Federal Reserve Beige Book: Overall Economic Outlook Positive, But Uncertainty Rises

According to CNN, citing two U.S. officials familiar with the operation, the U.S. military escorted 40 commercial vessels carrying 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday (Eastern Time), marking a wartime record high. Prior to the escort, the U.S. and Iran engaged in a new round of clashes on Tuesday. The two officials disclosed that the U.S. deployed air, sea and space forces. While continuously countering Iran's capability to attack vessels transiting the strait, the U.S. also repelled multiple drone strikes to conduct high-risk escort missions for the oil-laden ships. One official added that U.S. forces intercepted and destroyed anti-ship cruise missiles during the operation. Officials noted that the operation comes amid a shift in U.S. war strategy. The Trump administration has prioritized striking targets around the strait, escorting commercial ships through the critical waterway, and maintaining a naval blockade of Iranian ports as part of its "maximum pressure" campaign to exert greater economic pressure on Iran's ruling leadership. Despite the success of Tuesday's operation, U.S. officials do not believe the conflict will be resolved quickly. Even with U.S. military escorts, energy companies still hold major concerns about the enormous risks involved in sending vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index opened 75.08 points higher on Thursday, September 3, rising 1.14% to 6637.8 points. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both gained over 1.5%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index opened 251.73 points higher on the same day, up 0.39% to 64577.37 points.

Kraken’s parent company Payward has delayed its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) plan, with the earliest expected listing in the second quarter of 2027. Two sources familiar with the matter said the Wyoming-based firm currently has no plans to go public before that. The delay means that one of the crypto industry’s most closely watched IPO plans will see its waiting period further extended.

August's US ADP Employment Report came in below expectations. Trump stated he is prepared to launch another strike on Iran. As markets assess the impact of renewed US-Iran military strikes, oil prices swung higher then lower: WTI crude oil briefly topped the $90 per barrel mark during the session, but quickly pulled back, erasing all intraday gains, and closed down 0.28% at $89.12 per barrel; Brent crude settled 0.11% lower at $94.30 per barrel. According to market data from BIT (bit.com), US stocks closed on Wednesday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.56%, the S&P 500 gained 0.46%, and the Nasdaq added 0.45%. NVIDIA (NVDA.O) and Oracle climbed 3%, SK Hynix (SKHY.O) and Micron Technology (MU.O) rose over 2%, while Dell (DELL.N) surged 15.7%. According to HTX market data, Bitcoin is currently trading at $77,195, down 0.13% in 24 hours.

Broadcom’s adjusted net revenue for its third fiscal quarter reached $29.59 billion, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $29.45 billion. Semiconductor solutions revenue for the same quarter came in at $20.84 billion, exceeding the forecast of $20.51 billion. AI semiconductor revenue hit $16.7 billion, versus analysts’ expectation of $15.93 billion. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter stood at $3.32, outperforming the $3.23 consensus estimate. Broadcom projects its fourth fiscal quarter revenue will be around $34.8 billion, while analysts had forecast $35.05 billion. According to market data from BIT (bit.com), Broadcom (AVGO) saw its U.S. stock drop by over 6% in after-hours trading, with the decline narrowing to 1.35%.

Microsoft (MSFT.O) announced it will start disclosing quarterly sales of its Azure cloud business, a move that ends the company’s long-standing practice of only reporting Azure’s revenue growth rate without revealing specific figures. Microsoft said that given Azure’s scale and importance, now is the appropriate time to boost transparency. This adjustment marks Microsoft’s first major overhaul of its core financial reporting structure since 2015. The company merged its original Intelligent Cloud business and Productivity & Business Processes segment into the "Agents & Infra" division, while its More Personal Computing segment was adjusted to the "Devices & Consumer" division. Microsoft noted that artificial intelligence is transforming how it builds products and operates, blurring boundaries between offerings and reshaping its business model. The company previously disclosed that Azure’s sales for the fiscal year ending in June exceeded $100 billion, up from $75 billion in the prior fiscal year, accounting for roughly 30% of Microsoft’s total revenue. The new reporting structure will officially take effect when Microsoft releases its fiscal 2027 first-quarter financial results.