Trade Secrets

WTF Dailies August 20, 2025

Most Asian stocks moved in a flat-to-low range on Wednesday, with technology shares logging steep losses in tandem with their Wall Street peers, while Japanese markets extended a fall from record highs on soft trade data.

Sage Kakkat

19 Aug 2025 — 7 min read

US stock futures traded mostly flat after a bruising day for tech stocks.
Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT) are set to report their results on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. How the group fares will offer a snapshot into how companies and consumers are handing President Trump's tariffs. Walmart's last earnings report took a dramatic turn over trade policy after it warned of price hikes, and Trump responded by telling the company to "eat the tariffs."
The main event for Wall Street this week, however, lands Friday, when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will deliver remarks at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming. Investors are eager for a sense of where policymakers stand on the question of interest rate cuts after economic data this month showed they face a tricky dilemma between a weakening labor market and stubborn inflation.
The release of minutes from the Fed's July's meeting on Wednesday will serve as a curtain-raiser to Powell's speech. Policymakers held interest rates steady at that meeting and stressed no decisions had been made about September, despite Trump suggesting otherwise.
Most Asian stocks moved in a flat-to-low range on Wednesday, with technology shares logging steep losses in tandem with their Wall Street peers, while Japanese markets extended a fall from record highs on soft trade data.
Regional markets took weak cues from a negative overnight session on Wall Street, as optimism over a Russia-Ukraine peace deal ran dry and as investors locked-in recent profits in tech shares.
Asian tech shares were the worst performers for the day, with bourses in Japan and South Korea among the biggest decliners. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes fell 1.5% and 0.6%, respectively, while South Korea’s KOSPI slid 1.8% to a 1-½ month low.
Tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) was among the worst performers on the Nikkei, sliding over 8%, while memory chip maker SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) slid 3.8% and was among the top weights on the KOSPI.
Tech shares fell tracking steep overnight declines in their U.S. peers, which were in part hit by profit-taking after a strong run-up through August. Artificial intelligence major Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) lost 3.5% and led losses among Wall Street’s so-called Magnificent Seven group. Tech was also spooked by speculation over the U.S. government taking equity stakes in chipmakers who received funding under the CHIPS Act.
Reuters reported that Washington was considering stakes in chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) and TSMC (TW:2330), after it earlier this week announced plans to take an equity share in beleaguered chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).
Uncertainty over U.S. interest rates also pressured tech shares, given that they had logged strong gains on increasing confidence that the Fed will cut rates in September. But recent economic data raised some doubts over this notion.
Losses in Japanese bourses– which saw them fall further from recent record highs– also came in the wake of much weaker than expected trade data for July.
Japan slipped into an unexpected trade deficit as the country’s exports shrank more than expected in July. This came as local exporters grappled with high U.S. trade tariffs and weakening export demand in China.
While the U.S. did lower its duties on Japanese goods to 15% in August, it remains to be seen whether a trade deal with Washington will help Japanese exports recover.
China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rose about 0.4% each, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.3% on losses in tech.
Chinese bourses benefited from investors pivoting into non-tech sectors, a trade that also benefited Australian shares. The ASX 200 rose 0.5% and was close to a record high.
In Hong Kong, Xiaomi (OTC:XIACF) Corp (HK:1810) shares fell 0.3%, less than their regional peers as the tech giant clocked stellar earnings for the second quarter.
Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) Inc (HK:9888) and China Resources Power Holding (HK:0836) fell 1% each, while AIA Group Ltd (HK:1299) shed 0.8%, with all three set to report earnings in the coming days.
The People’s Bank of China on Wednesday kept its benchmark loan prime rate unchanged as widely expected, with Beijing seen doling out more fiscal stimulus over loosening monetary policy.
Positive trade ties between the U.S. and China also aided local stocks, as did speculation over a Russia-Ukraine peace deal. Such a deal could see the U.S. tone down its scrutiny of Russian oil purchases by China and India.
India’s Nifty 50 index fell marginally at the open, with the index seen running out of steam after rising sharply on the prospect of a Ukraine-Russia treaty. India faces 50% tariffs on its U.S. exports, as Washington decried New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
Analysts warned that higher U.S. trade tariffs and potential disruptions in oil supplies could greatly undermine Indian economic growth, especially as negotiations with the U.S. stalled.
Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 0.3%.

Market Close

US stocks mostly slid on Wednesday, continuing a bruising stretch for tech stocks as investors weighed the latest retail earnings and assessed Federal Reserve minutes for clues on interest-rate cuts.
The Nasdaq had been down nearly 2% earlier in the session before recovering. After a nearly 10% drop on Tuesday, Palantir (PLTR) fell another 1% in afternoon trade after slipping as much as 9% earlier in the day.
The tech-led sell-off has put markets on edge, as investors rotate out of riskier stocks into previously lagging sectors amid concerns about the AI boom's staying power.
Meanwhile, Wednesday's release of minutes from the Fed's July meeting showed the two policymakers who voted against the decision to leave rates unchanged appeared largely alone in that opinion. Investors are eager for a sense of where policymakers stand on interest rate cuts after economic data this month revealed they face a tricky dilemma between a weakening labor market and stubborn inflation.
Attention is also on the latest batch of big retail earnings, with Target's (TGT) results the highlight on Wednesday. Target eked out a profit beat and held to its guidance, but pressures from tariffs and a squeezed consumer added up to another downbeat quarter — and will pose challenges for newly announced CEO Michael Fiddelke. Its shares sank 6%.
Federal Reserve policymakers continued to echo a patient approach on further rate cuts pointing to early signs of tariff-induced inflation that suggest it would be appropriate to wait for clarity on the full impact of President Trump’s tariffs, according to the minutes of the Fed’s July 29-30 meeting. Further clues on monetary policy is slated for later this week, when Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivers remarks at the Jackson Hole conference this week.

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