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US equity markets advanced, with the S&P500 and Nasdaq booking fresh record closing highs despite the U.S. government shutdown entering its sixth day, with the White House threatening mass federal worker layoffs. - Dow eased -63-points or -0.14% Verizon Communications Inc -5.11% after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hans Vestberg stepped down, replaced by independent lead director and former PayPal Inc CEO Dan Schulman. Sherwin-Williams Co (-2.80%). Microsoft Corp (up +2.17%) and Salesforce Inc (+2.25%) rose over >2%, while Boeing Co gained +1.59% after Bloomberg reported that the airplane maker plans to accelerate its production of jets in its 737 Max line. The company could reach a 42-jet output per month for its 737 Maxs as soon as October, the report said.

US equity indices advanced for a fifth consecutive session, with the three (3) leading indices booking a fresh round of record closing highs amid a global rally for semiconductor stocks after OpenAI announced South Korean firms SK Hynix (+9.86%) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (+3.49%) would partner with the ChatGPT maker on its Stargate AI infrastructure project  - Dow added +79-points or +0.17% to 46,519.72, tallying its first five-day winning streak since 2 May and marking the 30-stock index’s second consecutive record closing high and 10th of the calendar year-to-date.

Caterpillar Inc rose +2.003% to be the leading Dow component overnight.

Nvidia Corp rose +0.88% to a fresh record closing high of US$188.89, hitting a record intra-day high (US$191.05) after the chipmaker’s market capitalisation hit US$4.5 trillion.

US equity markets advanced, with the Dow and S&P500 posting record highs despite the federal government shutting down for the first time in six-years - Dow edged +88-points or +0.19% higher to book a second consecutive record closing high of 46,441.10. Nike Inc gained +6.41% after the athletic retail giant posted better-than-expected headline numbers for the fiscal first quarter after the close of the previous session. Nvidia Corp (+0.35%) hit a fresh record high that lifted the chipmaker’s market capitalisation above >US$4.5 trillion

US equity markets retreated from record highs, snapping a three-session streak that saw the three main indices post record intra-day and closing highs - Dow slipped -89-points or -0.19% to 46,292.78 after logging a fresh record intra-day high (46,447.13) shortly after the opening bell.  

Amazon.com Inc (down -3.04%) was the worst performer in the 30-stock index. The company squaring off against the Federal Trade Commission in court after the agency filed a lawsuit during the Biden administration alleging the company made it too onerous for customers to cancel their Prime memberships.

The benchmark US equity indices booked another round of fresh record intra-day and closing highs to open the week - Dow edged +66-points or +0.14% to 46,381.54. Apple Inc rallied +4.31% to be the leading performer in the 30-stock index following reports of strong demand for the iPhone 17 in its first weekend of sales, aided by consumers seeking to replace aging devices. The stock is closing in on a fresh record closing high (after touching their highest intra-day level since December 2024 overnight at US$256.64) and market capitalisation of US$4 trillion. ‘Magnificent Seven’ mega-capitalisation technology peer Nvidia Corp rallied +3.93% to a record closing high of US$183.61 after the company said it’s going to invest US$100B in OpenAI - the maker of ChatGPT - for the buildout of data centres based around the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) chips. The partnership "enables OpenAI to build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centres with NVIDIA systems representing millions of GPUs [graphics processing unit] for OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure." Nvidia added it "intends to invest up to US$100B in OpenAI progressively as each gigawatt is deployed." However, Amazon.com Inc fell -1.66% as investors assessed the potential fallout from President Trump's shock decision late on Friday (19 September) to raise the H-1B visa application fee to US$100,000. Amazon employs ~14K staff on such visas.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit fresh record intra-day and closing highs ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest two-day monetary policy meeting kicking off that is expected to see the central bank cut benchmark interest rates for the first time this year - Dow edged +49-points or +0.11% higher, with so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ mega-capitalisation technology names Amazon.com Inc (up +1.44%), Apple Inc (+1.12%) and Microsoft Corp (+1.07%) rising over >1% along with Caterpillar Inc (+1.02%) and International Business Machines (IBM) Corp (+1.10%). Merck & Co Inc (-1.20%) and McDonald's Corp (-1.09%) fell over >1% to be the worst performing Dow components overnight. Nvidia Corp dipped -0.04%, paring an earlier decline of almost -1.9% after China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced that following a preliminary investigation the chip giant was found to be in breach of antitrust rules in relation to its acquisition of Israel-based networking-technology group Mellanox. Separately, Nvidia is reportedly among investors in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company Firmus Technologies, which is targeting a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) next year.  

A mixed session for US equity markets last Friday (12 September) albeit all three benchmark indices booked weekly gains - Dow fell -274-points or -0.59% to 45,834.22 a day after settling above >46,000 for the first time. Amgen Inc (down -2.24%), Merck & Co Inc (-2.75%) and Sherwin-Williams Co (-2.33%) all fell over >2%. Microsoft Corp rose +1.77% and was the leading Dow component on Friday (12 September) after it reached an agreement with OpenAI that paves the way for the ChatGPT maker, currently a nonprofit with which Microsoft has a complex revenue and profit-sharing agreement, to convert to a for-profit company.

US stocks rose on Thursday as traders anticipated that the latest reading of a key consumer inflation gauge won't stand in the way of the Federal Reserve lowering its benchmark interest rate next week. A spark in US equities saw all three (3) major averages score new intraday all-time highs in the trading day and closed at record levels. The Dow Jones rising +617.08 points, or +1.36%.

Benchmark US equity indices booked fresh record highs - Dow gained +196-points or +0.43% to 45,711.34. UnitedHealth Group Inc (up +8.64%) was the leading component in the 30-stock index (and S&P 500) after the health insurer estimated that 78% of its Medicare Advantage membership will be in top-rated Medicare plans next year and are likely to qualify for bonus payments from the federal government. Microsoft Corp eked out a +0.04% gain following news it had inked a US$17.4B deal for Nvidia Corp (+1.46%)-backed Nebius Group NV (+49.42%) to provide artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for the software giant's new data centre in New Jersey. Apple Inc 1.48% after unveiling the new iPhone 17 models at its ‘Awe Dropping’ event along with a number of updates that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook called the company's “biggest leap ever for iPhone." The company showcased four models including the iPhone 17 Air, Apple's most durable and thinnest phone ever. Apple also announced its next generation of Airpods, highlighting live translation and hearing aid functions, and updates to its Apple Watch portfolio with new health-related features such as a "sleep score" and a blood pressure monitor that can alert users to hypertension.