Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🕊️ US and Iran halt attacks before Qatar talks
💥 Trump vows 100% tariffs over tech taxes
📉 Oracle suffers worst week since dot-com bust
🚫 Google caps Meta's Gemini access over capacity
🔓 US lifts ban on Anthropic's Mythos for 100+ firms
Plus: 🌍 6 macro news, 🏢 6 corporate news, 💰 6 deal flow, and 📑 5 research & reports.
📰 Top News
| 🕊️ US and Iran halt attacks before Qatar talks LINK |
- The US and Iran have agreed to stop attacking each other ahead of peace talks resuming this week in Doha over the Strait of Hormuz, ending days of tit-for-tat strikes that strained a fragile truce.
- US equity-index futures climbed and Brent crude jumped as much as 1.9% to over $73 a barrel before paring gains to around $72.40, as energy markets stayed cautious after the two sides backed away from a fresh escalation.
- The Joint Maritime Information Center raised the Strait of Hormuz threat to "substantial" and flagged a potential mine area, while officials say vessels can now move freely through the waterway that once carried a fifth of the world's oil and gas.
| 💥 Trump vows 100% tariffs over tech taxes LINK |
- President Trump on Friday threatened a "100% TARIFF" on goods from any country imposing a digital services tax on U.S. companies, saying via Truth Social the levy would "supersede Trade Deals" whether implemented, signed, or not.
- The digital services taxes are typically structured to apply only to the largest, most established tech firms — U.S. companies like Meta, Alphabet and Amazon — which Trump argues unfairly singles out American tech giants.
- More than a dozen countries have imposed such taxes, and Trump's post singled out "Numerous European Countries" considering them; last year a similar threat led Canada to scrap its proposed version shortly before it took effect.
| 📉 Oracle suffers worst week since dot-com bust LINK |
- Oracle recorded its worst week on Wall Street in 25 years, with the stock plummeting 19% as investors worried about its debt load and whether its all-in bet on artificial intelligence infrastructure will pay off.
- The 19% weekly drop, with declines of at least 2.6% each of the past five days, is the steepest since a 20% plunge in August 2001 during the dot-com bust, leaving shares down about 55% from September's $900 billion peak.
- To meet AI commitments, primarily to OpenAI, Oracle carried roughly $130 billion in debt at end-May, lifted capital expenditures 162% to nearly $56 billion, posted negative free cash flow of almost $24 billion, and plans $40 billion in fiscal 2027 financing.
| 🚫 Google caps Meta's Gemini access over capacity LINK |
- Google has restricted Meta's purchases of its Gemini AI models after the social media company sought more computing capacity than Alphabet's unit could supply, disrupting and delaying some of Meta's internal AI projects, the Financial Times reported Sunday.
- Google told Meta around March it could not meet the full Gemini capacity sought; several other clients were affected to a lesser extent, with Meta hit hardest due to its exceptionally high demand for Google's models.
- The constraints prompted Meta to push staff to use AI tokens more efficiently; Google Cloud revenue grew to $20 billion in the first quarter, but CEO Sundar Pichai cited computing power limits as the cloud unit's backlog nearly doubled quarter on quarter.
| 🔓 US lifts ban on Anthropic's Mythos for 100+ firms LINK |
- The Trump administration has partially reversed its ban on Anthropic's cybersecurity model Mythos 5, clearing it for use by more than 100 named U.S. government agencies and companies after the model was pulled from the market two weeks ago.
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Anthropic chief compute officer Tom Brown on Friday that "appropriate safeguards" now permit "trusted partners" access, including the non-American employees previously barred under the original ban that forbade non-Americans from using the models.
- The directive did not address Fable 5, a more-protected version released days before the ban; both models were pulled after security researchers allegedly bypassed their guardrails, and Anthropic says it is still working to make Fable 5 available for general use again.
🌍 Macro News
- Kashkari now expects one rate hike this year, reversing his prior cut forecast. LINK
- China's central bank injected $44 billion overnight as Bitcoin held near $60,000. LINK
- The EU and three nations joined the US-led Pax Silica semiconductor supply chain alliance. LINK
- BIS warns an AI market downturn could trigger a faster, sharper correction than past crises. LINK
- Trump's Iran sanctions rollback would unwind decades of layered oil trade restrictions. LINK
- Community banks launched a six-figure ad campaign opposing the crypto stablecoin Clarity Act. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Apple is lobbying for approval to buy memory chips from Pentagon-listed Chinese firm CXMT. LINK
- Securitize expects $400 million from its SPAC merger public debut with Cantor Equity Partners. LINK
- Kiwoom Securities is in talks to acquire a stake in South Korea's Bithumb exchange. LINK
- China's Zhipu AI nearly matched Anthropic's Opus 4.8 benchmark at one-fifth the cost. LINK
- Tesla plans to hire 1,000 workers at Berlin Gigafactory to boost output 20% by October. LINK
- BT and Verizon will merge international businesses into a 50/50 joint venture. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- SpaceX attracted $90 billion in orders for its $25 billion post-IPO bond sale. LINK
- Persistent Systems shares fell 9% after agreeing to acquire Germany's Nagarro for €1.27 billion. LINK
- AI holding company Circeus launched with total capital raised exceeding $220 million. LINK
- Quantifind raised $200 million led by Summit Partners for AI-driven financial crime intelligence. LINK
- Italy's P101 and PranaVentures merged into a single €600 million venture capital platform. LINK
- Denmark's EIFO committed €200 million to EQT's €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- Enterprise AI spending pullbacks threaten growth rates underpinning OpenAI and Anthropic IPO plans. LINK
- Goldman Sachs advises shifting AI exposure toward hyperscalers and away from volatile chipmakers. LINK
- Galaxy Digital cut odds of the CLARITY Act passing in 2026 to 50%. LINK
- AI-native startups run 25% leaner than peers yet achieve comparable valuations, study finds. LINK
- Wedbush warns enterprises lack ROI frameworks for AI tools, threatening further deployment. LINK