American and Chinese flags are flown on U.S. President Donald Trump’s motorcade as he visits the National Archives with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, D.C., September 25, 2026.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Anique Bao from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
The ink is barely dry on President Trump and Mr. Xi extending their trade ceasefire, and markets are busy turning the page on a possible US-Iran deal that could end the Middle East war.
With U.S. Treasury yields at their highest levels since 2007 and oil prices creeping higher due to the Iran standoff, investors once again find themselves in a guessing game.
What you need to know today
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington appears to have produced more personal diplomacy than a breakthrough.
The United States and China agreed to lower tariffs on $30 billion worth of products and began dialogue on AI. The tariff cuts will apply to U.S. exports such as agricultural products, lumber and cosmetics, as well as U.S. imports such as small appliances, toys and decorative items, according to a White House statement.
However, the deal appears to fall short of specific purchase commitments, and the two-month extension of the trade cease-fire appears to be slightly more muted than analysts’ pre-summit expectations of at least six months.
“We didn’t reach a complete agreement on everything,” said Peter Alexander, managing director at Shanghai-based Z Ben Advisors, describing the post-summit relationship as “a rocky relationship where neither side is willing to make concessions, at least for now.”
Regarding the Middle East conflict, Mr. Xi and US President Donald Trump agreed that Iran should honor its promise not to develop nuclear weapons and that no country or entity should impose tolls on international waterways.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Iran is ready for “a final war” with the United States, but is still moving forward with diplomacy to “never miss a chance for peace.”
The remarks came days after Aragushi proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear negotiations within seven days if the United States accepted Iran’s terms. Since late February, the belligerent powers have been at war again and again, and the war continues. This war has put a lid on the world’s oil supply and is accelerating inflation.
The conflict could potentially escalate into an incident on British soil. British police on Sunday arrested five men on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offenses after receiving information that three airfield-bound vans were spotted near a Royal Air Force base used in the US attack on Iran.
In the market, stock futures fell on Sunday night as U.S. Treasury yields rose to their highest level since 2007 following a strong week. Brent crude oil topped $107 a barrel and U.S. crude oil futures for November delivery rose to $94.14 a barrel on news that President Trump has rejected peace terms with Iran.
As borrowing costs rise, the cost of financing the buildout of already historic AI infrastructure is becoming even more expensive.
Profits at China’s big industrial companies grew at the weakest pace this year, rising just 4.2% in August from a year earlier, as the economy becomes increasingly polarized between high-tech and consumer-related sectors.
$27 billion “No, thank you”
Australia’s Northern Star Resources has rejected an unsolicited A$38.7 billion ($27.1 billion) takeover offer from South Africa’s Gold Fields, with chairman Michael Cheney saying the offer was “highly opportunistic” and well below the company’s “fundamental value.”
The offer of 0.3125 Gold Fields shares and A$7.25 in cash per share represented a premium of just 14%, below the approximately 30% typically expected by Australian boards. Northern Star stock soared more than 10% following the rejection. Activist investor Elliott Management, which owns a 5.6% stake, has been pressing the miner for strategic options for months.
Meta comes to the subscription economy
meta’s new AI agent, Muse, lets users book flights and track forgotten subscriptions buried in credit card statements, without users ever touching a results page. This is exactly googleThis is because once a reservation is completed within the Assistant, the page where Google sells ads will be skipped.
With the launch this month of Meta Muse, an AI personal agent that can handle tasks across multiple areas of personal life, it quickly became clear that subscription bloat was an easy target. Muse helps consumers identify and cancel subscriptions.
First real shot of Starship in orbit
space x is scheduled to launch Starship into its first full-scale orbit as early as Monday morning, carrying 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites from Starbase, Texas.
All of Starship’s tests to date have flown in suborbital arcs ending in controlled splashdowns. This flight — Ship 41 on top of the superheavy booster B21, with a stack height of 124 meters — is the company’s first attempt to actually reach orbital speed. SpaceX is flying under FAA flight restrictions through Oct. 7, leaving room for another try if Monday doesn’t go as planned.
— Anique Bao
And finally…
Analysis of the Trump-Xi summit: “Concrete results” are needed to maintain the U.S.-China ceasefire
The summit was President Xi’s second state visit since 2015. President Trump personally welcomed President Xi at the airport in a very unusual gesture, and more than 100 people, mainly from the U.S. government and business, attended Xi’s state dinner.
But little progress was made, including extending the trade ceasefire for a much shorter period of two months than expected.
“I’m concerned that this kind of diplomacy and this fragile détente is really unsustainable, unless it produces more tangible results, unless it somehow addresses the strategic challenges that are evident across the relationship, from the strategic relationship to the economy,” Daniel Kritenbrink, a partner at consulting firm Asia Group, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
— Evelyn Chen
