Tech stocks, Alphabet lift Nasdaq as bonds recover on Fed rate bets

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

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1.

Bond bounce: Technology stocks drove a market rebound, with the Nasdaq lifted by Alphabet, Apple and Tesla, while the Dow industrials fell and the S&P 500 0.51% higher. Alphabet shares surged over 9% after a judge allowed Google to keep both its Chrome browser and its partnership with Apple, though exclusivity deals are barred. Gold futures rose 1.2% to a record USD3,593.20 ($5,492) as wagers on Fed rate cuts combined with Donald Trump’s tariffs and efforts to influence monetary policy dragged the US dollar lower and reinforced demand for bullion. Bitcoin also gained, while oil prices dropped on a report OPEC+ may consider raising output. Macy’s lifted its annual outlook, sending shares over 20% higher. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will begin interviewing Fed chair candidates on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. (WSJ)(Bloomberg)(Reuters)

2.

Big billing: Payments firm Airwallex acquired San Francisco-based billing firm OpenPay to launch a billing platform, which it says will put it head-to-head with US rivals like Stripe Billing and Recurly. The company said that Airwallex’s billing capabilities will be available for both new and existing customers from Q4 2025, with co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang adding that by “bringing OpenPay’s subscription management, orchestration, and analytics capabilities into Airwallex, we’re creating the first truly global billing platform.” Airwallex, which raised a USD300 million ($458.2 million) Series F round at a USD6.2 billion valuation in May, did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition. Co-founder Lucy Liu also told The Australian that Airwallex plans to roll out an AI-powered CFO for every new business to democratise sophisticated financial tools reserved for large corporations. The AI CFO is still being built with no immediate launch date set. (Capital Brief)(Airwallex)(The Australian)

3.

Chip wars: Google is ramping up its AI chip competition against Nvidia, as The Information reports. Google reportedly struck a deal to put its tensor processing units (TPUs) in another cloud provider’s (Fluidstack’s) facilities for the first time. Google has reportedly been trying to strike similar deals with Crusoe and CoreWeave, both of which have been Nvidia-focused. Meanwhile, US stocks advanced on Wednesday as a court victory for Alphabet and Apple pushed shares in tech giants higher. The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.4%, while the Nasdaq 100 Index rose 0.8%. A gauge of Magnificent Seven companies jumped 1.73% and the Cboe VIX Index was around 17. Shares in Alphabet rose as much as 8.8% by mid-morning in New York, while Apple climbed over 2%. On Tuesday, US District Judge Amit Mehta determined that Google will not have to sell off its Chrome browser or Android and that prosecutors had overreached in seeking the forced divestiture. (The Information)(FT)(Bloomberg)(WSJ)(Capital Brief)

4.

No growth: For the first time since April 2021, there were more unemployed people than job openings in the United States, as vacancies fell to a 10-month low in July, the Labor Department reported. Treasury yields declined after the report, with futures pricing about a 95% chance of a quarter-point Federal Reserve cut later this month. The 30-year bond’s yield slipped below 4.90% and the two-year touched 3.60%. Elsewhere, the Fed’s Beige Book showed most of the twelve Federal Reserve districts reported little or no change in economic activity, noting flat to declining consumer spending. It also said tariff-related price pressures were intensifying across nearly all districts. (Capital Brief)(BLS)(Bloomberg)(Reuters)

5.

AI jobs: Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock says artificial intelligence could redefine the jobs market, potentially eliminating some jobs while creating new ones. Delivering the Shann Memorial Lecture in Perth, Bullock said that some individuals are likely to need support through these disruptions and that there will be a need for investment in training and education. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported xAI’s chief financial officer Mike Liberatore has departed after only a few months, the latest in a string of high-profile exits following a series of malfunctions by its chatbot Grok, which posted antisemitic content and violent ideations after engineers tweaked the model’s parameters to make it less politically correct. And The Australian Financial Review reported Seek accused Employment Hero of misusing data from its classifieds platform to lure jobseekers into joining its own applications, alleging a breach of API terms and misleading conduct. Employment Hero denies the allegations. (RBA)(AFR)(Capital Brief)

6.

No deal? Donald Trump said the United States might have to “unwind” trade deals with the European Union, Japan and South Korea if the Supreme Court upholds a ruling that found many of his tariffs were illegal. Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said losing the case would leave the US “far poorer” and that the country “is going to suffer so greatly.” He said the tariffs gave him leverage to strike deals that are “all done,” and claimed the EU is “paying us almost a trillion dollars.” His administration will ask the Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that he wrongfully invoked emergency powers to impose the tariffs. Separately, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the US and Canada are in negotiations to resolve issues in tariff-affected sectors including autos, steel and aluminium after a “very constructive” call with Trump. Carney said agreements are expected in some strategic sectors, but cautioned that a deal might not come together quickly. (Reuters)(Bloomberg)(Capital Brief)

7.

Bumpy road: Country Road Group (CRG) posted its first full-year loss in decades, after the fashion chain succumbed to a retreat in consumer spending and a surge in advertising activity that ate into the group’s margins. South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings reported that CRG notched a pre-interest and tax loss for the 52 weeks to 29 June of $18.1 million, down from an aEBITDA of $51.3 million the year prior. The chain reported earnings of $103.9 million, a 41.1% decline on the year prior, while total turnover for the year declined 5.4% to $1.056 billion from 2024. CRG said that it completed a restructure during the year to reconfigure its operating model, adding that the transformation was undertaken during “a particularly unconducive macro backdrop, whereby sustained pressure from high interest rates and living costs continued to impact consumer footfall and spend.” CRG has shuttered a number of boutiques, including its QVB flagship store in Sydney. (Woolworths Holdings)(The Australian)(Capital Brief)

8.

Sinister scheme: Jane Street appealed an order by India’s financial regulator that had imposed a temporary ban on the US high-frequency trading giant over claims it manipulated Indian markets. Court filings seen by Reuters show Jane Street filed an appeal against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seeking to compel it to release documents the firm says are pertinent to rebut the allegations. Jane Street argues SEBI’s July order is “untenable” and “flawed” and that among documents the regulator relied on, an internal surveillance report could not conclude manipulation by Jane Street entities in India's two key indexes. SEBI could fine the US trader up to three times the USD560 million ($855 million) of “illegal gains” if its findings are proved. The move comes after Jane Street’s revenues more than doubled in the second quarter to USD10.1 billion, topping JPMorgan Chase’s USD8.9 billion and Goldman Sachs’s USD7.8 billion in trading revenue. (Reuters)(FT)(Capital Brief)