Jul 10, 2026

Fuel prices rise while Iran sets conditions for US talks

Energy and policy risks stayed the main equity crosscurrents, with refiners favored and airlines, landlords and housing investors exposed.• Fuel/Refiners: Gasoline averaged $3.88 a gallon on July 10 and diesel was near seasonal records, widening refining margins even as crude eased; VLO and MPC were flagged higher, DAL and AAL lower.• Iran/Energy: Fars said Iran will not negotiate unless Washington addresses Hormuz transit and normalizes Iranian oil exports; US officials still expect expert talks to continue.• Housing: The 21st Century Road to Housing Act became law without Trump’s signature, barring institutional investors with more than 350 homes from buying more single-family properties.• Defense/Ukraine: Rep. Michael McCaul said Lockheed and RTX have an interest in letting Ukraine manufacture Patriot interceptors after Trump pledged a US license.

Apple sues OpenAI as US demands Iran keep Hormuz open

After-hours news mixed fresh AI litigation, renewed Hormuz demands and several event-driven single-name reports, with no broad market move confirmed overnight.• AI/Litigation: Apple sued OpenAI in California federal court, alleging trade-secret theft tied to unreleased hardware and naming former Apple employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu; OpenAI denied interest in rivals’ secrets.• Energy/Iran: U.S. officials demanded Iran publicly declare all Hormuz channels open and stop attacks on civilian vessels, while WSJ said the administration is increasingly pessimistic on a nuclear deal.• Semis/Intel: WSJ reported Apple plans to use Intel-made chips for Macs and iPhones as Washington pushes customers toward Intel; the story said Intel shares have more than quadrupled since March 2025.• Deals: WSJ said MGM is reviewing Barry Diller’s $48.30-a-share bid for the rest of MGM, while Elliott reportedly built a large stake in CCCS before its sale exploration.

SK Hynix rises in Nasdaq debut as UAE chip curbs ease

AI risk appetite held up, but credit, energy and commodity crosscurrents kept the tape from looking uniformly bullish.• Semis/AI: SK Hynix opened at $170 and closed up 13% after trading as much as 19% above its $149 ADR price; its CEO said memory shortages may last beyond 2030.• Semis/Exports: The US eased UAE export curbs, allowing qualifying ventures license-free access to advanced computing gear and opening a path for Nvidia and AMD chip sales to G42.• AI/Credit: FT said long-dated AI-linked bonds sold off; Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle bonds now yield about 60 bps more than comparable blue-chip peers.• Energy/Iran: WTI settled down 0.9% at $71.41 on talk prospects, even as the US sanctioned Ali Ansari’s network and Hormuz traffic remained slowed.• Gas: Natural gas fell after Freeport LNG shut for maintenance, leaving more supply in the domestic market.

Oil rises after Trump says Iran ceasefire is over

Geopolitical risk moved back to the foreground, while AI issuance and crypto regulation delivered sharper single-name moves.• Energy/Iran: Trump said the US considers the Iran ceasefire “OVER” but agreed to continue talks; Brent was near $77, slightly higher.• Semis/AI: SK Hynix ADRs were indicated 17% above the $149 offer price, and Chey Tae-won said more US shares are possible if returns and the stock hold up.• Crypto/Banking: Circle rose 11% premarket after the OCC approved Circle National Trust, giving USDC custody infrastructure federal oversight without retail deposits.• Airlines: Delta beat with $1.56 adjusted EPS and reaffirmed guidance, though fuel expense rose 77% to $4.4 billion.• Aerospace: A Ryanair Boeing 737 NG returned to Greece after a window dislodged; local reports said a belted passenger was partly pulled out and survived.

Meta faces EU findings as Apollo tops EasyJet bid

Regulatory risk, private-equity deal flow and AI-listing mechanics drove premarket focus, while product-fuel inflation pressure stayed in view.• Meta/EU: The European Commission issued preliminary DSA findings that Facebook and Instagram use addictive design and weak child protections; fines could reach 6% of global revenue if confirmed.• Deals/PE: Apollo topped Castlelake with a £5.7 billion EasyJet bid and separately agreed to buy a €3 billion stake in Bayer’s contraceptives business; Apollo’s announced acquisitions are near $27.6 billion this year.• Semis/AI: SK Hynix cornerstone investors received about $5 billion of ADRs, $2 billion below indications; Nasdaq futures fell 0.6%, with AMAT, MU, MRVL, INTC and AMD lower premarket.• Pharma: AstraZeneca/Ionis’s Wainua missed a phase 3 primary endpoint; AZN fell as much as 10%, while BridgeBio rose 15% and Alnylam gained 2.4%.• Energy/Inflation: The IEA warned petrol and diesel stock draws exceeded normal rates, while UAE crude output hit a record 4.1 million b/d.

Yen rallies after Japan urges pension funds to buy domestic assets

Asia news skewed toward FX intervention risk, AI regulation and private-credit/property stress, with several single-name U.S. read-throughs.• Japan/FX: The yen rose as much as 0.7% to ¥161.29 per dollar after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama urged GPIF and households to invest more at home; long JGB yields fell about 10 bps.• AI/Regulation: FT said OpenAI and Google sell AI services to Singapore units of Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent despite Pentagon blacklisting; separately, India gave Meta seven days to address alleged child-exploitation ads on Instagram.• Private Credit: FT said UBS helped trigger withdrawals from Blue Owl Technology Income; redemptions reached 15.4% of assets in 4Q and reportedly exceeded 40% the next quarter.• Banks/Property: FT said HSBC is marketing risky Hang Seng loans, including part of $3.5 billion in impaired Hong Kong commercial-property exposure.

