A Gulf shipping war took Brent up 9.03% in four sessions and lifted September Fed hike odds from roughly 60% to 86% – yet Friday closed with a broad rally and the VIX down 11.21%, because Iran agreed to meet Gulf ministers. Oracle guided $90-95bn of capex and fell 1.74% while Dell rose 11.98% to a record for receiving it. Amgen lost 15.03% on a rival’s failed trial, dragging Healthcare to -4.70%. Consumer sentiment hit 47.8, the second-lowest since 1952.
MIB Weekly: Stocks Rallied on a Scheduling Announcement, Hike Odds Hit 86% as Households Priced 4.6% Inflation, Dell +11.98% While Oracle Paid, and Brent +9% Left Energy Equities at +1%
MIB Daily: The Market Bought a Meeting, Not a Deal, Rallying Into an 86% Hike as Crude Fell 3%, While Oracle’s Capex Lifted Dell 11.98% and Sank Oracle 1.74%, Sentiment 47.8 Before Wednesday
Hot core CPI (+0.3% MoM) lifted September hike odds to 86%, yet stocks rallied 0.86% and the VIX fell 11.21%. Iran agreed to meet Gulf ministers on Hormuz shipping, sending crude down nearly 3% and ending Brent’s eight-session run. Oracle’s $90-95bn capex guidance detonated AI hardware, Dell +11.98% to a record, HPE +10.70%. Consumer sentiment fell to 47.8, second-lowest since 1952, with one-year inflation expectations at 4.6%. Saudi Arabia shut its only non-Hormuz export pipeline. The Fed decides Wednesday.
MIB Daily: Oil Hit $103 and Markets Sold It as a Rate Hike, With Saudi Output Down 1.9 mb/d and AI Hardware Dumped Ahead of Oracle’s Beat as Friday’s CPI Decides Whether the Fed Hikes Next Week
WTI closed above $100 for the first time since May, up 7.3% to $103.06; Saudi Arabia told OPEC its August output fell 1.9 mb/d. Stocks fell a fourth day as the 2-year jumped 15 bps on near-70% Fed hike odds. The ECB hiked to 2.50%, citing energy. Platinum sank 7%, silver 6.7%, gold 2.3%. Lam, Intel, Dell and Micron fell ~5% into Oracle’s print; ORCL beat and rose ~7% after hours. Apple gained 3.6% on its $1,999 foldable.
MIB Daily: A Rate Hike Cannot Refill a Tanker, Brent $101.61 and Record Diesel Two Days Before CPI, AI Silicon Alone Bid as Ten of Eleven Sectors Fell, and the Sell Side Models 2027 at 4.850%
Brent closed above $100 for the first time since July as Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan — ten of eleven sectors fell, Energy alone gained. Yields rose as stocks fell, the 10-year at 4.850%. Retail diesel set an all-time record two days before CPI. Trump banned Canadian alcohol, dairy and motorcycles. Marvell lifted its two-year outlook to $30bn; Alphabet bought 22 years of Finnish nuclear power. Fed hike odds for next week’s meeting: 61%.
MIB Daily: Bonds Refused to Rally as Brent Hit $99.28, Novartis -13.93% Dragged Healthcare to -2.54%, and Capital Bought the Constraint Again, Leaving Friday’s CPI to Settle a 60% Hike
Houthi strikes halted Saudi energy operations and pushed Brent within a dollar of $100 — stocks fell, yields rose, and that combination says inflation, not recession. Novartis cratered 13.93% on its second Phase III miss in five days, dragging Amgen down 10.08%. GPT-6 Astra’s rollout finished over the holiday and enterprise software de-rated: ServiceNow -4.99%, Shopify -7.57%. Amazon handed Qualcomm a warrant over 25 million shares. Consumer credit smashed estimates; balances hit records. CPI Friday, FOMC next week.
MIB Weekly: The S&P Went Nowhere and Everything Under It Moved, WTI +9.22% With Energy Equities Not Following, SNDK +17.17% vs PANW -10.32%, FICO -16.68% by Directive, September Repriced Three Times, Still a Coin Flip
The September FOMC was repriced three times in five sessions and ended where it started: Barr said hike, Waller said hold, and Friday’s 162,000-payroll blowout against a 56,000 consensus flipped implied odds back to 58-60%. Underneath it, five days of US-Iran exchanges put WTI up 9.22% and took retail diesel to an all-time record $5.850, six days before the CPI on which Waller staked his vote. Technology split in half: Sandisk +17.17% against Palo Alto -10.32%.
MIB Daily: Payrolls 162K Against 56K Bought a September Hike, the President Demanded Cuts Anyway, and Memory Rallied Regardless as Record $5.850 Diesel Leaves One CPI Print Deciding the Meeting
August payrolls tripled expectations at 162,000 and flipped September back to a coin-flip hike — implied odds 58-60%. The selloff was narrow: Netflix -5.35%, Palantir -4.49%, while memory ran hard (Sandisk +11.90%, Micron +6.10%). Tesla -5.92% as NHTSA opened an audit query into how it self-certified the Cybercab. FICO -16.68% after FHFA opened VantageScore to every GSE lender. Retail diesel set a record $5.850 a gallon, +57.6% year-on-year. Novartis’s Lp(a) drug failed after the close; Amgen and Ionis fell harder.
MIB Daily: Waller Cut September Hike Odds From 63.2% to Roughly 50% While ISM Prices Paid Hit 72.6, Gold and Bitcoin Rallied With Equities on One Trade, Industrials Led Into a Tariff Date They Do Not Price
Waller put a September hold on the table and hike odds collapsed from 63% to roughly 50% — the S&P jumped 1.06%, the VIX 5.86%. ISM services beat at 55.4 with prices paid at 72.6, and yields fell anyway. NVIDIA confirmed Hugging Face at $12.93 billion. Iran struck Gulf states a second night; WTI hit six-week highs while Energy finished the only red sector. Canadian retaliation lands September 8. Bitcoin added 5.06% and Palantir surged 7.71% on a PwC alliance.
MIB Daily: Yields Fell and Long-Duration Software Was Sold Anyway, Diesel Runs 54% Above Last Year Into a Split FOMC, and Broadcom Guides $21.7B in AI, So Does 4.818% Hold Through Friday’s Payrolls?
Equities snapped a three-day skid as the 10-year touched 4.818%, highest since November 2023, then reversed; S&P +0.46%, Russell 2000 +1.13%, VIX -6.79%. ADP added just 38,000 jobs before Friday’s payrolls. A judge spared Google’s ad exchange from divestiture. Chevron committed $7 billion to Venezuela as Washington widened sanctions relief. Nvidia rose 3.21% on a re-reported $14 billion Hugging Face deal. Uber cut 10% of staff as Delivery Hero backed its bid. Diesel closed 12.8 cents below its all-time high.
MIB Daily: The Hedges Failed at the Moment of the Crisis, Gold -2.39% and Treasuries Sold Off as WTI Jumped 5.82% to $90.75, Debt-Financed AI Lost 5-7%, and Soft JOLTS Left Hike Odds at 66% Into Friday’s Payrolls
US forces struck IRGC targets inside Iran; WTI jumped 5.82% to $90.75 and Energy was the only green sector of note. The 10-Year hit a one-year high of 4.799% and gutted software — Oracle -5.23%, CrowdStrike -6.90%. Soft JOLTS and a cooling ISM left September hike odds at 66%. Gold fell 2.39%; the safe-haven bid never came. Anthropic signed a $35 billion cloud deal with Nvidia-backed Lambda. A judge let the shale price-fixing case proceed against Exxon, EOG and Occidental.
