Morning Highlights: Brent Price Nears $100; Anthropic Calls Off $6 Billion Deal

The price of Brent crude approached $100 per barrel, rising to a six-week high amid renewed exchanges of fire between the U.S. and Iran and concerns about supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz. Anthropic walked away from a deal to acquire the Israeli AI startup Decart for approximately $6 billion after conducting due diligence. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of September 8.

Oil prices rose to their highest level since late July following an exchange of strikes between the U.S. and Iran, according to CNBC. Brent rose 1.5% to $97.7 per barrel, while WTI rose 1.8% to $93.1.

Over the weekend, the U.S. attacked three Iranian oil tankers after Iran fired missiles at two U.S. warships. On Monday, September 7, Saudi Aramco facilities were also attacked, including those in Jizan, where a refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day is located. Responsibility for this attack has not yet been determined.

Anthropic has decided against acquiring the Israeli AI startup Decart following a due diligence review, sources told Bloomberg. The parties had previously discussed a deal worth approximately $6 billion, but no final agreement was reached. The companies may, however, continue to collaborate in other ways.

Decart develops technologies that enable more efficient use of chips and reduce the costs of training and running AI. In May, the startup raised $300 million at a valuation of nearly $4 billion. Anthropic was considering acquiring Decart amid rising computing costs and preparations for an IPO.

The price of copper on the London Metal Exchange rose to a record $14,533 per metric ton, surpassing January’s high, according to Bloomberg. Since the start of the year, the metal has risen 17% in price, and over the past 12 months, it has risen 47%.

The rise accelerated due to expectations that Donald Trump would extend U.S. tariffs to imports of refined copper. In anticipation of the tariffs, traders actively shipped the metal to the U.S., which reduced inventories in other countries. In the long term, prices are also being supported by rising copper demand from data centers, the energy sector, and power grids, against a backdrop of limited supply.

Chris Rokos, founder of the hedge fund Rokos Capital Management, will change his tax residency from the United Kingdom to Greece and open an office in Athens, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. His fund manages about $22 billion, and Rokos’s personal fortune is estimated at approximately $4 billion. In the latest ranking of the UK’s largest taxpayers, he ranked third, having paid £330 million (nearly $450 million).

Rokos has joined other major financiers in leaving the United Kingdom following the repeal of the preferential tax regime for wealthy foreigners and increases in a number of taxes. Greece, on the other hand, is offering relocating billionaires the option to pay a flat rate of €100,000 per year on their foreign income for 15 years, the agency notes.

Canada has imposed tariffs ranging from 15% to 50% on hundreds of U.S. goods in response to Donald Trump’s trade measures, according to Bloomberg. Specifically, tariffs on many types of steel from the U.S. have been raised from 25% to 50%, and tariffs have also been imposed on motorcycles, cosmetics, cheese, and other goods.

The measures cover roughly the same volume of trade as the U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, valued at about $20 billion. Prime Minister Mark Carney hopes that the retaliatory tariffs will force Washington to return to the negotiating table; however, the U.S. is considering imposing new tariffs and restrictions.

— Japan's broad-market Topix index fell 0.6%, while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.15%.

— Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.4%, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index rose 0.1%.

— In South Korea, the Kospi rose 2.1%, and the Kosdaq rose 0.7%.

— Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.9%.

— Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.6%, S&P 500 futures were virtually unchanged, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.6%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor