Finance Flash August 23: Gold Near $4,650, OPEC+ Holds Pace, Cloud Giants Sign Nuclear PPAs

Precious Metals and FX Spot gold touched an intraday high of $4,648.30 per ounce in Asian trade on Friday, nearing the $4,650 mark, and is on track for its largest weekly gain in nearly three months; spot silver also strengthened above $70 per ounce. The dollar index extended its weakness below 98.5, with EUR/USD back near 1.12. The market expects the precious-metals safe-haven premium to stay elevated ahead of next week's Jackson Hole symposium. Commodities and Energy An OPEC+ ministerial meeting confirmed a measured September increase of about 138,000 barrels per day, stating that "market fundamentals are sound and inventories controllable." Supported by a fourth straight weekly US crude-inventory draw and summer demand, WTI reclaimed the $69 level and Brent held above $73, ending crude's three-week losing streak. Meanwhile, several leading cloud-service providers announced ten-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with nuclear operators to secure low-carbon baseload power for AI data centers. Macro and Policy The People's Bank of China achieved an open-market net injection of over 600 billion yuan this week via oversubscribed reverse repos and MLF rollovers, keeping liquidity reasonably ample; August LPR was held flat at 3.00% (1-year) and 3.50% (over-5-year). On the Fed side, new Chair Warsh will deliver his first major policy speech at Jackson Hole on August 28, and markets are holding their breath. The July US core PCE price index, due August 27, becomes the most critical inflation signal before the September meeting. Markets and Companies US equities diverged on Friday — the Dow rose 1.21%, the S&P 500 gained 0.51% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.18%; banks and energy led while AI compute and semiconductor names took profit, with Nvidia down 2.7% on the week as markets await its August 27 after-close earnings. In crypto, bitcoin oscillated around $115,000 and spot ETFs recorded a second straight week of net inflows. Asia-Pacific markets were broadly stable, with the Nikkei 225 and Hang Seng both posting modest weekly gains. Industry Frontier The AIDC energy constraint keeps building: liquid-cooling and high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) power-supply penetration is accelerating, and institutions estimate related equipment markets could grow at a CAGR above 30% over the next three years. In solid-state batteries, several automakers announced 2026 semi-solid battery vehicle timelines, bringing the industrialization window closer. On the regulatory front, multiple countries have made data-center green-power absorption ratios a preapproval condition, making decarbonization a hard constraint on compute expansion.