Daily Brief Thematic (Sector/Industry): Ohayo Japan | Calm Before the Data and more

• Markets are closed for Labour Day; This week, August CPI is the key focus, with headline inflation expected at 3.4% YoY and core at 2.4%. 
• Copper hit a record $14,533/t amid tariff fears and tight LME availability; Treasury long-end buybacks begin Wednesday. 
• Canada’s counter-tariffs start Tuesday, while Trump threatened Bombardier with US sales restrictions; Oracle earnings will provide an AI capex read-through.

• The U.S. Economy in Real-Time via another sleek and even better high frequency data point which is highly complementary — it confirms or not the 2 from above.
• Weekly Economic Index (WEI) by Dallas Fed, a good GDP proxy as the index is scaled to align with year-over-year GDP growth, which gives it a concrete interpretive anchor beyond just being a directional signal:
• 3.06% (blue) for the week ended August 29th, and 2.84%t for August 22nd, according to the latest release from just 3 days ago, the 3rd of September — basically, it is equivalent to a +3% year‑over‑year rise in GDP

• CME’s GPU futures could make compute-price risk hedgeable, but standardised contracts will still leave material basis risk across clusters, customers and service bundles.
• Relative H100/B200 pricing may help separate broad oversupply from technological substitution, making the economic decay of older GPU capacity easier to observe.
• The net read is bearish for GPU-capacity owners: hedging may improve financing, but more visible obsolescence and increasing capacity pressure rental economics.

Last week I ran a poll, given today’s market would you rather rent or own. It pulled 125 votes and 44 comments. Own won, 66 to 34. Based on the comments in the thread, it seems like most of the people chose to ignore the current conditions and went with their own personal view of which is better.

• The channel now clears 9.5mn orders/day across six platforms. Blinkit leads at 3.4-3.6mn, with Zepto (2.4-2.6mn) now ahead of Swiggy Instamart (1.3-1.45mn) on daily volume.
• Maharashtra’s FDA suspended food licences at Blinkit and Zepto dark stores in Mumbai over hygiene and storage violations, the first real compliance overhang for the sector.
• Swiggy shareholders approved a 49.5% foreign-ownership cap (IOCC status), clearing the path for Instamart to move marketplace to inventory-led.

• STI inclusion may boost First Resources’ share price, says Aletheia Capital.
• UOBKH’s Mahtani cuts Soon Hock’s target price after weaker 1HFY2026 earnings.
• Chew keeps ‘buy’ at Q&M Dental, target price 71 cents, despite 1HFY2026 miss.