The Breaker Times

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

All-time high, again
Major U.S. indexes rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 notching a fresh closing high. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Friday. China’s CSI 300 is posed for a weekly rally of almost 15%, its best since November 2008, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index looks to gain 12.85% for the week, the most since February 1998, according to FactSet data. Still, China’s industrial profits are still looking strained, plunging 17.8% from a year ago.

Why are Treasury yields rising?
Treasury yields tend to move in tandem with interest rates. Both, broadly speaking, indicate the borrowing costs of money. When the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week, it’s not unreasonable to expect Treasury yields to dip. Instead, they’ve been climbing. CNBC’s Jeff Cox breaks down what’s happening.

‘No current plans’ for Altman equity
At an all-hands meeting on Thursday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman denied he received a “giant equity stake” in the company, according to a person in attendance. That said, Chairman Bret Taylor told CNBC the board “has had discussions” on compensating Altman with equity. Meanwhile, CFO Sarah Friar reassured investors OpenAI’s still in a strong position, and its $6.5 billion funding round is going ahead.

Ishiba set to be Japan’s PM
Japan’s former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba is the country’s presumptive next prime minister after winning the Liberal Democratic Party’s elections for its new leader. Ishiba, who has endorsed the Bank of Japan’s rate hikes, beat economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in the final runoff vote.

[PRO] PBOC stimulus benefiting European stocks
The People’s Bank of China announced a series of rate cuts this week, aimed at revitalizing the Chinese economy. European companies most exposed to that market are likely to benefit from the PBOC’s stimulus as well. Barclays picks its favorite European stocks, including one with a potential upside of more than 100%.

Semantic satiation is the phenomenon in which a word or phrase is repeated so often it loses meaning to the person listening to or reading it.

There’s one phrase that’s been echoing throughout the year: “all-time high.”

On Thursday, the S&P closed at an all-time high of 5,745.37 after rising 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.62% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.6%.

Financial firm Oppenheimer noted the broad-based index has touched new levels on more than 20% of trading days so far this year.

If the narrative propelling markets forward – the promise of artificial intelligence and a soft landing for the U.S. economy amid rate cuts – continues uninterrupted, the S&P is on track to finish 2024 more than 20% higher.

Judging from economic data released yesterday, the narrative’s progressing well.

Initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 21 dropped by a more-than-anticipated 4,000 from the previous week, suggesting layoffs aren’t happening in the job market.

Durable goods orders, which comprise long-lasting items like aircrafts and appliances, were little changed in August, beating an estimated 3% decline.

Most significantly, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analyst’s third estimate of second-quarter GDP kept growth at a 3% annualized rate, while sharply revising real gross domestic income upward to 3.2% per quarter in the first half of the year from 1.3%.

All those data points are “solidifying the notion that the U.S. macro picture is steady,” noted CNBC’s Jeff Cox.

The AI story’s still a great read too.

Micron popped 14.73% after posting revenue guidance higher than Wall Street expectations. That comes on the back of a semiconductor surge on Thursday, when shares of SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, Tokyo Electron and STMicro rose in tandem.

As long as Friday’s personal consumption expenditures index report is in line with, or better than, expected, investors may hear more instances of “all-time high.”  But it certainly won’t lose its delicious meaning.

– CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Alex Harring, Brian Evans and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this story.