Finance Morning Brief | Nvidia surges over $440 billion overnight ahead of Warsh's Jackson Hole debut

📊 Today's Asian Markets

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1. Nvidia's market cap surges more than $400 billion overnight

Source: Sina Finance

Nvidia (NVDA.O) shares jumped 8.74% on August 27, closing with a market capitalization of $5.49 trillion — a one-day gain of $441.5 billion, roughly the size of Oracle (valued at $437.7 billion).

A day earlier, the company reported second-quarter results for fiscal 2027, ended July 26, 2026: revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% year over year; GAAP net income of $59.7 billion, up 126%; and data center revenue of $89 billion, up 117%. For the first time, Nvidia gave full-year guidance a year ahead, projecting roughly 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028, well above the ~45% the market had expected.

After the report, multiple firms raised their price targets — Citi to $315, JPMorgan to $320, and Raymond James to $515. CEO Jensen Huang said AI has reached an inflection point where compute is revenue.

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2. Markets await clarity ahead of Warsh's Jackson Hole debut

Source: Sina Finance

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is set to deliver his first speech at the Jackson Hole central banking symposium. During the Asia-Pacific session on August 28, Asian equities edged higher while US stock futures fell and Treasury yields continued to climb. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index rose 0.3%.

Worries over inflation and the US fiscal outlook, combined with heavy long-term corporate debt issuance by large US AI companies crowding out demand for Treasuries, pushed the yield curve up 2–3 basis points, with the two-year yield holding at 4.22% and the dollar slightly lower. Bank of America has warned that a lack of clarity from Warsh could send the 30-year yield to 5.5% or higher.

Market participants believe Warsh's speech will steer global central bank decisions. The Bank of Korea already raised its base rate from 2.75% to 3.00% on Thursday, its second consecutive hike.

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3. KOSPI falls 1.79% as foreigners dump 1.7 trillion won

Source: Asia Daily (AJU News)

The KOSPI closed at 6,788.88 on August 28, down 123.49 points (1.79%). Retail investors net bought 424.4 billion won, while foreign and institutional investors net sold 1.7564 trillion won and 284.2 billion won respectively.

Most large-cap stocks fell: Samsung Electronics dropped 3.38%, SK Hynix fell 4.45%, and Samsung Biologics slid 6.78%, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Hyundai Motor bucked the trend. Sentiment was dampened by reports that the US is considering additional tariffs on imported IT products such as semiconductors, servers and laptops.

The KOSDAQ closed at 838.41, up 0.09%. The won closed at 1,372.5 per dollar, down 8.4 won.

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4. Japan and Korea close mixed

Source: Sina Finance

Japanese and South Korean stocks finished mixed on August 28. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.41% to close at 66,405.56, up 0.59% for the week.

South Korea's KOSPI fell 1.79% to close at 6,788.79, down 1.8% for the week.

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5. Mainland China stocks little changed at midday

Source: RTHK

Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks were little changed at midday on August 28, with agriculture, property, precious metals and retail shares advancing, while pharmaceuticals, wind power equipment, construction machinery and semiconductor shares declined.

The Shanghai Composite stood at 3,959, up 3 points (0.08%); the Shenzhen Component at 14,029, down 19 points (0.14%); and the ChiNext at 3,462, down 11 points (0.32%).

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6. Cities roll out property support ahead of peak season

Source: Caixin

Several cities have recently stepped up property-market support measures ahead of the traditional "golden September, silver October" peak season. Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xi'an have all released policy incentives before September, with housing provident fund adjustments a common focal point.

Zhengzhou has made targeted adjustments to down-payment ratios and loan terms to help release replacement demand.

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7. Baidu to become dual-primary listed

Source: Sina Finance

On August 27, Baidu announced it would convert its Hong Kong listing from secondary to primary status, effective September 1, making the company dual-primary listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Intraday, Baidu's Hong Kong shares briefly gained 6.82%, closing up 5.34% at HK$95.75.

Under current rules, Baidu could be added to the Stock Connect as soon as September 7, widening its investor base. The conversion involves no new share issuance or fundraising; as of end-June 2026, Baidu held 283.1 billion yuan in cash and investments.

CFO He Haijian said the core purpose of the dual-primary listing is to broaden the investor base and improve share liquidity. Analysts, using a sum-of-the-parts valuation, estimate Baidu's potential value at roughly 1.01 trillion Hong Kong dollars, nearly three times its current market cap.

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8. Gree's H1 revenue and profit fall, no dividend

Source: Sina Finance

On the evening of August 26, Gree Electric Appliances reported first-half 2026 results, with both revenue and net profit down year over year, and announced it would not pay an interim dividend, weighed down by a sluggish domestic air-conditioner market and shrinking overseas business.

Revenue came in at 89.398 billion yuan, down 8.15%, while net profit attributable to shareholders was 13.278 billion yuan, down 7.87%. Through efficiency gains, the company's net margin reached 14.81%, up 0.05 percentage points.

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9. Gold holds above $4,600 as dollar softens

Source: Sina Finance

Spot gold traded near $4,602 an ounce in early Asian trading on Friday, supported by a softer dollar, strong ETF demand and central banks' demand for dollar-alternative assets. On Thursday, spot gold settled at $4,600.78 an ounce, up 0.14%, having earlier this week touched its highest level since mid-May.

US stocks rose across the board on Thursday, with the Nasdaq up 1.57%, the S&P 500 up 0.72% and the Dow up 0.20%, led by a 8.7% jump in Nvidia. The dollar index held near 99.10, with attention turning to Fed Chair Warsh's Jackson Hole speech on Friday.

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10. Commerce Ministry responds to possible extra 7.5% US tariff

Source: Eastmoney

At a regular press conference on August 27, Commerce Ministry spokesperson Huang Ling said, in response to reports that the US is considering an additional 7.5% tariff on Chinese imports, that the US side has launched a Section 301 investigation against 16 economies including China on grounds of "overcapacity," politicizing economic and trade issues — a typical unilateral and protectionist act that China firmly opposes.

Huang said China will continue to closely monitor and fully assess the US's follow-up moves and reserves the right to take all necessary measures.

On the same day, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that profits of China's industrial enterprises above designated size reached 4.58206 trillion yuan in the first seven months, up 17.6% year over year.

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