• STI added 0.86% to 5,724 on Tuesday, within 2% of its record, as DBS, OCBC and UOB all rose.
• Macro — MAS's September survey lifted 2026 GDP growth to 5.0%; 45% of forecasters now expect an October tightening.
• Overnight — the Nasdaq gained 0.45% to a record 27,244, the Dow slipped 0.36%, and oil fell more than 2% as US-Iran talks were called productive.
• Calendar — S&P Global flash PMIs land at 9:45pm SGT; Costco reports fiscal Q4 after Thursday's US close.

Singapore Open

Singapore equities kept climbing on Tuesday, with the Straits Times Index rising 0.86% to 5,724 — within about 2% of its September record near 5,828. The banks did the heavy lifting: $DBS (D05.SG)$ closed at S$77.80 (+0.57%), $OCBC (O39.SG)$ at S$32.14 (+1.48%) and $UOB (U11.SG)$ at S$42.80 (+1.66%), extending the flight-to-quality bid into Singapore-dollar assets. $ST Engineering (S63.SG)$ was a standout, up 2.89% to S$10.69, while $Singapore Airlines (C6L.SG)$ added 0.61% to S$6.57 as cheaper crude eased its fuel-cost outlook. $Singtel (Z74.SG)$ slipped 0.23% to S$4.32 after Macquarie trimmed its target price to S$4.98 while keeping an Outperform rating.

Singapore Macro

The local macro backdrop is strong enough to keep the MAS hawkish. The central bank's September survey of professional forecasters raised 2026 GDP growth to 5.0% (from 3.5% in June), in line with MTI's upgraded 4.5%-5.5% range, with headline and core inflation both seen at 2%. After April's policy tightening and a run of S$NEER appreciation, 45% of respondents now expect the MAS to steepen the exchange-rate policy band at next month's review, up from 30% in June. The transmission to SGX is direct: with the Fed having just hiked to 3.75%-4.00% and markets pricing further increases, higher-for-longer US rates feed into SGD rates — supporting bank net interest margins, the STI's biggest earnings driver — while raising financing costs for REITs and property names. That is why the banks, not the property counters, are carrying the index toward a record.

US Overnight

Wall Street closed mixed in Tuesday's session, which ended this morning Singapore time. The Nasdaq Composite rose 122 points, or 0.45%, to a record 27,244, while the S&P 500 was essentially flat at 7,764 and the Dow fell 185 points, or 0.36%, to 51,863. The driver was another leg lower in oil — WTI and Brent each slid more than 2%, a fifth straight decline — after President Trump described US-Iran talks in New York as productive. Treasury yields eased, and money rotated toward tech and away from financials, the session's weakest group.

Key Movers

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ — record high, brief $5 trillion tag. Shares hit an intraday record and briefly crossed a $5 trillion market value on demand for the new iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone Duo; BofA lifted its target to $370, citing a strong volume cycle.

$AutoZone (AZO.US)$ +6%. The auto-parts retailer posted Q4 EPS of $56.06, beating the $54.30 consensus, though revenue of $6.6 billion came in a touch light versus the $6.71 billion estimate; investors looked past the top-line miss.

$Meta (META.US)$. Its AI assistant Muse racked up 1.43 million iOS downloads in its first 12 days, outpacing ChatGPT's early pace, and the stock has climbed 11.4% to $741.24 since the launch — a multiple-expansion move, since analysts do not expect meaningful Muse revenue before 2028.

Memory and chip names also outperformed — $Micron (MU.US)$ and SanDisk gained — while $Nvidia (NVDA.US)$ trades at its lowest forward multiple in a decade (below 17x) even as profit forecasts keep rising.

Asia Pre-Market

US equity futures pointed higher in early Asian trading as oil extended its slide, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq contracts modestly in the green. WTI hovered around $92-93 a barrel with Brent just below $100, gold sat at $4,376 an ounce after a flat New York session, and bitcoin traded near $85,000. For today's SGX open, the energy read-through is the key signal: cheaper crude eases the imported-inflation pressure the MAS has flagged, supportive for airlines and consumer names — but keep an eye on the 10-year Treasury yield, since a further drop would signal markets are dialling back October Fed-hike fears.

This Week's US Earnings and Economic Calendar

Retail and consumer names headline the back half of the week. Cintas and Paychex kick off Wednesday, while Costco and Darden close it out Thursday.

Spotlight — $Costco (COST.US)$. The warehouse club reports fiscal Q4 (16 weeks to Aug 30) after Thursday's US close, with its call at 5:00pm ET (5:00am Friday SGT). Consensus sits at about $6.55 in adjusted EPS on roughly $94.85 billion of revenue, up about 10% year over year. Watch comparable sales and membership-fee income; Oppenheimer warns earnings could miss once US tariff refunds are stripped out, while BofA recently trimmed its target on cost concerns. Costco has matched or beaten EPS in five straight quarters.

On the macro side, the week is light on hard data but heavy on Fed speakers, with about 10 appearances scheduled.

With the Fed having just hiked to 3.75%-4.00% and markets pricing roughly 55% odds of another move in October, any inflation surprise in the PMIs or Friday's sentiment reading lands with extra weight.

One More Thing

Two forces are pulling in opposite directions: oil falling on US-Iran diplomacy is a disinflation tailwind, while a Fed that just hiked to 3.75%-4.00% may move again in October (about 55% priced). For Singapore, the answer is unusually clean — higher-for-longer US rates feed into SGD rates and support bank margins, which is exactly why DBS, OCBC and UOB carried the STI to within 2% of a record. The discipline is to watch the 10-year Treasury yield rather than the oil headline: if yields keep easing, October-hike fears fade and REITs catch a bid; if yields reverse higher, the bank-led rally broadens at REITs' expense.

Sources: MAS September 2026 survey of professional forecasters (via The Business Times), TradingEconomics market data, Kiplinger weekly economic calendar.

This briefing is compiled with AI assistance from market data and wire reports, and reviewed by the Longbridge editorial team before publication.

This briefing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.