Alphabet Valued at $3 Trillion for the First Time, but Nvidia Ruins Investor's Party

US stock markets closed Monday with solid gains. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached fresh intraday records as investors turned their attention to the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting scheduled later this week.

Shares of Tesla advanced 3.6 percent after filings revealed that CEO Elon Musk purchased nearly one billion dollars' worth of the electric-car maker's stock on Friday.

Google's parent company Alphabet set a historic benchmark, with its market capitalization crossing the three trillion dollar threshold for the first time.

All eyes are now on the Federal Open Market Committee gathering, set for September 16–17. Market participants widely expect the Fed to trim interest rates by 25 basis points, following recent labor data that suggested weakening employment trends.

The previous week also brought growth across the major US indexes. On Friday, both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 once again touched intraday highs, underscoring the continued strength of technology stocks.

Shares of McDonald's and Procter & Gamble weighed on the Dow, preventing the index from posting stronger gains.

CoreWeave shares jumped 7.6 percent after the data center operator announced an agreement with Nvidia. Under the deal, the chipmaker will purchase all unsold cloud capacity from CoreWeave. The initial value of the agreement is estimated at 6.3 billion dollars. Meanwhile, Kerrisdale Capital disclosed a short position against CoreWeave.

On Tuesday, Asian equities advanced while the dollar weakened. Traders are betting that the Federal Reserve will resume its easing cycle this week and may leave the door open for further rate cuts.

Markets paid little attention to political developments in Washington. The Senate narrowly approved the nomination of Stephen Miran to the Fed's Board of Governors, while a US appeals court separately rejected Donald Trump's bid to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook.

Neither decision is seen as likely to influence the outcome of the Fed's Wednesday meeting. A quarter-point rate cut is already fully priced into market expectations.

Anticipation of easier monetary policy has fueled positive momentum in recent sessions. This optimism has pushed equities to fresh highs, underscoring investor confidence.

The MSCI broad index for Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan climbed to its highest level in more than four years on Tuesday, gaining 0.7 percent. Japanese benchmarks Nikkei and Topix also set fresh records.

EUROSTOXX 50 futures remained flat, while FTSE contracts rose 0.08 percent and DAX futures edged up 0.03 percent.

Markets are awaiting updated interest rate projections in the form of the so-called dot plot, along with comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the pace and scale of potential easing. Current futures pricing reflects expectations for a 127-basis-point reduction by mid-2026, meaning anything short of a dovish stance could disappoint investors.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index inched up 0.08 percent, while China's blue-chip CSI300 slipped 0.38 percent.

Nasdaq futures gained 0.14 percent and S&P 500 futures advanced 0.08 percent, following record highs reached by both benchmarks in the previous session.

Nvidia shares closed slightly lower on Monday after Beijing accused the AI chipmaker of violating antitrust regulations, marking the latest escalation in the US-China trade dispute.

Meanwhile, officials from Washington and Beijing announced a framework agreement to bring TikTok under US control. The arrangement is expected to be finalized during a phone call between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

The Federal Reserve's rate cut weighed heavily on the greenback, sending it on Tuesday to its lowest level since late July against a basket of major currencies.

The British pound climbed to 1.3624 dollars, its strongest level in more than two months. The euro followed suit, reaching 1.1787, the highest since July 24.

The risk-sensitive Australian dollar hit a ten-month high of 0.6677 dollars before easing slightly. By the end of the session, it had slipped 0.1 percent to 0.6662 dollars.

US government bond yields held largely unchanged after the previous session's decline. The two-year yield stood at 3.5366 percent, while the ten-year benchmark remained at 4.0375 percent.

Brent crude futures rose 0.25 percent to 67.61 dollars a barrel. US crude gained 0.27 percent, settling at 63.47 dollars a barrel.

Spot gold surged to an all-time peak of 3689.27 dollars an ounce, buoyed by a weaker dollar and easing expectations for further Fed action.