Global markets faced a turbulent day as oil prices surpassed $100 per barrel and US diesel reached $6 per gallon due to Middle East conflict. Tech stocks experienced a downturn following calls from AI executives for an industry slowdown, though cybersecurity shares moved higher. Meanwhile, international corporate expansions and political negotiations over trade and crypto regulation continued.
01Macro
Trump Attributes Global Diesel Shortage to Ukraine Conflict
Targeting Russian oil refineries directly cuts seaborne distillate exports, transferring geopolitical risks straight into input costs for diesel-reliant logistics and agricultural sectors.
U.S. President Donald Trump called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt long-range drone and missile strikes on Russian oil refineries, arguing that the attacks are driving a global diesel shortage. The demand follows a record-breaking surge in fuel costs, with the U.S. national average for diesel topping $6 per gallon for the first time on Friday at $6.06 per gallon. Truckers and farmers face paying approximately 63% more than they did at the same time last year. Trump denied that the price shock stems from the U.S.-led conflict with Iran and regional supply bottlenecks in the Middle East, insisting that the disruption is rooted directly in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. International Energy Agency data shows that combined net exports of diesel and gasoil from the Gulf and Russia previously accounted for nearly 45% of global seaborne trade before compounding losses from intensified Ukrainian refinery strikes and the ongoing Middle Eastern crisis. Meanwhile, international rose 2.1% to $106.69 per , while U.S. traded 2.1% higher at $102.15 per barrel.
AI Stocks Slide After Tech CEOs Call for Industry Slowdown
Voluntary commitments to cap frontier model scaling directly target the continuous hardware capex expansion that underwrites memory and semiconductor valuations.
Nvidia shares fell 3 percent to $210.86 on Monday after tech executives called for a slower pace of development. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay over the weekend urging labs to pace frontier models, a position echoed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk. The warning sparked a broader technology as investors weighed the sustainability of hardware spending. Micron Technology dropped 6 percent to $914.30, and Broadcom declined 5 percent to $344.50 following its fourth-quarter forecast of $34.8 billion. Cybersecurity firms bucked the trend, with Okta gaining 5 percent and CrowdStrike advancing as infrastructure protection demand accelerated.
Tesla's direct entry into VinFast's home market establishes a secondary Southeast Asian demand buffer as domestic competitors squeeze its primary Asian market share.
Tesla established a local subsidiary in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11 with 77.667 billion dong, or roughly $3 million, in charter . Tesla Motors Vietnam Limited Liability Company is authorized to import, distribute, and sell vehicles, parts, and machinery. David Jon Feinstein chairs the new entity, with Isabel Ching Fan serving as general director. The move gives Tesla a formal legal presence in one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing electric vehicle markets without an immediate announcement from the company. Tesla walks into the domestic stronghold of VinFast Auto Ltd., which captured 42% of Vietnam's vehicle market in August. VinFast delivered 20,161 electric vehicles in August, bringing its preliminary domestic deliveries to 154,073 through the first eight months of 2026. Tesla is expanding its regional footprint as its in neighboring China slides amid intensifying competition. Tesla's share of China's battery-electric vehicle market fell to 6.6% in the second quarter from more than 15% in 2020.
Larry Ellison Cancels Plan to Sell Up to $7.5 Billion of Oracle Stock
Halting an executive share-sale plan eliminates a major equity overhang while the market weighs expanding AI infrastructure capital expenditure against rising debt loads.
Larry Ellison canceled a plan to sell up to 50 million shares of Oracle stock worth roughly $7.5 billion. Oracle disclosed the reversal in a regulatory filing, noting that no shares had changed hands under the trading plan adopted on June 22. The company offered no reason for the cancellation, which leaves Ellison's roughly 40% stake intact. Oracle shares fell around 4% following the news, pressured alongside broader as industry leaders called for increased regulation. The decision also lands as Oracle grapples with mounting expenditures for its data centre expansion, having cut 21,000 jobs this fiscal year and set aside an additional $700 million for restructuring.
Trump agrees to stricter ethics rules for Clarity Act crypto bill
Empowering state attorneys general to sue exchanges directly shifts crypto compliance risk from centralized federal regulators to fragmented, politically driven state enforcement litigation.