SK Hynix prices record US listing as Oracle rating nears junk

AI capital-markets demand stayed firm after the close, but credit and geopolitical caveats tempered the risk-on read.• Semis/AI: SK Hynix priced its US ADR sale at $149, raising $26.5 billion in the largest first-time US share sale by a foreign company; FT said the deal was seven times oversubscribed.• Software/Credit: S&P cut Oracle to BBB-, one notch above junk, citing larger-than-expected AI infrastructure spending; its 2036 bond spread widened to 184 bps from 175 bps Wednesday.• Aerospace: Trump declined immediate tariffs on commercial aircraft, engines and parts, while reports said the FAA could certify Boeing’s 737 MAX 7 later in July.• Oil/Iran: WTI slipped another 0.3% to $71.85 in early Asia as analysts noted US strikes avoided Iranian energy assets; a US official said technical talks with Iran continue.

Tech stocks rise as diesel crunch deepens

Risk appetite improved into the afternoon as investors rotated back to AI and semis, while several sector-specific pressures emerged in energy products, logistics, media and industrial liabilities.• Markets/Tech: The Nasdaq led gains, the PHLX Semiconductor Index rose more than 3%, and ARM, Micron and Marvell outperformed ahead of SK Hynix’s US ADR pricing.• Energy/Refiners: FT reported Russia’s diesel export ban cut seaborne shipments to about 260,000 b/d in June; European diesel premiums reached $60.70 a barrel, a tailwind for refiners.• Logistics/Amazon: UPS and FedEx fell after Morgan Stanley warned Amazon is offering cheaper, faster third-party delivery and could soon add overnight service.• Legal/Chemicals: New York sued 3M, Chemours, DuPont and Corteva over PFAS, seeking remediation, penalties, disgorgement and damages.• Retail: Costco fell 4% after June sales growth slowed to 10.6% from 13.7% in May.

Micron jumps on $250 billion US plan as Williams flags AI inflation risk

AI-linked capex and inflation risk competed with still-fragile energy shipping headlines, while housing data softened and exchange-product plans hit a regulatory wall.• Semis/AI: Micron raised planned US spending to $250 billion, up $50 billion, through 2035 and said it signed a 10-year wafer-supply deal with GlobalWafers; shares rose 6.5% premarket.• Fed/Rates: New York Fed President Williams said sustained AI-driven demand could require a policy response if it keeps inflation meaningfully above baseline.• Energy/LNG: Qatar is pausing a rapid Ras Laffan LNG output ramp after an attack on its Al Rekayyat tanker; Asian LNG spot prices are more than 80% above prewar levels.• Housing: Existing-home sales fell 2.4% in June to a 4.09 million annual rate, missing expectations, while the median price hit a record $440,600.• Exchanges: The CFTC blocked CME’s fast-track plan for 24/7 mini WTI futures.

Oil eases after Trump cites Iranian deal outreach

Risk tone improved modestly as oil pulled back and U.S. futures rose, though the Iran conflict, earnings and drug-trial news kept dispersion high.• Oil/Markets: Brent fell toward $77 and WTI traded near $73 after Trump said Iran had called seeking a deal; U.S. futures rose and Treasury yields were stable.• Iran/Defense: Centcom said U.S. forces hit about 90 Iranian targets; Iran reportedly fired on U.S. bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, and the IRGC threatened wider strikes.• Staples/Earnings: PepsiCo’s 2.4% organic sales growth missed estimates as North American snack price cuts weighed on revenue; adjusted EPS of $2.20 was slightly ahead.• Pharma: AstraZeneca and Ionis said Wainua failed to cut cardiovascular events or deaths in a late-stage trial; AstraZeneca fell as much as 9.4% in London.• Defense: Germany agreed to buy U.S. Tomahawk missiles, though price, quantity and delivery timing were not disclosed.

Hormuz traffic stalls after second day of US strikes

Energy disruption became more tangible as ship-tracking showed Hormuz activity almost stopped, while fresh China data and consumer surveys added cross-asset caution.• Hormuz/LNG: Bloomberg said larger-vessel traffic was nearly absent, commodity transits fell to 14 Wednesday versus a post-deal average of 34, LNG tanker traffic remained halted, and Pakistan sought an urgent July 15-16 LNG cargo after a Qatar shipment was canceled.• China/Macro: June PPI rose 4.1% year over year but fell 0.3% month over month; CPI slowed to 1.0%, below 1.1% consensus, leaving reports split between headline factory-gate inflation and fading reflation momentum.• Retail/Consumer: Deloitte said US back-to-school spending will fall to $557 per child, with households earning over $200,000 planning a 20% cut.• Pharma: Dr. Reddy’s delayed commercial supplies of generic Ozempic after semaglutide batches failed specifications, a positive read-through for Novo Nordisk.