‼️ 🛢️ BREAKING: Brent crude hit its highest level since July after the latest U.S. strikes on Iran, with WTI up 4%. While neither side signaled a return to full-scale war, both warned they’re prepared to respond to further attacks. Analysts see the U.S. strike on Larak Island as an effort to break a deadlock rather than a strategic shift.
‼️ Chinese leader Xi Jinping is embarking on his busiest international travel schedule in over seven years, visiting Kyrgyzstan and Egypt this month before widely expected attendance at a BRICS summit hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, culminating in a late September stop in Washington as Beijing seeks to position itself as a superior global leader to the US.
‼️ 🧠 Cathie Wood’s ARK ETFs added 243,707 shares of Nvidia while trimming 156,286 shares of AMD, continuing a rotation out of the latter after heavy accumulation from 2023 to 2025. Wood has called Nvidia a bargain below $226, citing an attractive forward price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 26 times.
‼️ SpaceX is reportedly exploring production of turbine blades for power-generation applications, a move that has GE Vernova investors concerned about potential disruption as the company leverages its engineering capabilities into a new industry. While blades represent only one component of power turbines, SpaceX could ultimately supply them to GE Vernova as part of a broader strategy to address what it views as a critical bottleneck in blade manufacturing that could constrain AI adoption. This initiative aligns with SpaceX’s parallel effort with Tesla to build a semiconductor fabrication facility, both aimed at mitigating supply-chain constraints that threaten to slow the pace of AI infrastructure deployment.
‼️ 🇪🇺 BREAKING: Euro-area inflation accelerated to 3.3% year-over-year in August—the highest since September 2023—up from 2.9% in July, reinforcing expectations of a European Central Bank rate hike next week. While headline inflation surprised to the upside, core inflation (excluding food and energy) unexpectedly dipped to 2.4%, and services inflation eased to 3%. Markets now fully price in a 25-basis-point increase at the ECB’s September 10 meeting, with further tightening anticipated beyond June’s initial move
‼️ BREAKING: Japan’s 10-year government bond yield touched 3% for the first time this century, an important milestone for a debt market that is returning to normality after benchmark borrowing costs languished near zero for years.