Overnight US stocks | Federal Reserve officials expect another rate hike before the end of the year; the three major indexes closed lower; Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) rose 4%.

On Wednesday, the three major indexes pulled back from their highs. Minutes just released showed that Federal Reserve officials expect to raise interest rates again before the end of the year to curb inflation that has been above target for more than five consecutive years. After a strong 10-year Treasury auction, the long end of the yield curve narrowed its decline, with the auction's high yield 1.7 basis points below the pre-issuance trading level, and bidding metrics also performed solidly. [US Stocks] At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 341.41 points, or 0.66%, to 51,179.87; the S&P 500 fell 17.20 points, or 0.22%, to 7,801.73; the Nasdaq Composite fell 61.20 points, or 0.22%, to 27,538.69. Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) rose 4%, while SK Hynix (SKHY.US) and SpaceX (SPCX.US) fell more than 2%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 0.12%, with JD.com, Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A (JD.US) up 2%. [European Stocks] Germany's DAX30 fell 320.08 points, or 1.26%, to 25,129.11; the UK's FTSE 100 fell 77.51 points, or 0.74%, to 10,464.18; France's CAC40 fell 95.86 points, or 1.22%, to 7,769.21; the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 87.08 points, or 1.39%, to 6,185.15; Spain's IBEX35 fell 316.66 points, or 1.63%, to 19,127.54; Italy's FTSE MIB fell 1,249.90 points, or 2.44%, to 50,011.50. [Asia-Pacific Stocks] Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.92%, South Korea's KOSPI fell 1.98%, and Indonesia's Composite Index fell 0.75%. [Forex] The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, rose 0.4% on the day and closed at 102.242 in late New York trading. As of late New York trading, 1 euro traded at 1.1199 dollars, down from 1.1261 dollars the previous trading day; 1 pound traded at 1.3219 dollars, down from 1.3277 dollars the previous trading day. 1 dollar traded at 157.96 yen, down from 158.12 yen the previous trading day; 1 dollar traded at 0.8330 Swiss francs, up from 0.8313 Swiss francs the previous trading day; 1 dollar traded at 1.4256 Canadian dollars, up from 1.4209 Canadian dollars the previous trading day; 1 dollar traded at 9.9992 Swedish kronor, up from 9.9861 Swedish kronor the previous trading day. [Cryptocurrencies] Bitcoin briefly fell below 83,000 dollars and was at 83,106 dollars as of publication; Ethereum fell more than 4.8% to 2,565 dollars. [Precious Metals] Spot gold fell 1.3% to 4,109.82 dollars per ounce; spot silver was at 59.798 dollars per ounce. [Crude Oil] At the close, the November-delivery light crude futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.16 dollars to settle at 88.28 dollars per barrel, a decline of 1.3%; the December-delivery London Brent crude futures contract fell 38 cents to settle at 100.20 dollars per barrel, a decline of 0.38%. [Macro News] Fed meeting minutes: Most officials expect one more rate hike before the end of the year, and the rate hike path is a prudent move. According to the meeting minutes released today, Federal Reserve officials expect to raise interest rates again before the end of the year to curb inflation that has been above target for more than five consecutive years. However, the minutes did not show when policymakers specifically expected to raise rates, only indicating that persistently high prices and a stable labor market could prompt the Fed to raise rates a second time this year. The minutes said: "Regarding the outlook for monetary policy after this meeting, most participants believed that it might be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate again before the end of the year." "However, participants emphasized that they would approach each meeting with an open mind, and decisions at future meetings would depend on newly released information and how that information affects the economic outlook and the balance of risks." The discussion at the September meeting showed that officials believed inflation carried a risk of remaining sticky, while the labor market was "near full employment" and overall economic growth had also accelerated. The minutes said: "Many participants emphasized that, from a risk-management perspective, the path of raising the target range for the federal funds rate is a prudent move, providing protection against the risk that inflation remains above target due to stronger-than-expected demand or further adverse supply shocks." US consumer borrowing growth slows, revolving credit declines. Affected by the largest decline in revolving credit in nearly two years, US consumer borrowing rose less than expected in August. Data released by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday showed that total outstanding credit increased by 8.3 billion dollars, the smallest increase in three months, after a revised increase of 17.7 billion dollars in July. Economists surveyed by institutions had expected a median increase of 15 billion dollars in August. The report does not include home mortgages. Credit card and other revolving debt balances decreased by 4.8 billion dollars, the largest decline since November 2024. In August, non-revolving credit, such as auto loans and