Daily Finance Briefing | 2026-09-29

US equities took a breather overnight, the dollar held firm, gold slipped below 4120; the US-China trade truce extension is in, while the Hormuz Strait situation adds a fresh variable.

📊 FX Market

Pair	Mid	Daily Change	Note
EUR/USD	1.1365	-0.05%	Euro flat, narrow range
USD/JPY	157.45	+0.06%	Yen under pressure; BoJ intervention talk resurfaces
USD/CNH (offshore CNY)	6.7090	-0.24%	CNY strengthens, fresh phase high

Comment: Offshore CNY broke above 6.71 against the trend, supported by the US-China truce extension; USD/JPY holds above 157 with markets wary of Japanese MoF verbal intervention.

📈 US Equity Focus (Overnight Close)

🍎 Apple (AAPL): $338.40, -0.78% on the day; market cap ~$5.04T; analyst target ~$345.

• Comment: iPhone 17 cycle and Apple Intelligence rollout support valuation, but the stock pulled back with the broader market; near-term resistance still at $345.

🚗 Tesla (TSLA): $357.45, -3.94%; market cap ~$1.14T; deliveries and FSD progress remain the core narrative.

• Comment: Nearly 4% single-day drop, likely profit-taking and cooling of the robotics theme; watch Q3 delivery guidance.

🔥 NVIDIA (NVDA): $228.86, +1.68%; market cap ~$5.56T; analyst target ~$236.

• Comment: Strength against the broader tech sell-off; intraday record high, AI capex narrative unchanged.

🥇🥈 Commodities

Asset	Price	Daily Change
Gold (XAU/USD)	$4,120.82/oz	-0.16%
Silver (XAG/USD)	$60.68/oz	-4.80%

Comment: Gold consolidates near $4,120, capped by Fed rate-path divergence; silver plunged almost 5% on the day — likely industrial-metals weakness and margin adjustment.

🏛 Central Banks & Policy

🦅 Federal Reserve: September FOMC concluded (Sept 15-16); next meeting on Oct 27-28. Recent officials have struck a hawkish tone, stressing that inflation risks are not fully eliminated.

• Comment: Market prices less than 50% odds of one more cut this year; UST yields remain elevated, supporting the DXY.

🏰 European Central Bank (ECB): Held rates on Sept 10; Lagarde emphasized "data dependence, no pre-set path".

• Comment: Eurozone services inflation remains sticky; ECB is unlikely to pivot quickly to cuts; EUR/USD support at 1.13.

🇨🇳 People's Bank of China (PBoC): LPR unchanged (1Y 3.00%, 5Y 3.50%); the CNY fix continues to send an appreciation signal.

• Comment: With the US-China truce extension plus seasonal FX surrender demand, CNY still has upside; northbound flows likely to keep net inflows.

🌐 Diplomacy & Major Events

🇨🇳🇺🇸 US-China Summit Diplomacy: Xi Jinping's Sept 23-25 state visit to Washington — the first in 11 years; both sides announced an extension of the "Busan Agreement" trade truce to Jan 10, 2027; Beijing resumed giant panda loans, with Atlanta Zoo receiving "Ping Ping" and "Fu Shuang".

• Comment: Analysts broadly view this as "a two-month temporary sandbag" — no progress on AI, Taiwan, or Iran sanctions — structurally unresolved.

🇪🇺🇨🇳 China-EU Trade: The EU extended EV countervailing duties on China; price-undertaking talks with Beijing continue.

• Comment: Divisions inside the European Commission plus US election uncertainty push the relationship into a "contested but not失控" phase.

🌍 Geopolitics: Hormuz Strait tensions escalate again — Trump rejected Iran's "7-day ceasefire + reopen the Strait" plan; IRGC keeps seizing passing vessels; FM Araghchi says Iran is "ready for a doomsday war".

• Comment: Strait disruption keeps the global crude-transport premium; international oil prices remain volatile at highs; the US claims it has helped move over 1 billion barrels of crude out of the Gulf.

⚠️ Disclaimer

Data is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Markets carry risk; invest with caution.