Headlines · 2026-08-05

Multiple reports say the United States, Iran and Oman are closing in on a 60-day interim arrangement to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with a possible announcement as soon as Wednesday. U.S. officials say talks are still ongoing and no final deal has been completed.

The proposed framework would let inbound traffic move through Iranian waters and outbound traffic through Omani waters, possibly with service fees attached. Iran is also seeking security guarantees, sanctions relief and an end to the U.S. blockade, while some Iranian sources have denied that a “tomorrow” reopening is assured.

The prospect of a breakthrough pushed Brent crude down more than 6% to below $79 a barrel. Hormuz is a critical chokepoint for global oil and gas flows, so any improvement in transit expectations tends to hit the risk premium embedded in energy markets.

Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent all signaled progress, but AP said negotiations are still underway and the final format could still change. Whether Iran’s Revolutionary Guards approve any arrangement remains a key question.

Reuters reported that the Federal Communications Commission is drafting a rule to block imports of new Chinese optical transceiver models used in AI data centers. The measure could be published later this year and, if adopted, would bar future shipments of the new models.

The move would extend a pattern of U.S. national-security restrictions on telecom and data-center equipment. According to the report, the FCC has already moved against Chinese drones, routers, robots and inverters, and the new proposal is meant to prevent data theft, malware insertion or service disruption.

Markets reacted quickly: shares of Lumentum, Coherent and Applied Optoelectronics rose 7%, 11% and 18%, respectively, on the report. The biggest hit could fall on Zhongji Innolight, which Counterpoint Research says has a 27% share of the global data-center transceiver market; a separate report said 90% of its revenue comes from outside China.

The restriction could also increase costs for U.S. cloud operators such as Amazon Web Services if they have to shift purchases toward non-Chinese suppliers. The Chinese embassy in Washington said China would take necessary measures if its interests were materially harmed, while the White House and the FCC declined to comment.

SpaceX reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $7.8 billion, up 92% from a year earlier, while net loss narrowed to $541 million. The company also said AI revenue rose about 247% year over year and Starlink revenue climbed 66%.

It was SpaceX’s first quarterly report as a public company. Reported revenue came in well ahead of the roughly $6.8 billion Street forecast cited by multiple outlets, and the loss was far smaller than the $1.9 billion analysts had expected.

The market focused on spending as well as growth: capital expenditures reached about $18.4 billion in the quarter, with much of it tied to AI infrastructure. Shares fell in after-hours trading as investors weighed the pace of investment against the improved operating picture.

Management said AI revenue is already monetizing and signaled capital spending should remain elevated for the next few quarters. Reports also said SpaceX is targeting at least 1,000 next-generation V3 Starlink satellite launches within a year as it pushes deeper into connectivity and mobile-service ambitions.

Advanced Micro Devices reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $11.54 billion, up 50% from a year earlier, with adjusted EPS of $1.66. Data Center revenue jumped 107% year over year to $6.7 billion, accounting for about 58% of total sales.

For the third quarter, AMD forecast revenue of about $13 billion, plus or minus $300 million, and said non-GAAP gross margin should be around 56%. The company said its Helios rack-scale AI system will begin shipping this quarter and ramp further in the fourth quarter.

The results underscore how much AMD’s growth is being driven by AI infrastructure demand, especially EPYC CPUs and Instinct GPUs. AMD also said Data Center revenue is expected to more than double again in 2027, signaling continued expansion in its server and accelerator businesses.

Shares moved lower in after-hours trading, as investors weighed the strong top-line beat against execution risks tied to product ramp, margin mix and capital spending. The report also keeps AMD in closer comparison with Nvidia in the race to supply AI servers and rack-scale systems.

Palantir Technologies rallied sharply after its latest quarterly report, with shares up as much as 19% intraday and closing around 27% higher at $160.25. The company said second-quarter revenue came in at about $1.94 billion, topping expectations, and raised its full-year revenue outlook to roughly $8.15 billion to $8.158 billion.

