Last updated: September 14, 2026, 6:40 AM ET
Energy & Commodities
Oil prices jumped and stock futures fell slightly on concerns that energy supplies from the Persian Gulf would be further diminished by a drone attack on a critical pipeline in Saudi Arabia. Crude hit $108 as Gulf states postponed talks with Iran over Hormuz, compounding the disruption from the Saudi pipeline closure following last week's drone attack.
Oil pushed higher as Saudi Arabia's closure of a major crude pipeline following attacks jolted the market, with the move disrupting a route that has been key to bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. Brent prices were expected to remain elevated in the fourth quarter, supported by persistent disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, rising risks at Bab el-Mandeb and constrained Middle East exports, according to Hong Leong.
Asian refiners are waiting for clarity on cargoes due to be picked up at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu, after the kingdom was forced to close a vital pipeline that serves the terminal. A Houthi offensive in Yemen has put a second corridor in the region under the sway of Iran and its allies, widening instability that squeezes global oil supplies.
Natural gas prices face an extended outage as Strait of Hormuz blockages continue ahead of winter, shifting the market mindset toward supply concerns. LNG prices that have surged since the start of the US-Iran war are unlikely to drop in the short term, according to Chevron Corp.'s Australia president.
The loss of a fifth of liquefied natural gas supply due to the US-Iran war is blowing out costs for Asia's developing markets, forcing a rethink of the fuel's long-term future in the region after a $7 billion gas bill spike. Metlen said a Greek supply deal with Petronas would enhance supply security and meet internal energy needs as well as broader European gas demand.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
A planned meeting for Monday between Iran and several Gulf nations on creating a temporary shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz has been postponed, according to Oman's foreign minister. Talks between the United States and Iran hit a dead end weeks ago, leaving Arab countries struggling to manage their ties to Tehran amid ongoing attacks.
The locomotive of a passenger train traveling from Kyiv to Warsaw was hit by a Russian drone just kilometers from the Polish border on Sunday morning, Ukraine's foreign minister said, as Moscow's air campaign intensified. David Petraeus was at a rail station when a drone hit, and another train carrying former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and other dignitaries had just left, Ukrainian officials said.
President Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has to stop striking Russia's diesel fuel refineries because it is "hurting the world". Trump said Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil refineries — not his war in Iran — were responsible for diesel hitting record highs, a claim that comes amid a global energy shock driven primarily by the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Trump also blamed Ukraine for a global diesel shortage, saying the refinery strikes were hurting the world. Voters in a predominantly Muslim autonomous region of the Philippines began casting ballots in the area's first parliamentary election, more than a decade after a peace deal with separatists ended decades of conflict.
AI & Technology
Equities fell around the world after leaders of the biggest artificial-intelligence firms proposed slowing the technology's development, while an advance in oil prices sapped risk sentiment further. South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi slid as global AI stocks came under pressure and Wall Street was set to open lower on safety fears.
SoftBank Group's shares slid the most in nearly three months after the heads of Anthropic PBC and OpenAI called on developers to tap the brakes on artificial intelligence development for safety reasons. Dario Amodei's 3,800-word letter laid out a three-step plan to rein in artificial intelligence, while the deep schism between OpenAI and Anthropic has led to a race-like dynamic toward ever more powerful models.
Anthropic's Amodei made an urgent call for an AI development slowdown, even as Tesla gains ground in the US market. The debate over the safety of artificial intelligence grew personal as key tech leaders said calls for government regulation were self-serving and misplaced.
President Trump denounced demands for regulation as existential fears over technology moved to the centre of US politics, rejecting calls from tech bosses for an AI slowdown. King Charles will meet with executives to explore how the technology can be used for good, Buckingham Palace said, as alarm mounts from the highest echelons of AI companies.
China's spy agency warned that rapid advances in technology could be used against the country, signaling growing concern in Beijing. During a private fund-raiser, former President Obama warned that the technology could be "dangerous" if not managed urgently and with a clear plan, urging Democrats to center AI oversight in their agenda.
House Speaker Mike Johnson warned on Sunday of competitive risks from China, and Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, said Congress should start regulatory talks this week. President Trump has been at the forefront of the "what-me-worry?" crowd, refusing to engage on how to balance the risks and rewards of AI.
The music industry is targeting AI songs in a crackdown on streaming fraud, as scammers flood platforms with tracks then deploy bots to rack up plays and royalty payments. Cyber criminals are using AI to supercharge scams, with the FATF warning that criminals are switching from vast fraud compounds with hundreds of workers to one or two people working on sophisticated models.
PwC is consolidating its India operations, with the Big Four firm's US and Indian units to pool outsourcing and advisory operations in a 40,000-person joint venture as the AI threat looms over the consulting sector. Self-driving cars could transform urban transport if they can win public trust, with London's robotaxi revolution beginning with Uber and Wayve.
