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A historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping also influenced markets, keeping Chinese stocks in the spotlight alongside American stocks.
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Asian markets were also dominated by the AI narrative this week, even as higher global bond yields, elevated oil prices, and shifting monetary policy expectations also impacted markets.
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Among Asian stocks, the iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF led, while the iShares MSCI Japan ETF posted the steepest decline.
U.S. stock markets were influenced by multiple key catalysts through Sept. 24, kicking off with an artificial intelligence-led rally, followed by pressure from surging bond yields and oil.
However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index surged past its American and Asian counterparts as AI stayed in focus.
A historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping also influenced markets, keeping Chinese stocks in the spotlight alongside American stocks.
Other Asian markets, including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, were mixed amid a holiday-shortened week.
US Markets Vs Asia Markets
The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq, is on track to post gains this week and beat its U.S. counterparts. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is also on track to end the week higher, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) is on track to end in red.
Among Asian stocks, iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF (EWT) was in the lead, up about 1.29%. Taiwan markets will remain closed on Friday for the Mid-Autumn Festival
The iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) clocked the deepest decline, although markets were closed for three days this week.
The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) and iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) are also on track to end the week higher.
US Market Drivers
U.S. markets largely focused on the second meeting between the leaders of the U.S. and China, marking Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade. The leaders discussed the importance and consequences of AI alongside managing U.S.-China relations. On Thursday, major technology company CEOs, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, AMD’s Lisa Su, Elon Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg attended a White House state dinner for Xi.
Meanwhile, rising long-term Treasury yields and elevated oil prices remained key market concerns, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield climbing above 5.19% on Thursday, while the 30-year yield reached 5.48% even as the Treasury bought back $4.08 billion of longer-dated bonds as part of a $6 billion program aimed at supporting market liquidity.
