Taken from CNBC’s Daily Open, our international markets newsletter — Subscribe today
Jerome Powell, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, will be giving his keynote address at the annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming, gathering of central bankers and economists on Friday stateside.
It’ll be one of the most important speeches by a central bank official — even more so than Powell’s press conferences after the Fed’s rate-setting meetings — because Jackson Hole gives Powell an opportunity to lay out the bank’s longer-term economic frameworks, such as its inflation targets and how it evaluates employment.
For Powell, it’s doubly significant, since the keynote address will probably be his last before his term as Fed chair ends in May 2026.
Even though U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to evict him from his seat prior to that date, the Supreme Court earlier this year indicated that Fed officials have special protection against presidential firings. (It seems that being a central banker in the U.S. might be the only way to protect yourself from layoffs and displacement by artificial intelligence today.)
That said, the Trump administration doesn’t seem to be relenting its pressure on Fed officials. The Department of Justice will investigate Fed Governor Lisa Cook based on a criminal referral by a White House official, according to a letter obtained by CNBC’s Sara Eisen on Thursday.
In a typical year, Jackson Hole sparks excitement mostly among market watchers and finance nerds (i.e. yours truly). This time, the symposium feels more pivotal, almost like a gathering of people quietly struggling for central bank independence.
What you need to know today
Nvidia is reportedly stopping H20 chip production. China has warned local tech companies not to buy Nvidia’salleged security concerns. Separately, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Friday “anyone who wants to buy TSMC stock is a very smart person.”
Google scores a $10-billion cloud deal with Meta. Under the agreement, GoogleMetacloud services mainly related to AI over six years, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Elon Musk asked Mark Zuckerberg to join his bid to buy OpenAI. Court filings on Thursday revealed that Musk had approached the Meta CEO to help him finance a $97.4 billion takeover of OpenAI in early 2025.
Major U.S. indexes had a red Thursday. The S&P 500fifth losing session in a row. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ticked down as the country’s core inflation in July came in hotter than expected.
[PRO] No relief rally for European pharmaceuticals. Despite U.S. and EU officials announcing that pharmaceuticals will not be subject to higher tariffs, investors don’t appear to trust the deal.
And finally…
India and Russia agreed Thursday to expand bilateral trade ties, signaling that U.S. tariff pressure on New Delhi over Russian oil purchases is unlikely to derail their partnership.
Among the promised measures is increasing India’s exports of pharmaceuticals, agriculture and textiles to Russia to help reduce the current imbalance, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at a joint press conference in Moscow.
— Anniek Bao
International: Top News And Analysis
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