Rates, Bonds & Currencies
The bond selloff has driven a key Treasury yield to the verge of 5%, worsening angst from Wall Street to Washington about the higher borrowing costs hitting the US economy. Central banks will meet this week to decide whether to raise interest rates, with the Fed and BoJ decisions looming as the US bond market struggles.
Stanley Druckenmiller said no US rate cuts are needed, according to a newsletter that also covered credit fund Arini's woes, Franklin Templeton's rebound and the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. Some investors are snapping up New Zealand bonds, betting sluggish economic growth will keep the central bank cautious on interest-rate hikes and extend the debt's outperformance over global peers.
Asian currencies were likely to continue to face headwinds, as tightening global liquidity and higher oil prices keep inflation risks alive, MUFG Bank said. Emerging-market stocks fell as rising tensions in the Middle East drove investors toward safer assets, while uncertainty over the global rate outlook added to the pressure.
Emerging markets have defied war, $100 oil and rising Treasury yields this year, and despite worries of a US interest-rate hike, investors see reasons for this year's rally to keep going. Traders looking to hedge as the equity rally stalls in the face of rising interest rates and oil prices are split between protecting against a fast selloff or a slow grind lower.
Rising bond yields and soaring oil prices have many Wall Street pros looking back a few decades to the volatile period before the dot-com crash, but that doesn't mean they're encouraging investors to abandon stocks. An oil surge has revived the prospect of a Bank of England rate rise this year, with investors expecting the BoE to hold borrowing costs this week but signal a possible increase later in the year.
The oil surge stirred the UK rate rise debate and also featured Sweden's elections and Euronext's openness to a Deutsche Börse merger. UK stock futures rose as oil marched higher, with the FTSE 100 climbing on the energy move.
Metals & Commodities
Copper declined as hotter-than-expected US inflation saw traders boost bets on the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates. Gold steadied — after dropping for a third straight week — as hotter-than-expected US inflation data raised the chance of the Fed hiking rates later this week.
Gold edged lower in Asian trade, with US core inflation data likely strengthening the case for the Fed to raise its benchmark rate at its meeting this week, CBA said. The FCA is considering a bespoke regime that could exempt tokenised gold from fund regulations, as the regulator bids to unlock more of London's bullion reserves as collateral in transactions.
Deals & Corporate
Solar Industries India Ltd. agreed to acquire South African industrial-explosives and fertilizer firm Omnia Holdings Ltd. for 21.8 billion rand ($1.4 billion), seeking to expand in the continent's mining sector. Essar Energy Transition Fuels Ltd.'s retail unit has agreed to acquire UK fuel retailer SGN Retail, a deal that could double its network of fuel stations in the country.
The Essar purchase of 118 UK petrol stations by the owner of the Stanlow refinery comes as BP and Shell retreat from forecourts globally. Michael Dell's family office is leading a $7.7 billion deal to take insurance broker Baldwin Group private, with DFO Management and Sequence nearing the acquisition as the industry undergoes a wave of consolidation.
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA pledged to keep pursuing its twin offers for Banco BPM SpA and Banca Generali SpA even if it gets bought by Intesa Sanpaolo. GE Health Care is in talks over a $1 billion deal for Sofie Biosciences, the maker of cancer scan chemicals, in the second big purchase for the medical imaging specialist after its split from General Electric.
Australian miner GM3 is gauging investor sentiment for a possible bond issue to refinance a $600 million private credit loan, adding to a list of borrowers turning to public debt markets to try to lower costs. Schroders is considering acquisitions to grow its wealth division, with the asset manager that agreed its own £10 billion sale to Nuveen wanting to refocus on very wealthy clients.
Hugo Boss chair Stephan Sturm will depart the board of the German fashion group after clashing with largest shareholder Frasers Group over dividend payments. Senegal raised 101 billion CFA francs ($179 million) in a government securities auction on Friday, its first sale since announcing plans to seek a reworking of its external debt.
The Indian banking regulator's refusal to exempt Tata Sons Pvt. from a public listing rule comes as an unexpected blow for group patriarch Noel Tata, who is already struggling to address leadership uncertainty. South Korea's National Pension Service named Kyuhong Lee as chief investment officer to oversee its $1.4 trillion portfolio, handing him the reins of one of the world's largest pools of retirement savings.
Market Structure & Regulation
Europe's protracted efforts to turn its much-maligned markets into a more attractive proposition for investors reach a momentous juncture Monday with the arrival of a consolidated tape, a single data feed for the region's fractured stock market. Euronext chief executive Stéphane Boujnah's comments on openness to a "big bang" deal with rival Deutsche Börse come as EU officials seek ways to make the bloc's capital markets more competitive.
Haidilao International Holding Ltd.'s sudden slump after its co-founder sold about $350 million worth of shares is putting the spotlight on other stocks that may be vulnerable to similar selling amid a China tax clampdown. China's economy is moving into a period that could determine the course of stimulus through the end of the year, as consumers remain gripped by malaise despite signs of stabilizing growth.
