I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.STI fell 0.70% to 5,689.75 on Thursday as US stocks slid for a fourth day and oil broke $100. Banks closed mixed — DBS dipped 0.9%, OCBC edged up. Today's US August CPI is the swing factor for Fed rate-hike odds and Asia's open.
Key Points
• STI: The Straits Times Index closed Thursday at 5,689.75, down 0.70% or about 40 points, its fourth straight decline as bank heavyweights wobbled.
• Local catalyst: MAS survey of forecasters raised 2026 GDP growth to 5.0%, but oil above $100 is reviving inflation-risk chatter ahead of the October policy review.
• US overnight: The S&P 500 fell 0.58% to 7,591.70, the Dow dropped about 316 points to near 52,064, and the Nasdaq lost 0.65% — all extending four-day losing streaks.
• Today: US August CPI lands at 8:30pm SGT, the last major inflation print before the Sep 15-16 FOMC, with traders putting hike odds near 72%.
Singapore Open
Singapore equities enter Friday on the back foot. The STI closed Thursday at 5,689.75, down 0.70% from 5,729.63, tracking the fourth straight down session on Wall Street and a jump in crude oil that has dragged on regional sentiment. The banks — more than half of the index's weighting — were mixed. $DBS (D05.SG)$ eased 0.92% to S$76.79, $UOB (U11.SG)$ slipped 0.46% to S$40.99, while $OCBC (O39.SG)$ edged up 0.13% to S$31.39. Beyond banks, $Singtel (Z74.SG)$ fell 0.88% to S$4.52 and $Singapore Airlines (C6L.SG)$ declined 0.89% to S$6.66. With US futures roughly flat this morning, the local open may try to stabilise, but any downside surprise in tonight's US CPI would reset the tone before next week's Fed decision.
Singapore Macro
The Monetary Authority of Singapore's latest survey of professional forecasters raised 2026 GDP growth to 5.0% from 3.5%, on sustained AI-related demand, while headline CPI and MAS core inflation for 2026 are now forecast at 2.1% and 1.9%. The bullish activity outlook sits alongside a cautious policy lean: 45% of respondents now expect MAS to tighten in October, up from 30% previously. The transmission path for SGX readers is straightforward — an oil price above $100 is the top inflation upside risk MAS has consistently flagged, and a hawkish Fed next week would only reinforce pressure on the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate slope, feeding into bank net-interest-margin expectations and REIT financing costs. DBS is expected to increase its 2026 quarterly dividend by 6 cents to 66 cents, adding an income anchor for a bank-heavy portfolio.
US Overnight
Wall Street slid for a fourth session as a hotter-than-expected producer-price print, a jump in oil past $100 and a rise in Treasury yields forced traders to price in a Fed hike. The S&P 500 closed at 7,591.70, down 0.58%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 316 points to near 52,064; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.65%. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed further, hovering near 4.9% — a fresh squeeze on rate-sensitive tech valuations.
Key Movers
$Apple (AAPL.US)$ +3.56% — The iPhone maker outperformed a falling market to close at $326.57 after unveiling its foldable iPhone Duo, priced from $1,999 with pre-orders Oct 16 and launch Oct 23. Morgan Stanley flagged the pricing as prioritising unit volume over near-term margins, and carriers such as T-Mobile and Verizon moved to subsidise upgrades. It was a rare bright spot in a risk-off session.
$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ -2.26% — The chip giant closed at $218.36, down 2.26%, as higher yields and Fed-hike talk hit megacap tech valuations. Semis bore the brunt of the session's sector rotation out of growth.
$Intel (INTC.US)$ -5.57% — Intel fell 5.57% to $100.32, the sharpest decline among large active names, as the semiconductor complex retreated on the rate-hike repricing that has pressured high-multiple chip names all week.
After hours, $Oracle (ORCL.US)$ — Oracle's fiscal Q1 2027 results showed OCI revenue accelerating to more than 120% year-on-year, helping drive a record $28.5 billion in quarterly capex, up 73% quarter-on-quarter. But margins came in below expectations, with guidance for profit lighter than consensus; shares were lower in extended trading in early Asia hours.
Asia Pre-Market
S&P 500 futures were essentially flat in early Friday trade, up about 0.04% at 7,601, with Nasdaq futures a touch softer — a tentative pause after four losing sessions rather than a decisive bounce. Oil remained the dominant macro signal: WTI traded near $101.65 a barrel, up about 5.8% on the Middle East supply shock, with Brent above $105 — the highest since May. Gold remained under pressure near $4,314 an ounce, down about 1.9%, with silver off more than 5% to roughly $63.56. Bitcoin hovered near $80,800. Energy-linked defensives and yield names are the relevant SGX read-through while oil stays elevated; any hot CPI print would deepen the risk-off tone.
Today's US Earnings and Economic Calendar
$Kroger (KR.US)$ reports before the market opens today; consensus is $1.05 per share on about $34.6 billion in revenue, with identical sales ex-fuel tracked closely as a consumer-demand read.
US August CPI — 8:30pm SGT (8:30am ET): headline CPI expected up 0.4% month-on-month and 3.4% year-on-year; core CPI expected up 0.2% month-on-month, near 2.4% year-on-year. University of Michigan consumer sentiment (preliminary) follows at 10:00pm SGT (10:00am ET). The CPI number is the decisive input for next week's FOMC: a 0.2% core print would steady nerves, while another upside surprise would cement the 72% implied hike odds.
One More Thing
The cleanest way to frame today is to separate two trades that are moving in opposite directions. The inflation-panic trade — short gold, short duration, long energy — reflects a genuine macro shift: oil above $100 plus a hot PPI means the market now fears the Fed's next move is up, not down. The AI grind, meanwhile, is the structural story that has not gone away — Oracle's OCI acceleration and Microsoft's plan to roughly triple data-centre capacity to more than 38 gigawatts by 2032 both point to capex that keeps climbing. For SGX investors, the practical question is whether bank and energy strength can cushion the downside if CPI forces a hawkish repricing, or whether the whole index de-rates in sympathy. Today's CPI is the referee.
This briefing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.