Hello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open.
The ink on the Trump-Xi trade truce extension is barely dry, and markets are busy turning the page to a potential U.S.-Iran deal that could end the Middle East war.
Treasury yields are at their highest since 2007, and as oil creeps higher on the Iran standoff, investors find themselves in yet another guessing game.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington appears to have produced more personal diplomacy than breakthroughs.
The U.S. and China agreed to reduce tariffs on $30 billion of goods and launched a dialogue on AI. The tariff reductions would apply to U.S. exports such as agricultural goods, wood and cosmetics, as well as U.S. imports including small appliances, toys and decorations, according to a White House statement.
That said, the agreement appears to stop short of any concrete purchase commitment, and the two-month trade truce extension appears to be somewhat constrained compared to analysts' pre-summit expectations of at least six months.
"There wasn't complete agreement on everything," said Peter Alexander, Shanghai-based managing director at Z-Ben Advisors, describing the post-summit relations as "a fraught relationship where neither side is willing to give way, at least not at this juncture."
On the Middle East conflict, Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed that Iran should fulfil its commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, and that no country or entity should impose transit tolls on international waterways.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Tehran is ready for a "doomsday" war with the U.S. but is still pursuing diplomacy so as not to "miss any chance for peace."
The remarks came days after Araghchi proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear talks within seven days if Washington accepted Iran's terms. The warring powers have been locked in an on-again, off-again war since late February — one that's kept a lid on global oil supply and a foot on the gas pedal for inflation.
The standoff might have led to a near-incident on U.K. soil: British police arrested five men Sunday on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offenses near a U.K. air base used in U.S. strikes on Iran, after a tip that three vans had been spotted heading toward the airfield.
In the markets, stock futures slipped Sunday night following a winning week, as Treasury yields climbed to their highest levels since 2007. Brent crude topped $107 per barrel while U.S. crude futures for November delivery rose to $94.14 a barrel, on news that Trump has rejected Iran's peace terms.
With borrowing costs rising, the AI infrastructure buildout — already historic in scale — is about to get more expensive to finance.
Profits at China's major industrial firms grew at their weakest pace this year, expanding just 4.2% in August from a year earlier, as the economy has become increasingly bifurcated between high-tech and consumer- related sectors.