Corporate, Political & Social
Malaysian authorities charged former minister Jamil Khir Baharom for allegedly misappropriating 860 million ringgit ($210 million) from the Muslim pilgrimage fund Tabung Haji, making him the second UMNO leader charged after a probe. President Trump's decision to lift tariffs on Irish whiskey, announced while visiting his golf course in Ireland, was the latest shift in his trade policies.
Trump closed out his weekend visit to Ireland by pledging to rescind a 10% tariff on Irish whiskey at the Irish Open golf tournament. The Trump administration's push to bring US drug spending down is a powerful incentive for pharmaceutical companies to boost prices and reduce access elsewhere in the world, a study found.
Pfizer has targeted air-traffic control fees in a $2 billion dispute with Poland and Romania over unwanted Covid-19 vaccines. The EPA will erase limits on climate pollution from power plants, with generation of electricity the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases in the United States.
Amazon paused operations with 21 Air after a Miami cargo plane crash that has put a spotlight on the carrier and owner Jim Crane, the logistics magnate and owner of the Houston Astros baseball team. A start-up opened a factory a mile from Tower Bridge amid a defence surge, with Isembard saying its 160,000 sq ft facility is central London's largest since the second world war.
Defence sales are testing Europe's appetite for US investment, with owners of defence and technology groups fearing that selling to American bidders will attract opposition from European governments. President Trump's vision of Alaska as an LNG superpower confronts an $80 billion test, with Alaska LNG and Polar LNG facing a series of financing, logistical and legal hurdles to tap massive gasfields.
A Dutch start-up completed a funding round for encrypted silicon technology, with Fortaegis raising $50 million on claims it can create ultra-secure computer networks by harnessing the unique digital fingerprint of chips. Plans to expand an ad ban on "less healthy" foods could hit £1 billion in UK media spending, part of an effort to tackle childhood obesity.
The collectibles market has boomed, with Pokémon cards going from playground craze to serious investment and selling for over $1 million. Chinese-made solar panels on rooftops across the world are changing the facts of life for big utilities, with the technology now described as "offensively cheap".
Ailing luxury developments on Dubai's man-made archipelago reflect strains on the wider real estate sector, as the Middle East war tests the emirate's island dreams. A pressure campaign over Japan's nuclear restart led to data manipulation, a committee probe of Chubu Electric found, throwing into doubt the country's pivot back to atomic power 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.
Media, Culture & Society
The long-running CBS News program returned for a high-pressure 59th season on Sunday, with new correspondents and a refreshed stopwatch marking the start of the Bari Weiss era at "60 Minutes." Celine Dion's long-awaited concert return in Paris highlighted a side of the French-speaking superstar rarely seen in the United States.
Podcaster Steven Bartlett, host of "Diary of a CEO," who has faced criticism over spreading fringe claims, is building a one-stop shop for other creators. The Kennedy Center warned of bankruptcy unless President Trump's name is added to the building, according to a draft resolution to the center's board, as a federal judge decides the matter.
Many Republicans criticized a Texas Republican's racist social media post, some in more direct terms than others. In Pennsylvania, an unvaccinated woman likely died of measles complications, the third reported death linked to a rapidly expanding outbreak that has sickened more than 670 people in the state.
At least six people were killed and more than 100 rescued after a ferry sank in the Java Sea on Sunday, with more than 120 unaccounted for, the authorities said. Angie Nixon, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Florida, faces strong headwinds in a decidedly Republican-leaning state, having been a fighter and an underdog for years.
The midterms dodged their first MAGA bullet after a Missouri redistricting crisis was averted by a court, but it won't be the last. Social marginalization means something different today, as Ella Langley, "Landman" and a rural vibe shift take hold.
Many are complaining about influencers invading Flushing Meadows at the US Open, but their biggest crime is distracting from the glorious chaos that typifies the tournament. The demands of streaming, now how most viewers watch TV, are not suited to just plain old comedy, a shift in the decline of the sitcom that is not funny.
A look at Gen Z fashion on campus shows what's cool. Workers who forgo the traditional career path find there are rewards and challenges to going out on their own.
Opinion & Analysis
Vandalism against food-delivery robots isn't going to slow the technology down, despite the arrival of the AI Luddites. When nonprofit leaders criticize capitalism, they undermine the very system that funds them, as nonprofits rely on wealth from free markets.
Light Helmets is circumventing locker-room gatekeepers and making endorsement deals in a bid for visibility, using "guerrilla tactics" to shake up the football helmet business. Chip Wilson doesn't have a prenuptial agreement, and without one, in Canada, assets are generally split in half, a divorce that could reshape the Lululemon founder's fortune.
The Autonomous Bougainville Government vowed to take action after alleged arson destroyed equipment at a giant Papua New Guinea copper mine that recently began efforts to restart almost 40 years after it was shuttered. Japanese stocks were lower in early trade as uncertainty over the Iran war and the Fed policy outlook continues, with the Nikkei falling 1.6%, dragged by chip and metals stocks.