President Donald Trump agreed to stricter ethics rules for the Digital Market Clarity Act, clearing the way for a pivotal Senate procedural vote. Senate Republicans released a revised draft of the legislation containing over 120 changes, including a permanent ban on the president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges, and their spouses from creating or sponsoring digital assets in exchange for payment. Under the new provisions, officials holding at least $15,000 in in -issuing companies must divest or place those holdings in a blind trust. The text also empowers state attorneys general to bring civil enforcement cases against violators. The ethics concessions address long-standing Democratic objections tied to Trump's personal crypto ventures, which brought in more than $1.4 billion in income during 2025. Despite the changes, the banking industry remains opposed to provisions addressing rewards, and the bill still requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Oil Prices Surge Above $3 Following Middle East Escalation and Supply Concerns
Depleted strategic reserves eliminate the primary buffer against maritime choke-point disruptions, forcing central banks to choose between compounding inflation and suppressing demand through tighter monetary policy.
Oil prices surged past $100 per after fresh attacks in the Middle East throttled energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi Arabia. and both breached the $100 mark, with Brent nearly touching $110, as maritime disruptions compound a six-month energy shock. U.S. diesel prices hit a record $6 per gallon average, crossing the previous $5.85 high set a week prior. Strategic petroleum reserves in the United States have dwindled to their lowest levels since the early 1980s just as China ramps up imports from decade-lows. The price pushed yields higher and revived chatter as markets price in potential .
Ares Appoints James Garforth as Principal for Asia Direct Lending
Garforth's move from Australian private equity to Hong Kong positions Ares to capture Asia-Pacific direct lending demand as traditional banks retreat from leveraged buyout financing.
Ares Management appointed James Garforth as principal in its Asia direct lending business. Garforth joins from BGH in Melbourne, where he led the firm's capital markets business since 2023. He will be based in Hong Kong and report to Peter Graf, partner and head of Asia direct lending at Ares. Before his time at BGH, Garforth worked at KKR Capital Markets in Sydney and spent nearly a decade at Credit Suisse in leveraged finance and financial sponsors roles in New York and Sydney.
Indian PM Modi Urges BRICS Nations to Implement Economic Agreements
Enforcing trade and critical mineral agreements across the expanded bloc threatens Western supply chains by concentrating leverage over key energy transition inputs within competing state-aligned economies.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for time-bound implementation of the New Delhi Declaration at the conclusion of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Modi warned that the aggressive weaponization of technology and critical minerals threatens worldwide progress, while urging the 11-nation bloc to convert summit agreements into real-world impact. The summit concluded with member states agreeing to establish an integrated early-warning system for infectious diseases and advancing cooperation across digital infrastructure, , and climate action. The bloc represents roughly half of the global population and a significant share of global . China will assume the rotating presidency of the grouping for the next term.
Bundling native AAA software with custom ARM silicon shifts standalone VR from a media-consumption peripheral into a self-contained PC gaming platform capable of bypassing traditional desktop hardware.
Valve is releasing the Steam Frame at a starting price of $1,059 for the 256GB model and $1,299 for the 1TB version. The standalone spatial computer weighs 440 grams, featuring a counterbalanced 21.6 Wh battery housed at the back of the headstrap to reduce front-heaviness. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and 16GB of VRAM, the device features pancake optics supporting a 144 Hz refresh rate and 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye. Every unit includes a native ARM port of Half-Life: Alyx, made possible through eye-tracking and foveated rendering. Interested buyers can register for a purchase lottery, with successful participants completing orders within a 72-hour window.
Steam Frame Pricing by Storage Configuration ($)
The 1TB configuration carries a $240 premium over the base 256GB model.
Carney pitches Canada to global investors amid US trade war
Pivot-away strategies from primary trade partners redefine sovereign risk premiums when domestic project approval timelines historically choke the long-term deployment of non-American institutional capital.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed dozens of global investors to Toronto for a two-day summit aimed at securing C$1 trillion in investments over the next five years. The gathering brings together executives managing over C$120 trillion in , including BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone President Jon Gray, to pitch more than 160 projects across mining, energy, technology, and infrastructure. The push comes as Canada grapples with escalating and a trade war with the United States, its top trade partner. Carney is leveraging his background from Goldman Sachs and central banking to court alternative from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Major deals from the summit could take 12 to 18 months to materialize as investors weigh long-term opportunities against Canada's history of lengthy project approvals.
Investment Targets and Assets Managed (C$ Trillion)
Surging energy costs and tech sector caution threaten global corporate growth while governments press forward on regulatory and trade policies. Whether elevated fuel prices and hardware slowdowns will derail broader enterprise investment in emerging markets and AI infrastructure unresolved.
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