This is Guru Focus first look, your morning market brief for Friday, August 21. Here are the stories driving markets today. Walmart shares tumbled 9% in pre-market trading after the retail giant reported slowing sales growth and issued a weaker than expected outlook despite announcing price cuts following a $2.9% billion tariff refund.The company's disappointing guidance raised fresh concerns about consumer spending and the broader retail sector. Turning now to the US national debt, the Treasury Department ...

Financial Performance & Corporate Mergers - Monte dei Paschi launched simultaneous all-share offers to acquire Banco BPM and Banca Generali valued at 8.7 billion euros, alongside a 4 billion euro extra dividend plan to fend off a takeover [17][19][20][27] - Anthropic expects an IPO valuation matching or beating SpaceX's record of 75 billion dollars, targeting the 1 trillion to 2 trillion dollar valuation range, backed by a 10 billion dollar revolving credit line and reporting a net loss of 40 billion dollars in 2025 [2][21][2] - Samsung Electronics planned a shareholder return of up to 79 billion dollars, boosting investor optimism and driving Korean stocks higher [1] - Alibaba shares dropped almost 3% following weak earnings where profits fell 75% with capital expenditures at about 10 billion dollars, though cloud revenue growth accelerated [1] Market Trends & Industry Dynamics - Global bonds faced sustained pressure as U.S. borrowing costs rose and national debt surpassed 40 billion dollars, with 30-year U.S. term premiums surging from near zero to 80 basis points over the past five years [1][2][67] - Brent crude held steady around 94 dollars a barrel, driven by Middle East tensions and a 90% drop in oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz from prewar levels of 20 million barrels per day down to an estimated 2 million barrels per day [1][13][25] - European Central Bank watchers anticipate a 25 basis point rate hike in September following a 25 basis point hike in July, supported by resilient Eurozone economic growth despite inflation remaining above 3% [33][34] Macroeconomic Shifts & Regional Development - Germany’s industrial sector stalled under the weight of high energy and labor costs, increased Chinese competition, and a post-pandemic rebound that turned into stagnation, leading the coalition government to introduce a 500 billion euro debt-financed infrastructure fund [37][41][42] - Poland's economy crossed 1 billion dollars in GDP and attracted major foreign investments, including a 6.4 billion dollar project by Canadian firm Lundin Mining over the next decade and a potential 20 billion dollar technology park proposal by Taiwanese firms like Foxconn [54][59][61] - British consumer confidence climbed three points to -14 in August, marking a nine-point surge over two months to reach its highest level since the Labour Party took power two years ago [16][17]

Macroeconomics & Geopolitics - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signals bigger Treasury buybacks and a new fiscal consolidation plan to push bond yields lower, while economic isolation plans targeting Iran are set for announcement [1][5][10] - The U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield sits at 4.71%, effectively erasing all post-buyback announcement gains, as total U.S. debt surpasses $4 trillion [5][17][23] - The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is on track for a third consecutive week of losses, whereas Bitcoin has surpassed $70,000 for the first time in over two months following a meeting between President Trump and crypto industry leaders [6][56] Technology & Corporate Finance - Anthropic is preparing for a mega IPO targeting a valuation that could match or top SpaceX's $75 billion record share sale, with revenue growth accelerating significantly and a $10 billion revolving credit facility secured [2][3][61][64] - Broadcom is in talks with lenders to raise more than $60 billion in debt for AI chip financing to support data center capacity buildouts for customers like Anthropic [3][67] - Meta has become one of Microsoft's largest AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to access AI models through Microsoft Cloud Service while utilizing trillions of tokens weekly [31][32] - Samsung Electronics is planning a shareholder return plan of up to $79 billion, with funds allocated between buybacks and dividends, helping strengthen the South Korean won by 0.8% [9][10][57] Industry & Commodities - Brent crude oil hovers near $94 a barrel, close to $93.6 per barrel, driven by supply fears and Middle Eastern geopolitical disruptions, despite heading toward a weekly gain [1][4][50][53] - Ghana expects its global cocoa harvest to drop 13% next season to approximately 650,000 tons due to adverse weather and black pod disease, with cocoa prices trading around $6,000 per ton [90][91][92][94]

9 a. m. in Shanghai, Shenzhen and here in Hong Kong.You're watching the China show. I'm Yvonne Man with David Ingles. Happy Friday.We are counting down to the open of markets in Greater China. Let's get to your top stories today. Stocks across the region sideways flats coming under pressure mostly.That's US treasuries erased gains over concerns that a US debt buyback will offer. No more, no more at least than a temporary reprieve reprieve from rising borrowing costs. Bloomberg loans the anthropic expects to ...

ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS WITHIN A 24-HOUR PERIOD IS NOISE. OUR THINK ONCE THE MARKET UNDERSTANDS WE ARE FOCUSED ON FISCAL CONSOLIDATION AND TRYING TO BRING THE MARKET BACK INTO EQUILIBRIUM IN A THINLY TRADED MARKET. HASLINDA: TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT TELLING US TO TUNE OUT THE NOISE AROUND DAILY MARKET SWINGS, BUT INVESTORS ARE NOT LISTENING AS BOND MARKETS QUESTION AMERICA'S FISCAL PATH.WALMART EARNINGS RAISE DOUBT ABOUT THE EARNINGS OF THE U.S. CONSUMER. A BIGGER QUESTION IS EMERGING, WHAT IS SIGNAL ...

HAIDI: THIS IS "THE ASIA TRADE." PAUL: THE TOP STORIES THIS HOUR, ASIAN STOCKS SET TO FOLLOW WALL STREET LOWER, WHILE A BOND RALLY FIZZLES OUT, EVEN AS SCOTT BESSENT FLAGS WIDER EFFORTS TO BUY BACK DEBT, AND A NEW FISCAL PLAN WITHIN DAYS. HAIDI: BLOOMBERG LEARNED ANTHROPIC EXPECTS TO MATCH OR EXCEED THE RECORD NUMBERS FROM THE SPACEX I. P.O. , PREPARING TO FILE PUBLICLY AS SOON AS THIS MONTH. PAUL: AND ALIBABA’S QUARTERLY PROFIT DIVES 75% AS A.I. SPENDING HEADS TOWARDS $10 BILLION. BUT AS U.S.-LISTED SHARES ...