US Stock Plunge After Fed Warning, US-Iran Talks to Continue Saturday

Andrew Sheves Good morning.

🔻** US Stocks Plunge After Fed Warning**

US markets plunged Wednesday as Powell warned of inflation risks from trade tensions and the Trump administration restricted chip exports to China. Nvidia fell 6.9% facing $5.5 billion in charges while AMD dropped 7.4%, expecting an $800 million writedown, after both companies’ advanced chips were barred from China. The selloff deepened during Powell’s Chicago speech, with the S&P 500 closing down 2.2% and the semiconductor index dropping 4.1%. More - Bloomberg

🇮🇷** Iran and US Nuclear Talks to Continue in Rome**

Iran confirmed nuclear negotiations with the US will take place in Rome on Saturday, with Oman mediating amid escalating tensions. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Tehran warning Iran is “not far” from nuclear weapons capability, as the country continues enriching uranium to 60 percent purity. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi maintained enrichment rights are “non-negotiable” despite US envoy Witkoff’s statement that Iran “must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment.” More - Al Jazeera

Asia Stability Ratings and News Summary

More Unstable

🇦🇫 Afghanistan, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan, 🇧🇩 Bangladesh, 🇧🇹 Bhutan, 🇰🇭 Cambodia, 🇨🇳 China, 🇹🇱 East Timor, 🇬🇪 Georgia, 🇮🇳 India, 🇮🇩 Indonesia, 🇯🇵 Japan, 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan, 🇱🇦 Laos, 🇲🇻 Maldives, 🇲🇳 Mongolia, 🇲🇲 Myanmar, 🇳🇵 Nepal, 🇰🇵 North Korea, 🇵🇰 Pakistan, 🇵🇭 Philippines, 🇸🇬 Singapore, 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka, 🇹🇼 Taiwan, 🇹🇯 Tajikistan, 🇹🇭 Thailand, 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan

More Stable

No countries were more stable over this period

Unchanged

🇦🇲 Armenia, 🇧🇳 Brunei, 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan, 🇲🇾 Malaysia, 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan, 🇻🇳 Vietnam

Regional News Summary

Singapore’s economy is facing challenges as the government has downgraded its GDP growth forecast for 2025 to between 0-2%, largely due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on global trade. In response, the central bank has eased monetary policy for the second consecutive time to mitigate the effects of the ongoing trade war. The Singapore Business Federation has called on ASEAN countries to enhance intra-regional trade to reduce reliance on external markets [SOURCE - Channel News Asia].

As Singapore prepares for its general elections on May 3, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong condemned insensitive remarks made by Calvin Cheng, emphasizing the need for national cohesion. The political landscape has been further complicated by the emergence of deepfake videos targeting former President Halimah Yacob, who criticized such “dirty tactics” [SOURCE - Channel News Asia].

Meanwhile, the trade war between the U.S. and China has escalated, with bo

Carpe tomorrow!