1. Asian Equity Markets: Opened Higher, Tracking Wall Street's Recovery Amid Weekly Pressure on the AI Sector

• Opening Movement: Kicking off trading on Monday morning (9/11), stock markets in the Asian region opened higher, following Wall Street's mixed close late last week, with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ managing to end in positive territory.

• Wall Street Weekly Performance: Despite the rebound at the end of the week, all three major indices posted weekly losses:

o DJIA: Down -0.94%.

o S&P 500: Down -2.68%.

o NASDAQ: Fell -3.37%, marking its fourth consecutive weekly decline.

• AI Regulation Sentiment & Anthropic IPO Plan: The massive sell-off in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-related stocks last week erased trillions of dollars in market value. The pressure was triggered by concerns that a Democratic Party victory in the US midterm elections would lead to tighter regulation of the AI industry.

• Local Regulation Spotlight & Anthropic Valuation: For example, the Democrat-elected Governor of Texas, Gina Hinojosa, stated she would enact new legislation to restrict the construction of massive data centers to protect local residents (Texas was previously the largest concentration of data centers in the US). This turmoil also sparked speculation that AI developer Anthropic may need to lower its valuation ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO) later this month.

2. Release of US Employment Data (Non-Farm Payrolls October 2026)

• NFP Surge Exceeds Expectations: The Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report showed significant resilience in the US labor market. The US economy successfully added 165,000 workers in October, surging well above the previous month's gain of only 60,000 workers and far exceeding the consensus estimate of around 65,000 workers.

• Unemployment Rate & Wages:

o Unemployment Rate: Edged down to 4.1% from 4.2% previously.

o Average Hourly Earnings: Grew +0.4% M/M (+3.1% Y/Y), faster than September (+0.3% M/M) and above market expectations, reflecting resilient wage pressures amid solid employment.

3. China's Macroeconomic Dynamics: Consumer Inflation Slows vs. Producer Inflation (PPI) Surge

• Consumer Inflation (Headline CPI): China reported a +0.7% Y/Y rise in headline CPI in October (lowest since June), slowing from the 0.9% Y/Y pace in September.

• Producer Inflation (PPI): Conversely, the producer price index jumped to +5.7% Y/Y in October (highest since June 2022), up from 5.0% Y/Y the previous month and exceeding the consensus estimate (5.3% Y/Y). The PPI surge reflects strengthening global commodity prices as well as recovering domestic industrial demand following the long Golden Week holiday.