The main driver was accelerating U.S. commercial demand. Palantir said U.S. commercial revenue rose 149% year over year to $764 million, while CEO Alex Karp described the quarter as “otherworldly” and highlighted continued traction for the company’s data analytics tools across enterprise and government customers.

The rally rippled across software and AI-linked names as investors reassessed the durability of enterprise AI spending. Palantir also lifted full-year adjusted operating income guidance to $4.89 billion to $4.91 billion, adding to the case that growth and profitability are improving at the same time.

The key figures are consistent across the company’s earnings release and multiple post-earnings reports. The debate now centers less on whether demand exists and more on how long Palantir can sustain this pace of growth in commercial and government markets.

Chipotle Mexican Grill said it removed jalapeños from selected Minnesota stores after learning the peppers may be linked to a salmonella outbreak. Minnesota health officials said 110 cases have been identified in the state, and 75 of 84 interviewed patients reported eating at Chipotle.

The episode highlights how a food-safety investigation can quickly turn into a supply-chain issue for a large restaurant chain. Chipotle said its traceability system helped identify jalapeños as a potential common ingredient from a common lot, and the Minnesota Department of Health said it has no ongoing concerns with Chipotle.

Shares of Chipotle fell sharply in intraday trading, with CNBC and CBS News both reporting declines of roughly 8% or more. The stock move underscores how investors still react quickly to outbreak headlines, especially when a national brand is named in the investigation.

Chipotle said it proactively replaced the peppers with product from different growers and is cooperating with public health authorities. Bloomberg reported that the suspect jalapeños were removed from stores that received the product while the outbreak probe continues.

The U.S. Senate’s push to move the CLARITY Act is running into a narrow pre-recess window. Reports say the bill is absent from the day’s schedule, while lawmakers have only three to four session days left before the chamber breaks for recess. Senator Cynthia Lummis and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong have urged the Senate not to block the measure.

The bill is designed to define how the SEC and CFTC divide oversight of digital assets, while setting rules for exchanges, brokers, custodians and some software developers. At the same time, SEC Chair Paul Atkins has signaled the agency will continue rulemaking even if Congress fails to act this round, suggesting the industry could still rely on regulator guidance for now.

Prediction markets have turned more cautious, with the chance of the bill becoming law this year slipping to 30%, described as an all-time low. That keeps exchanges, custodians and crypto firms betting on a clearer U.S. framework in a holding pattern, even as they lobby for legislative certainty.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said market-structure legislation could still get a vote this week, but the path depends on procedure and support. Lummis argues the bill would protect consumers, bolster anti-money-laundering enforcement and keep the industry in the U.S.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington and Tehran could reach an arrangement as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. crude futures dropped nearly 6% and traded below $76 a barrel after his comments.

Hormuz is one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints. Search results indicate the waterway carried about 20 million barrels a day before the conflict, more than one-fifth of global seaborne oil trade, while Iran says it is only discussing a temporary shipping route with Oman and has denied direct talks with the United States.

The move hit energy markets first, with traders repricing crude, shipping and refining risk. Bessent also said the disruption extends beyond oil to fertilizers, refined products and industrial gases, which helps explain why the market is reacting to any sign of a reopening.

Trump said he had called off a major strike to keep negotiations alive, but Iranian officials continued to deny direct U.S.-Iran talks. For now, investors appear to be trading the prospect of a deal rather than a signed agreement.

U.S. job openings fell to 7.359 million in June, down 178,000 from a revised 7.537 million in May, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The openings rate eased to 4.4% from 4.5%, slightly below the roughly 7.40 million expected by economists.

The decline was led by health care and social assistance, where vacancies dropped by 147,000, the biggest monthly decline in 11 months. Leisure and hospitality, wholesale trade, and professional and business services also posted declines, while transportation, warehousing and utilities added openings.

The report suggests labor demand is still cooling but remains near the balance point policymakers watch closely. Hires rose to 5.348 million and quits increased to 3.232 million, while layoffs and discharges were little changed at 1.766 million.

