Overnight U.S. Stocks | Oil price rally pauses after Trump reassures the market, major indexes rise broadly; Dell (DELL.US) surges over 15%

According to Zhitong Finance APP, on Wednesday, the three major stock indices closed higher. After oil prices surged and fell back, the rally paused, leading to cooling inflation expectations. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield pulled back from its intraday highs, and the three major U.S. indexes rebounded slightly, ending a three-day losing streak.

[U.S. Stocks] At the close, the S&P 500 Index rose 0.5% to 7666.6 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% at 53061.95 points; and the NASDAQ Composite Index increased 0.5% to 26217.83 points. Dell (DELL.US) jumped 15.76%, United Continental rose 3.56%, Palo Alto Networks fell 9.28%, and Pacific Gas & Electric dropped 5.23%. Among the "Magnificent Seven": Nvidia gained 3.21%, Apple fell 0.05%, Tesla gained 0.26%, Meta Platforms rose 2.47%, Google climbed 0.53%, Amazon edged up 0.02%, and Microsoft dropped 0.84%.

[European Stocks] The pan-European Stoxx 600 Index fell 0.49%, with major European stock indices mostly closing lower. The UK FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 both dropped nearly 0.6%, Italy's FTSE MIB lost 0.5%, and Germany's DAX fell 0.7%.

[Asian Stock Markets] Japan's Nikkei 225 Index plunged 2.85% at the close, while South Korea's KOSPI dropped 4%.

[U.S. Dollar Index] The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.11% to 99.51, posting its largest intraday decline since August 21.

[Cryptocurrencies] Bitcoin fell 0.25% to $77,285 at the time of writing; Ethereum dropped 1.31% to $2,386.96.

[Crude Oil] WTI crude oil hit an intraday high of $92.28, reaching a five-week high before briefly turning lower and recovering most of its losses at the close, up 0.88%. The Brent crude oil settlement price was $95.63, up 1.04%.

[Precious Metals] At press time, spot gold gained 1.2% to $4,381.68 per ounce; spot silver jumped 1.9% to $65.3155 per ounce.

[Macroeconomic News]

Trump says strikes against Iran will not last long, reaffirms control of the Strait of Hormuz, and suggests renaming it "Trump Strait". U.S. President Trump stated that military strikes against Iran, if resumed, may not last long and reaffirmed that the U.S. controls the vital Strait of Hormuz. Previously, the latest U.S.-Iran conflict pushed up energy prices and reignited market concerns over a protracted war. When asked how long the bombings might last on Wednesday, Trump told reporters, "I don't think it will take long." Affected by this, Brent crude oil pulled back slightly to just above $95 per barrel. Trump said, "We destroyed all new equipment they tried to deploy along the Strait of Hormuz—some for defense, some for offense," and "last night's strikes were very significant, and we're ready to launch another attack at any time." Trump also posted on Truth Social, proposing to rename the Strait of Hormuz after himself.

Fed Beige Book: Economically moderate expansion, data center demand becomes the primary driver. The latest Fed Beige Book survey shows that U.S. economic activity grew moderately over the past two months, with strong data center demand standing out as the main economic driver. The report, based on information collected from the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks across the U.S. as of August 24 and compiled by the Minneapolis Fed, notes that although there are diverging views across industries on energy prices and geopolitical uncertainties, the overall economic outlook remains "positive".

Yen surges 1.2% in a sudden move! Suspicions of U.S.-Japan intervention reignite. On Wednesday, the yen sharply strengthened against the U.S. dollar, rising as much as 1.2% to 158.22 yen per dollar, quickly triggering speculation that either Japan or even the U.S. and Japan may again intervene in the forex market. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan's most hawkish policy board member Hajime Takata signaled a more aggressive rate hike stance, leaving open the possibility of a bigger and perhaps even consecutive rate increases. With the BoJ's September monetary policy meeting approaching, market expectations for further tightening of Japan's monetary policy have clearly increased.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent voices strong support for Japan's resolute response to yen weakness. U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent met with Japan's Kazuo Ueda on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting. According to a U.S. Treasury statement, Bessent strongly supported Japan taking decisive market and monetary actions to address the yen's significant undervaluation, and noted that yen weakness was pushing up inflation pressures in Japan. After Bessent's public pressure, Bank of Japan Governor Ueda, who faces a critical policy decision later this month, confronted the exceptionally severe risk of financial market turmoil. Ignoring Bessent's almost explicit call for rate hikes would not only blindside traders betting heavily on policy tightening, but could also trigger a sharp fall in the yen. This, in turn, would push inflation expectations towards the 3% mark.

