Published: 2026-09-24
Market Briefing: September 24, 2026
### Market Briefing: September 24, 2026
- **Global Overview:** Risk appetite is fractured across regions, with the VIX at a one-week high on Iran tensions and trade uncertainty, crude oil above $100 pressuring importers like India and the UK, and Argentina's unexpected contraction in July economic activity dragging down its market alongside expected poverty data showing the first rise under the current government.
- **Asia Pacific:** Taiwan's industrial production hit an all-time record on AI and semiconductor demand even as its market pulled back on a technical dip, whereas Australia slid to a three-month low as a five-year-high jobless rate collided with lingering rate-hike expectations, and the Philippines faced a material growth downgrade from the ADB while Malaysia received an upward revision.
- **Europe:** Germany's leading economic institutes roughly doubled their 2026 growth forecasts, lifting German equities and the broader regional ETF, while France digested the Arnault family's restructuring of control at its heavyweight luxury firm and the UK contended with sterling at a near three-month low and a BoE official flagging potential rate rises if energy prices stay elevated.
- **North America:** The US tape is mixed as AI-related momentum lifted names like the quantum computing firm with a new Nvidia deal and the data center operator after a broker upgrade, whereas Morgan Stanley slipped on a deal-list leak and long bonds drifted lower on elevated yields, while Mexico's hotter-than-expected inflation print weighed on its ETF despite the central bank holding rates unanimously.
- **Asset Classes:** Energy assets firmed as Saudi Arabia restarted the East-West Pipeline and resumed Red Sea crude exports at the highest levels since the conflict began, gold and other safe havens drew support from geopolitical friction, and China-focused ETFs climbed on reports regulators told banks to ease treatment of a major developer's overdue loans even as Chinese shares drifted lower on trade truce skepticism.