In today’s briefing:
- Ohayo Japan | Stocks Post Weekly Gains After Quarter-Point Cut
- Asia Commodities — September 2025: Gold Strength, Copper Tightness, Aluminium Premiums
- UK Sovereign AI Proudly Paid For & Made In The USA
- Japan Morning Connection: Ibiden Boosting IC Substrate Production to Meet Surging Demand
- US Banks – Lower Rates: Higher Loan Volume, Low LDR Can Mean +NIM
Ohayo Japan | Stocks Post Weekly Gains After Quarter-Point Cut
- U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, capping a strong week following the Federal Reserve’s quarter-point rate cut
- The August PCE inflation report, due Friday, will be the first price data since Fed Chair Powell warned of challenging economic conditions with no clear policy path forward.
- OMRON announced plans to spin off its electronic components business by April 2026, marking its first business spin-off in 15 years.
Asia Commodities — September 2025: Gold Strength, Copper Tightness, Aluminium Premiums
- Cycle Leaders: Gold, silver, copper, and aluminium outperform on safe-haven demand, supply tightness, and firm regional premiums, while ferrous, nickel, and coal lag on China weakness.
- Equity Positioning: Focus on Zijin, Shandong, Chifeng, BRMS (gold); Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta, Dowa, Korea Zinc (silver/zinc); Sumitomo, JX Advanced, Mitsubishi Materials, Hongqiao, Vedanta (copper/aluminium).
- Corporate Actions: Zijin Gold IPO, Anglo–Teck merger, and BHP’s copper sale highlight accelerating sector consolidation, driving investor rotation toward gold and copper scale.
UK Sovereign AI Proudly Paid For & Made In The USA
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced his intention to spend $30 billion on AI infrastructure in the UK. NVIDIA, Coreweave, Alphabet and OpenAI are also ponying up further billions
- Jensen Huang declared the UK and AI powerhouse, third in line globally behind the US and China
- Is it really UK sovereign AI when it’s mostly paid for and made in the USA?
Japan Morning Connection: Ibiden Boosting IC Substrate Production to Meet Surging Demand
- NAND supplier Sandisk taking its gains to 100% MTD as eSSD memory demand for AI applications grows exponentially.
- Apple breakout as weekend sales for the iPhone17 Pro likely to come ahead of estimates.
- Quantum computing names taking a big leg higher with the Trump Administration aiming to expand their quantum strategy.
US Banks – Lower Rates: Higher Loan Volume, Low LDR Can Mean +NIM
- Overnight CP market in the US reflects the Fed rate cut immediately. Rates on overnight non-financial CP for A2/P2 companies now 4.20% (18 Sept) from 4.45% (17 Sept)
- Weekly B/S for US banks has been showing for some time accelerating loan volume, with debt 5-7% less expensive overnight, loan volume should continue to accelerate
- Where loans at US banks are only 67% of deposits, a 25bps reduction on both pools (loans, deposits) can be NIM expansionary. There are many moving parts, though.
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