SoftBank Vision Fund is cutting 20% of its staff, focusing on Masayoshi Son's multi-billion-dollar bets in artificial intelligence and infrastructure. Chinese gold miner Zijin Gold is preparing a $3.2 billion IPO in Hong Kong, its largest since Ma, and CrowdStrike shares are up 13% after an optimistic outlook. These and other topics - in our review of key events by the morning of September 19.

Bank of Japan leaves rate unchanged despite inflation pressures

The Bank of Japan on Friday kept the key rate at 0.5%, as predicted, reports CNBC. The decision came amid falling inflation: the core rate in August was 2.7%, the lowest since November 2024. Even core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, slowed to 3.3%. Meanwhile, rice inflation fell sharply to 69.7% from 90.7% in July, but remains historically high.

The decision was made by majority vote: only two out of nine managers proposed to raise the rate to 0.75%. HSBC expects a 25bp hike as early as October, citing stronger GDP growth in Q2 (+0.3% QoQ vs. +0.1% previously) and improved exports on the back of a trade deal with the US, which reduced duties on Japanese goods from 25% to 15%.

However, analysts warn that a slowdown in global trade could hit Japanese exporters. Meanwhile, political calls for policy tightening are growing in the country: Taro Kono, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said that postponing a rate hike would only increase inflation and make imports more expensive.

Zijin Gold prepares biggest IPO since Ma amid record gold prices

Zijin Gold International, a unit of China's largest gold miner, aims to raise HK$25 billion ($3.2 billion) in an IPO in Hong Kong, the world's largest since Ma, Bloomberg writes. The company is offering about 349 million shares at a price of HK$71.59 apiece, with trading to begin Sept. 29. More than half of the issue has already been bought by anchor investors, including GIC, Hillhouse, BlackRock and Fidelity.

The market entry coincided with the record growth of gold, the price of which exceeded $3700 per ounce. Analysts note that Zijin's estimate of gold reserves is about 20-26% lower than that of global competitors, which makes the securities attractive. The company, which is actively increasing production and buying promising deposits at a low price, plans to allocate part of the funds to a deal to buy a mine in Kazakhstan, as well as to modernize and build mines.

Zijin's IPO will be the largest since Contemporary Amperex Technology listed for more than $5 billion and fits into a global wave of offerings by gold miners looking to take advantage of rising prices to expand and deleverage.

CrowdStrike shares are up 13% after a strong outlook

CrowdStrike's stock jumped 13% after the company unveiled ambitious goals at an investor day: net new annual recurring revenue (ARR) will grow at least 20% in 2027, exceeding analysts' forecasts, CNBC reports. The cybersecurity company plans to reach $10 billion ARR by 2031 and $20 billion by 2036.

Earlier this week, CrowdStrike announced the purchase of AI platform Pangea and a partnership with Salesforce. Wells Fargo noted that the company's new AI solutions further differentiate it from its competitors, and a number of analysts raised their target prices.

The focus on cybersecurity has intensified amid the rise of AI threats, with the year marked by big deals like $32 billion from Google for Wiz and $25 billion from Palo Alto Networks for CyberArk, the channel notes. Although CrowdStrike's quarterly forecasts recently disappointed the market, the new long-term guidance has sparked investor optimism.

SoftBank Vision Fund will cut 20% of its staff and focus on AI

SoftBank Group has announced that it is cutting nearly 20% of its Vision Fund staff, which employs more than 300 people, Reuters writes. The decision is related to the reallocation of resources to founder Masayoshi Son's large-scale AI projects in the United States, including $500 billion Stargate, a network of data centers in partnership with OpenAI.

This is the third wave of cuts to the Vision Fund since 2022, but this time the fund is posting its best quarterly results since 2021 thanks to gains in Nvidia and Coupang shares, the agency points out. The company said the shift to a narrower focus reflects a strategy of "bold investments in AI and breakthrough technologies."

SoftBank has invested $9.7 billion in OpenAI through Vision Fund 2 over the past 12 months and has stepped up its strategy around the Arm company it controls, acquiring Graphcore and Ampere Computing, as well as buying stakes in Intel and Nvidia. The pivot to capital-intensive AI infrastructure carries execution risks, but Sohn sees it as key to restoring the group's leadership, Reuters notes.

What's in the markets

- Japan's broad Topix index was little changed.

- The benchmark Nikkei 225 was falling 0.5 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was adding 0.7%, while the Kosdaq small-company index was up 0.6%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 07%.

- Futures on the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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