Canada Matches US Tariffs as Trade War Deepens; Oil Plunges on Iran-Oman Diplomatic Thaw, Anthropic Eyes $30 Trillion Opportunity
26 August 2026
Market Snapshot (Previous Close)
📈 S&P 500 Index 7,677.28 (+0.32%)↑
📈 Straits Times Index 5,735.68 (+0.97%)↑
📈 Nikkei 225 Index 65,856.42 (+0.50%)↑
📈 Gold Spot (XAU) 4,657.17 (+0.11%)↑
🇨🇦 Canadian PM Mark Carney matched Trump's new tariffs and unveiled support measures for Canadian businesses hurt by the trade war. Ottawa will hike or impose levies on steel, aluminium, milk, furniture, clothing, video-game consoles and smartphones, equal to about 6% of Canada's US-bound exports last year.
🛢️ Oil extended its decline after Iran and Oman agreed to hold talks on a new permanent route through the Strait of Hormuz within 30 to 60 days, easing fears of an escalating conflict. WTI plunged 4.9% to US$80.85 and Brent dropped 5.8% to US$86.84.
📈 US equities rose ahead of Nvidia's earnings, with tech gains lifting the S&P 500 by 0.32%, the Nasdaq by 0.7% and the Dow by 0.30%. Separately, US consumer confidence fell in August on worsening views of business conditions and the labour market, while new-home sales dropped to a six-month low in July.
🤖 Anthropic is expected to tell investors its potential revenue opportunity exceeds US$30 trillion, according to the WSJ. Separately, OpenAI said its new Jalapeno chips outperformed Nvidia's current lineup in testing, though the company's head of data centers has since departed.
🏦 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's bond buyback expansion is showing results, with Treasuries outperforming equivalent-maturity swaps and narrowing the 30-year spread to its smallest since February.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong posted its narrowest trade deficit in over a year, with July export growth holding up better than expected and shipments to mainland China hitting a record high.
🇯🇵 Japan's Finance Ministry will seek a record ¥36.6 trillion (US$230 billion) for debt-servicing costs in its initial budget request for the next fiscal year.
🇸🇬 Singapore's inflation outlook is clouded by rising energy and food cost risks heading into the second half of 2026, following July's headline CPI print of 2.2% and core inflation of 2.0%, both up from June. RHB and Nomura expect price pressures to build further, with Nomura seeing core inflation approaching 3% in coming months on higher electricity tariffs and services costs, while UOB expects core inflation to peak around 2.2% in August-September before easing in Q4. Singapore's July industrial production data is due at 1:00pm.
👀 Market Focus: South Korea's July retail sales are due at 10:00am, and Thailand's central bank delivers its rate decision at 3:00pm as the Thailand Focus 2026 conference continues in Bangkok through Friday. Markets will keep watching for further US-Canada trade retaliation and Nvidia's earnings for direction on the AI trade.
