq 100 component stocks' earnings will grow by 43% this year and a further 28% next year. Although the recent US stock market rally has been mainly driven by technology stocks, the momentum for corporate profit growth has already surpassed the AI ​​sector. We expect S&P 500 component stocks' earnings to grow by 25% in 2026 and a further 14% in 2027. The technology sector will remain a significant contributor to profit growth, but we also expect profit improvements in other sectors. Continued robust consumer spending is expected to support the consumer discretionary sector; active capital markets and a recovery in loan growth will benefit the financial sector; and cyclical improvements in manufacturing are expected to drive robust growth in industrial companies. Furthermore, we are optimistic about the healthcare and utilities sectors, as these sectors possess defensive characteristics and can benefit from long-term structural growth opportunities. (The above content is based on UBS's views on October 7th and is for reference only, not investment advice.)

NI225 fell by 1.00% within the day.

The yield on Japan's 30-year government bonds fell 2.5 basis points to 4.185%.

On Thursday, October 8, the NI225 index opened down 156.73 points, or 0.22%, to 69,878.98.

According to Business Insider, Amazon's (AMZN.O) latest round of layoffs involves fewer than 1,000 jobs.

Japan's unadjusted current account balance for August was 4,062 billion yen, compared to a forecast of 3,194.6 billion yen and a previous reading of 2,988.9 billion yen.

Japan purchased 1.3246 trillion yen worth of foreign stocks in the week ending October 2, compared with 225.8 billion yen in the previous week.

Foreign investors bought ¥585.7 billion in Japanese bonds in the week ending October 2, compared with a net outflow of ¥1,341.8 billion in the previous week.

Japan's trade balance in August was -687.7 billion yen, compared to a forecast of -803.1 billion yen and a previous reading of -399.9 billion yen.

Japan's seasonally adjusted current account balance for August was 2,523.095 billion yen, compared with an expected 2,136.5 billion yen and a previous value of 2,523.1 billion yen.

Japan's purchases of foreign bonds in the week ending October 2 were -¥347.6 billion, compared to a revised -¥682.3 billion in the previous week (originally -¥684.5 billion).

Foreign investors bought 2.1919 trillion yen worth of Japanese stocks in the week ending October 2, compared with a revised figure of -354.2 billion yen in the previous week (originally -362 billion yen).