The dominant macro driver overnight was the August 13 US CPI print, which came in tame and in line with expectations, directly compressing near-term Fed rate-hike probabilities and pulling the 2-year Treasury yield down 2 basis points to 4.20% and the 10-year to 4.68% — levels that imply markets are pricing a sustained pause rather than resumed tightening. The S&P 500 responded by closing at approximately 7,799, up 0.65%, with the Nasdaq leading at +0.81% on tech and AI enthusiasm, while the 30-year yield held flat at 5.24%, suggesting the long end remains anchored by fiscal supply concerns rather than inflation fears. Crude oil's sharp 2.56% decline to $81.14/bbl added a disinflationary tailwind, reinforcing the softer inflation narrative across asset classes. The cross-asset read for Asia-Pacific is nuanced: USD/JPY edged further to 159.54, reflecting a still-wide US-Japan rate differential despite BoJ normalization progress, and the carry-trade unwind risk remains live given BoJ hawkish signals from the July 30–31 meeting summary released August 10. Japanese banks — the top TOPIX sector on Thursday at +2.65% — are the clearest domestic beneficiary of the BoJ's rate path, while exporters face a mixed signal from a yen that remains historically weak. In China, USD/CNY firmed slightly to 6.736, and the CSI 300's sharp 3.60% decline stands in stark contrast to the SSE Composite's modest +0.32% gain, pointing to concentrated selling pressure in large-cap or specific sectoral constituents rather than a broad market selloff. Commodity pressure — particularly oil, silver, platinum, and palladium — bears watching for Australian and Korean resource exporters.