tuition loans, increased by 13.1 billion dollars. According to industry data, the growth rate of auto sales in August reached its highest level since last April. Trump to attend AI science conference and announce more than 1 billion dollars in investment commitments. According to reports, US President Trump will attend an AI science conference on Thursday aimed at promoting the use of "superintelligence" to accelerate scientific breakthroughs. The White House will announce that companies including AMD (AMD.US), OpenAI, and Anthropic will make a total of more than 1 billion dollars in industrial investment commitments for the "Guangdong Create Century Intelligent Equipment Group Corporation Plan" (Genesis Mission), and will establish a computing Hub Group, Inc. Class A composed of more than 14 institutions across 10 states in the southeastern United States, including investing 1 billion dollars in Georgia to provide computing resources for students and university faculty. The US National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy will also invest more than 100 million dollars to develop AI-driven scientific research tools. Hormuz shipping disrupted, supertanker freight rates soar to 77 million dollars. Affected by the situation in Hormuz, supply chain costs in the global tanker market have risen sharply. Data from the London-based Baltic Exchange shows that the charter rate for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) transporting US crude oil to Asia has risen to 77 million dollars, far above the 2025 average of 9.2 million dollars. Based on a tanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil, the freight cost equates to an additional transportation cost of about 38.5 dollars per barrel of crude oil. The Iran war has changed crude oil export routes and transportation methods in the Middle East. Although regional oil flows have recently recovered somewhat, the transportation process has become more complex, extending delivery times and effectively reducing the size of the available fleet, further pushing up oil shipping costs. [Individual Stock News] Microsoft Corporation announces Surface Laptop Ultra price: starting at 2,599 dollars, focusing on local AI performance. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) announced the price and launch date of a new flagship laptop, the Surface Laptop Ultra, which uses NVIDIA Corporation chips, and said the device outperforms similar Apple Inc. products in some AI tasks. Microsoft Corporation executives said at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday local time that when running local models, the Surface Laptop Ultra returns prompt request results twice as fast as Apple Inc.'s MacBook Pro M5 and generates video six times faster than similar Apple Inc. devices. The Surface Laptop Ultra will begin shipping soon, with a starting price of 2,599 dollars, about 400 dollars lower than the entry-level 16-inch MacBook Pro. The new Surface uses NVIDIA Corporation chips and can support both general computing and AI computing. NVIDIA Corporation CEO Jensen Huang appeared on stage with Microsoft Corporation CEO Nadella to discuss the development of this new PC chip. Huang said: "We have completely reinvented the personal computer." Media: Broadcom Inc. seeks more than 50 billion dollars in financing for custom chip development for OpenAI. According to media reports citing people familiar with the matter, Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US) has been seeking more than 50 billion dollars in financing in recent weeks for custom AI chips developed jointly with OpenAI. Institutions including Apollo and Blackstone have held talks about participating in the financing. The negotiations are still at an early stage, and the financing size may be adjusted. The financing could cover several gigawatts of OpenAI custom chip capacity and is expected to be completed as early as the end of this year. Internally, OpenAI calls the chip project "Nexus," with the first- and second-generation chips codenamed Jalapeo and Serrano, respectively. OpenAI and Broadcom Inc. previously announced a partnership to develop a 10-gigawatt custom chip system, with deployment planned from the second half of 2026 through the end of 2029. US Department of Defense plans to exchange a 1.5 billion dollars loan for warrants for up to 7.5% of Wolfspeed equity. The US Department of Defense has provided chipmaker Wolfspeed (WOLF.US) with a commitment for a conditional senior secured loan of up to 1.5 billion dollars with a 30-year term to support domestic US production of silicon carbide materials and wide-bandgap power devices. Under the terms still being negotiated, Wolfspeed will provide the US Department of Defense with warrants allowing it to purchase up to 7.5% of the company's shares in tranches. Wolfspeed filed for bankruptcy last July due to production problems at a key silicon carbide wafer plant. The company said it will use the funds to expand production of silicon carbide materials and power devices used in telecommunications, aerospace, and defense, and to upgrade related material supply capabilities for military communications systems. After the news was announced, Wolfspeed's after-hours stock price rose more than 28% at one point. [Major Bank Ratings] Barclays: Cuts Netflix (NFLX.US) price target to 70 dollars from 80 dollars.