For markets, the JOLTS data mainly matters through Treasury yields and rate expectations, which can ripple across rate-sensitive equities such as technology, consumer discretionary and health care. Investors typically pair the report with payrolls and inflation data to gauge how much room the Fed may have on policy.

Apple asked a federal judge in Northern California for a preliminary injunction on Monday to bar OpenAI and two former Apple employees from accessing, using or disclosing alleged trade secrets. OpenAI responded publicly, saying Apple’s request was “based on false information” and that it does not have — or want — any Apple trade secrets.

The dispute stems from Apple’s trade-secrets suit filed last month, which alleges OpenAI and former employees mishandled confidential information tied to future products. Reuters and other outlets also reported that Apple’s filing says the investigation has widened to 11 additional former Apple employees, though some are described as witnesses or otherwise involved rather than accused wrongdoers.

For investors, the case matters because it pits Apple’s device ecosystem against OpenAI’s push into AI-powered hardware and future consumer interfaces. The legal fight could add scrutiny to Apple, OpenAI and related hardware partners, but it does not justify any forecast on share-price direction.

OpenAI has denied the allegations in a blog post and called Apple’s lawsuit “careless, aggressive and oddly personal.” Apple, meanwhile, is asking for expedited discovery, preservation of evidence and forensic access to devices and accounts, signaling the case could move quickly in court even if no settlement is near.

NVIDIA has launched Alpamayo 2 Super, an open reasoning model for robotaxis and autonomous vehicles that the company says is now available for commercial use. The model is designed to analyze 360-degree multi-camera footage and produce trajectories, chain-of-causation traces and auto-labels.

According to NVIDIA, Alpamayo 2 Super has 34 billion parameters, roughly three times the scale of the company’s earlier 10 billion-parameter Alpamayo 1.5 and Alpamayo 1 models. NVIDIA also says the model is released under the OpenMDW-1.1 license, which permits fine-tuning, derivative models and commercial redistribution.

NVIDIA said developers can train the model on proprietary fleet data and then distill it into smaller in-vehicle models. That positioning could matter for automakers and autonomous-driving developers looking to compress annotation cycles and build on a common foundation model stack.

NVIDIA did not disclose commercial customers for the model. The release adds to the company’s broader push in autonomous driving, pairing foundation models with simulation, data labeling and deployment tools across its DRIVE platform ecosystem.

ING said Bitcoin’s long-term downtrend remains intact despite a modest rebound from recent lows. The bank sees strong resistance in the $65,670-$69,900 area and warned that a break below $54,450 would trigger another long-term sell signal.

The call comes as Bitcoin continues to trade within a tightly watched technical range, with traders also tracking support near $60,000 and the ability to reclaim higher levels. Separate market coverage has pointed to growing attention on short-term liquidity pockets and derivatives positioning around the current price zone.

For crypto traders, the note matters because it can shape sentiment in BTC futures and options, where leverage tends to amplify moves around key chart levels. Broader market participants are also watching whether price action can overcome the resistance band before sellers reassert control.

ING’s view is a technical market assessment rather than a company statement tied to a corporate event. Other market commentators have also highlighted the importance of August trading windows, but those remain trader observations rather than confirmed facts.

SpaceX reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $7.8 billion, up 92% from a year earlier, while its net loss narrowed to $541 million. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $3.5 billion, comfortably ahead of expectations.

By segment, Space revenue was $962 million, Connectivity revenue was $4.3 billion, and AI revenue reached $2.561 billion, according to the company. SpaceX also said it ended the quarter with about $100 billion of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, plus $47.5 billion in backlog.

The numbers matter because investors are now judging whether Starlink can keep funding SpaceX’s push into AI, data centers and Starship development. Media reports said capital expenditure topped $18 billion in the quarter, with roughly $15.8 billion directed to AI-related investment.

Shares fell in after-hours trading after the report, as traders weighed the heavy spending against the stronger top line. Analysts also pointed to the approaching lockup expiry as a potential near-term overhang on the stock.