Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🛢️ Oil tops $90 after US strikes Iran
🍎 John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO
📌 US takes majority control of Venezuela's oil
💸 Stripe and Advent drop $53B PayPal bid
❌ OpenAI cuts off Cursor after SpaceX deal
Plus: 🌍 9 macro news, 🏢 10 corporate news, and 📑 6 research & reports.
| 🛢️ Oil tops $90 after US strikes Iran LINK |
- Crude climbed above $90 a barrel after U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, ending a month-long lull and reviving fears of disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf's main oil-export route.
- Roughly 7 million barrels a day were still moving through the strait last week under U.S. Navy escort via the Omani corridor, but analysts expect flows to drop in coming days, driving prices higher, after the latest strike unsettled commercial shipping.
- Rather than confront U.S. forces directly, Iran is expected to retaliate through proxies and pressure on energy flows, with Yemen's Houthis restricting the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint and Somali piracy resurfacing, five vessels now held, including a tanker seized August 20.
| 🍎 John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO LINK |
- Apple is handing the CEO role on September 1 to hardware engineering chief John Ternus, ending Tim Cook's tenure that began in 2011, in one of the company's biggest leadership changes in years.
- Cook won't leave, becoming executive chairman and keeping charge of Apple's relationships with the White House and China's government, ties that matter as the company handles trade policy, regulation and supply-chain pressures.
- Ternus, a 20-year Apple veteran who has run hardware engineering since 2021, could shift product direction as the company faces rising component costs and smartphone competition while defending its high-end pricing.
| 📌 US takes majority control of Venezuela's oil LINK |
- The US has secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves, President Trump said Friday, extending Washington's reach over the country's energy sector following the ouster of Nicolás Maduro.
- A joint venture between the US government and a Venezuelan private operator will receive a 100-year lease to develop 17 oil fields, a deal Venezuela's acting president said could attract billions of dollars in investment.
- The arrangement clears the way for US oil majors to return, with Chevron and others now nearing billion-dollar deals, though critics across Venezuela's political spectrum question its legality and warn it could erode national sovereignty.
| 💸 Stripe and Advent drop $53B PayPal bid LINK |
- Stripe and private equity firm Advent have abandoned their roughly $53 billion bid for PayPal, walking away from what would have been the largest fintech takeover on record.
- PayPal shares fell as much as 16% from Thursday's $61.47 close, after its board rejected the $60.50-a-share offer as too low despite a 28% premium and refused to formally respond, prompting the suitors to exit.
- The collapse strips out the deal premium that helped drive PayPal's 40%-plus quarterly gain, leaving its market value near $52.6 billion, up from about $36 billion earlier this year but far below its 2021 peak of roughly $360 billion.
| ❌ OpenAI cuts off Cursor after SpaceX deal LINK |
- OpenAI will cut off AI model access to coding-tool maker Cursor by November 12, 2026, after the startup's parent, Anysphere, was bought by Elon Musk's SpaceX, escalating Musk's long-running feud with OpenAI's Sam Altman.
- OpenAI said it triggered a contract clause allowing cancellation after "a change of control," citing an inability to trust that SpaceX will follow its terms, referencing past contract violations by Musk's companies including X.
- Anthropic, which already partners with SpaceX, said it will boost computing power for its Claude models inside Cursor, offering an alternative supplier after SpaceX's $60 billion all-stock purchase of Anysphere closed this month.
🌍 Macro News
- Dollar hovers near two-week high on hawkish Fed rate-hike bets. LINK
- Bailey warns advanced AI models threaten global financial stability via cyber-risk. LINK
- US-Canada tariff fight escalates with new duties and retaliatory measures. LINK
- US regulators narrow bank supervisory scrutiny to material financial risks only. LINK
- French borrowing costs hit 2008 highs amid renewed budget turmoil. LINK
- China's factory activity contracts again in August, missing growth threshold. LINK
- US Treasury cuts off Banque Misr's UAE unit over Iran ties. LINK
- India to train 100,000 more chip engineers under Semicon 2.0. LINK
- Appeals court says states can regulate prediction markets as gambling. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Music publishers sue Anthropic over alleged copyright infringement in AI training. LINK
- Shein founder loses over $15 billion after discounted Hong Kong IPO. LINK
- SpaceX to build turbines in-house to speed AI data-center power. LINK
- Apple raises Apple TV and Apple One subscription prices in US. LINK
- Jio Platforms gets approval for potentially India's largest-ever IPO. LINK
- Aon nears $17 billion deal to buy USI from KKR. LINK
- BYD shares fall as first-half profit drops on price war. LINK
- Andreessen Horowitz raises $1.1 billion fund for AI hardware buildout. LINK
- China's CXMT posts strong profit swing as chip revenue surges. LINK
- Canada lends Xanadu record C$195 million for quantum computing plant. LINK
📈 Stocks
| ▲ Biggest winners |
| ServiceNow rose 5% after Bank of America raised its price target to $150. LINK |
| Elastic rose 19% after Q1 revenue beat $478M vs $470M estimate and raised full-year guidance. LINK |
| Solstice Advanced Materials rose 13% after terminating its $14.5 billion merger with Element Solutions and authorizing a $500 million share repurchase program. LINK |
| ▼ Biggest losers |
| IREN fell 13% after reporting a $702.6 million net loss including $638.8 million in mining equipment impairments. LINK |
| Tempus AI fell 9% after FDA clearance for Tempus ECG-PH. LINK |
| Rubrik fell 13% after net new Cloud ARR grew only 20% year-over-year. LINK |
📑 Research & Reports
- Nearly a third of firms build AI software in-house, McKinsey finds. LINK
- BIS chief says tokenized bank deposits outperform stablecoins as digital money. LINK
- Big tech increasingly funds AI expansion through euro-denominated bond issuance. LINK
- Goldman doubles refining profit forecasts on looming global diesel shortage. LINK
- BofA says Asia-Pacific leads shift toward real-time cross-border payments. LINK
- AI hardware demand now fuels US inflation as much as tariffs. LINK