The Thai-flagged bulk carrier Mayuri Nary is seen stranded off the coast of Iran’s Qeshm Island on September 11, 2026, after being hit by a missile near the Strait of Hormuz during the offensive launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28.
Fatemeh Bahrami | Anadolu | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Anique Bao from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
With Washington’s pledge not to attack Iran again before the November 3 midterm elections, the world will be watching closely to see what happens next. Oil traders may be right to remain cautious and keep crude oil above $108 a barrel as the US and Israel reportedly make follow-up plans.
On the other hand, there are also the Starlink investigation organization, which President Trump has said he was not involved in and does not know who was involved, and the PHP flaw that has caused government websites in Europe and other countries to go offline.
What you need to know today
The US government has said it has no plans to resume attacks on Iran before the November 3 midterm elections, but an escalation may not take long after that. The New York Times reported that both the U.S. and Israeli militaries are planning new strikes after the election, targeting energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenals, citing U.S. officials and people briefed on the plans.
Meanwhile, oil prices remain above $108 per barrel, and gas prices in Asia and Europe are at multi-year highs, potentially weighing on household budgets for a long time.
Russia, the world’s second-largest diesel supplier, came under heavy drone attacks from Ukraine this week, damaging critical oil infrastructure, but Kiev is widening its focus to prevent the Kremlin from increasing diesel exports. Kyiv also ended its brief observance of an energy ceasefire that President Trump unilaterally declared earlier this month. Moscow ignored the ceasefire agreement from the beginning.
starlink whodunnit
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are both suspected of being behind Ukraine’s Starlink slowdown. The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Musk has ordered the speed of the version of Starlink that Russia relies on in its war with Russia to be slowed down.
Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump, who have recently criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, discussed the move “immediately” after it became public, two people familiar with the matter told the Journal. But Trump denied any role. “I don’t know who did it, but I was not involved,” he said as he left the White House for a campaign rally in South Carolina.
SpaceX stock outperformed profits and rose as much as 10% as Musk hinted at a partnership. tesla. Meta and Tesla options trades were bullish ahead of Wednesday’s trading report, with Meta having more calls than puts.
meta Mark Zuckerberg has committed to remain a resident of California or live where Meta is headquartered for eight years, according to the company’s filing. The pledge is part of the company’s creation of a new class of non-voting Class C shares, which can only be transferred in the event of “material unforeseen circumstances.”
Anthropic has announced a preview of Claude Duet, an AI agent that runs in the background and asks for approval before sending messages or making payments, potentially rivaling OpenAI’s Dots and Meta’s Muse. Aimed at small businesses and professionals, it lets you send daily summaries, monitor connected apps, build dashboards, schedule meetings, and create financial forecasts.
AI hazard
As AI and jobs become new hot topics for central bankers around the world, eBay announced that it will be cutting about 1,000 jobs, or about 9% of its workforce, for the second time this year as it streamlines its operations and focuses on its fastest-growing areas. The company said it would continue hiring in “priority areas consistent with our strategy.”
Meanwhile, government websites in Europe and elsewhere were taken offline on Wednesday after developers of the PHP programming language disclosed two critical vulnerabilities and urged users to update. The revised version was reportedly released by around 1:45 p.m. Japan time.
South Korea is expected to keep interest rates unchanged in Thursday’s decision, as the central bank focuses on curbing inflation while growth remains strong.
— Anique Bao
And finally…
BlackRock’s Rick Rieder sees ‘historic’ opportunity in high-quality bonds
Investors may be wary of the volatility currently impacting parts of the bond market, but they have a “historic” opportunity to earn attractive yields on high-quality credit, Rick Rieder said. black rock Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Global Fixed Income, spoke in an exclusive interview with CNBC.
He said investors could now build a diversified portfolio with a duration of less than three years, a yield of 7% or more, and an average credit rating of A-. Duration is a measure of a bond’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates, and bonds with shorter maturities tend to have shorter durations.
“These yields are not only historic in that they are where they are, but the only time they’re going to be this high is if there’s some sort of problem, whether it’s an economic problem or a default problem,” Rieder said in an interview about his outlook for the fourth quarter.
— Michelle Fox
