π° Hourly Briefing | 2026-08-24 12:00 CST
NVIDIA reports earnings after Wednesday's close, dubbed by analysts as the "World Cup final" for AI investing, while in talks to invest in Perplexity at a $30B+ valuation. Asian tech stocks sell off sharply: Hang Seng Tech -4%, Korea's KOSPI below 6700, China's ChiNext -3.5%. Gold strengthens above $4,640 on haven demand and dollar weakness bets, while WTI slides on SOMO Basrah tender and demand concerns.
π° Hourly Briefing | 2026-08-24 12:00 CST
π Market Snapshot
- Spot Gold (XAUUSD): 4,642.14 (+0.84%) β haven demand + dollar weakness bets, above $4,640
- WTI Crude (USOIL): 85.18 (-1.30%) β SOMO issues tender to sell Basrah crude, supply-side pressure
π₯ Key News This Hour
- NVIDIA earnings due Wednesday after close: Analysts say it has been upgraded from the “Super Bowl” to the “World Cup final” β the result doesn’t just move NVDA, it could decide how much longer the trillion-dollar AI investment boom runs.
- NVIDIA in talks to invest in Perplexity: Per The Information, NVIDIA is discussing investing in AI startup Perplexity at a valuation above $30B, and weighing a technology licensing agreement.
- Asian tech stocks sell off broadly: Hang Seng Tech down over 4%, MINIMAX-W down over 10%; Korea’s KOSPI -3% to below 6,700; China’s ChiNext -3.5%, CPO names “Yi-Zhong-Tian” all drop sharply.
- Luke Metz joins Meta’s Superintelligence Lab: Per Axios, former OpenAI researcher and noted AI scientist Luke Metz has joined Meta’s Superintelligence Lab β AI talent war intensifies.
- Dollar on a knife’s edge this week: Options market anomaly, fresh US economic sanctions plus Fed Chair Waller’s speech β Wall Street is rapidly positioning for dollar depreciation.
- Alibaba launches Wan3.0 video model: Generates up to 30-second videos in a single pass, first to support multi-format inputs like doc, xls, ppt.
π§ Market Assessment
Asian tech stocks are in a broad selloff, with Hang Seng Tech and KOSPI both down over 3%, signaling sharply risk-off sentiment β watch for spillover into tonight’s US open.
NVIDIA’s earnings (Wednesday after close) are the biggest catalyst for global risk assets this week; a disappointing guide could amplify volatility across the AI complex.
Gold is strengthening above $4,640 on haven demand converging with dollar depreciation bets, while crude is dragged lower by Iraq’s SOMO sell tender and demand worries.
On the dollar, options anomaly plus US Iran-sanction details and Waller’s remarks have depreciation bets heating up, raising dollar index volatility risk this week.
β° Upcoming Key Data
- Today 20:30 US July Chicago Fed National Activity Index (ββ)
- Tomorrow 14:00 Germany Q2 GDP final (βββ)
- Tomorrow 16:00 Germany August IFO Business Climate (βββ)