Nvidia Taps Wall Street for $500B; Iran Deal Hopes Dim | The Asia Trade 8/11/2026

Market Trends and Macroeconomic Environment - Asian stocks experienced a cautious open due to oil rallies and concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, while the Japanese yen weakened by 1% as intervention efforts proved short-lived [1][4] - The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expected to maintain a hawkish hold as June quarter inflation showed a third consecutive deceleration, coming close to the top of the target bound [61][62][64] - Singapore's second-quarter GDP grew by 5.9% year-on-year, outperforming previous expectations of 5.8%, with full-year GDP growth forecasts revised upward to a range of 4.5% to 5.5% [105] Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure and Investment - NVIDIA partnered with Wall Street giants including Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR to finance the next wave of AI infrastructure, involving commitments reaching half a trillion dollars [1][7][55] - Intel announced plans to raise $15 billion (subsequently upsized to target a $20 billion share sale at a 6.5% discount) through its first public stock offering since listing in 1971 to support AI initiatives and purpose-built silicon [21][23][24] - Anthropic formed a partnership with Macquarie Asset Management and GIC to develop AI data centers in the U.S. and struck a $9.1 billion deal with Riot Platforms for 491 megawatts of capacity through June 2048 [21][22][110] - Meta introduced a downloadable AI model named Muse Glimmer designed to run on personal computers using a single graphics card [22][23] Corporate and Strategic Developments - Sunrise Energy Metals secured a $400 million loan from the U.S. administration to expand production of scandium, an essential rare earth element for military, aerospace, and semiconductor industries [167][170][172] - Hong Kong's financial sector faces structural testing as mainland China implements a 20% tax levy on cross-border capital gains, threatening a contraction in managed wealth, while Hong Kong introduces tax incentives to attract overseas managers and global hedge funds [187][189][190]