Small ADP jobs report disappoints! U.S. August ADP employment increases by only 38,000, a new low for the year. According to data released by the ADP Research Institute on Wednesday, U.S. private sector job additions in August grew moderately. Private payrolls rose by only 38,000 last month, while July's figure was revised up to 46,000. Economists surveyed by the market had expected private employment to rise by 48,000 in August after July's initially reported 44,000 gain. The data indicate that employers are still hiring, but at a slower pace than in the spring. August's job addition was the smallest monthly increase so far this year.

[Company News]

Broadcom (AVGO.US) reports 86% YoY revenue growth last quarter, AI chip revenue triples, but guidance has "shortcomings" even as AI revenue set for high growth over three years. In Q3, Broadcom's net revenue increased 86% year-over-year to $29.591 billion, continuing to hit fresh single-quarter records, slightly above the market expectation of around $29.45 billion, and breaking the record for the fastest quarterly growth in over nine years; adjusted earnings per share (EPS) surged 96% year-over-year to $3.32, nearly 3% above expectations. AI remains the core growth driver. In Q3, Broadcom's AI semiconductor revenue more than tripled year-over-year to $16.7 billion, up 54% quarter-over-quarter and higher than analysts' expected $15.93 billion. On the earnings call, the CEO said that the full-year AI revenue guidance was raised to $58 billion, with a near doubling expected next fiscal year and $230 billion expected in 2028. Shares initially dropped more than 6% after hours, but rebounded more than 2% during the earnings call.

AI coding assistant ignites growth! Snowflake (SNOW.US) hikes full-year guidance above expectations. Cloud data platform Snowflake surged after hours Wednesday, with shares soaring over 20% at one point after the company raised its full-year product sales guidance, significantly surpassing Wall Street consensus, and highlighted the rapid penetration of its AI-assisted coding tool CoCo. For the most recent quarter ending in July, product revenue grew 37% year-over-year to $1.49 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Total revenue increased 35% to $1.55 billion. Snowflake expects full-year product revenue for the fiscal year ending January 2027 to be around $6.07 billion, above the previous outlook given in May, and far exceeding the average analyst estimate of $5.86 billion.

AI server and network demand "explodes", but HPE (HPE.US) Q3 earnings beat still spooks after hours due to supply chain woes. Benefiting from strong demand for AI-related servers and network equipment, HPE's revenue and profit both exceeded market expectations, and the company sharply raised its forecast for this fiscal year and the next. However, management's warning that supply constraints continue to limit growth spooked shares, which fell more than 8% after hours. The Q3 report showed HPE achieved revenue of $12.21 billion, up 33.7% year-over-year, beating analyst estimates of $11.9 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.11, far above the consensus of $0.93.

Microsoft (MSFT.US) fundamentally restructures earnings: Azure revenue to be disclosed quarterly, merges with Office business into "Agents and Infra". Microsoft announced it will begin reporting Azure cloud revenue on a quarterly basis, which reached $29.4 billion in the latest quarter and continues to expand. Azure is viewed by the market as a critical indicator of Microsoft's AI business, but analysts have struggled to accurately value it due to a lack of data. Simultaneously, Microsoft is restructuring its earnings format—combining cloud and Office businesses under the new "Agents and Infra" segment, highlighting its AI strategy.

Meta (META.US) releases even more powerful AI model, claims it further narrows the gap with competitors. On Wednesday, Meta released its most advanced AI model to date, Muse Spark 1.3. Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said its performance now matches or even surpasses major competitors, marking a key step forward in the social media giant's AI arms race. Wang claimed that the Muse Spark 1.3 model's programming capability surpasses OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol and matches Anthropic Claude Fable 5.1. The new model is more efficient, reducing token consumption by 25%, and significantly enhancing agent capabilities. The model will be available to developers for a fee and gradually integrated with Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms.