Dollar and Treasury Yields Rise, Gold and U.S. Equities Retreat, Oil and Chinese ADRs Advance

Market Overview

U.S. equities fell for a second consecutive session yesterday, led once again by weakness in technology stocks. Oracle, NVIDIA, and the semiconductor index all closed lower for the second straight day. However, there was notable divergence within the market: Intel surged more than 6% against the trend, while Tesla rebounded nearly 4%.

Chinese ADRs staged a strong comeback, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rising almost 3%, snapping a four-day losing streak. Alibaba jumped more than 8% to its highest level in nearly four years.

In fixed income, U.S. Treasury prices slipped, sending yields to a more than two-week high. This provided support for the U.S. Dollar Index, which rebounded to a two-week high. The offshore Chinese yuan came under pressure, posting its largest single-day drop in nearly two months and, for the first time in over two weeks, briefly fell through 7.14 intraday.

Bitcoin dropped below $112,000 intraday before rebounding sharply by nearly $3,000.

Commodities showed mixed performance: gold retreated from record highs, with futures briefly down nearly 2%, while oil extended gains on supply concerns. Brent crude closed at its highest level in more than seven weeks.

Hot Topics to Watch

● Alibaba kicks off 2025 Yunqi Conference in Hangzhou

Alibaba Cloud‘s AI platform (PAI) will integrate NVIDIA’s Physical AI software stack, providing end-to-end services such as data preprocessing, synthetic data generation, model training and evaluation, reinforcement learning for robotics, and simulation testing. CEO Wu Yongming described large models as the “next-generation operating system” and AI Cloud as the “next-generation computer,” predicting that by 2032, global data center energy consumption at Alibaba Cloud will expand tenfold. This underscores an exponential increase in computing power investment. Alibabas shares surged more than 9%.

● Intel seeks Apple investment; shares spike as much as 8%

Intel stock jumped on reports that the company has approached Apple for potential investment discussions as part of its turnaround strategy. The shares finished up 6.41% and extended gains in after-hours trading. Reports noted that talks remain preliminary and uncertain. Analysts generally doubt that even with an Apple investment, Intel chips will be re-adopted in Apple devices.

Key Events Ahead (GMT+8)

20:20 – U.S. 2025 FOMC voter and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speaks

20:30 – U.S. Initial Jobless Claims (week ending Sept. 20), Q2 Final Real GDP (QoQ annualized), Q2 Final Real Personal Consumption Expenditures (QoQ), Q2 Final Core PCE Price Index (QoQ annualized), August Durable Goods Orders (MoM)

21:00 – Permanent FOMC voter and New York Fed President John Williams delivers opening remarks at the 4th Annual Conference on the International Role of the Dollar; 2025 FOMC voter and Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid speaks

22:00 – U.S. August Existing Home Sales (annualized), Fed Governor Michelle Bowman speaks on regulatory issues

Overnight

01:00 – Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr speaks on bank stress testing

03:30 – 2027 FOMC voter and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly speaks