Top Stories This Morning: Anthropic's $11.6 Billion Deal, Meta's Best Month Yet, and Gold Prices Fall

Anthropic has signed a seven-year, $11.6 billion contract with Akamai for computing power. Gold is set to end the week down about 2% amid rising oil prices and bond yields, as well as expectations of a Fed rate hike. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of September 25.

Anthropic has signed a seven-year, $11.6 billion contract with Akamai Technologies for the provision of computing power, according to Bloomberg. Akamai will provide Claude’s developer with access to central processing units (CPUs) and has also issued a warrant allowing Anthropic to purchase shares in the company. The new agreement complements a $1.8 billion deal the companies signed earlier this year.

For Akamai, this is the largest contract in its history, the agency notes. The company expects to spend approximately $5.5 billion on equipment and infrastructure to fulfill the contract, with the bulk of the expenses occurring next year. Akamai’s stock rose 17% following the announcement of the deal.

Gold is set to end the week down about 2% due to high energy prices, inflation risks, and expectations of further Fed rate hikes, according to Bloomberg. On Friday, prices rose slightly, approaching $4,300 per ounce, but rising U.S. Treasury yields continue to weigh on the metal.

The yield on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds rose to nearly 5.5%—a more than 20-year high. Spot gold rose 0.2% to $4,283.34 per ounce, and silver rose 0.1% to $63.88, but could lose more than 3% for the week.

Meta's stock rose 36% in September following the launch of its personal AI assistant, Muse, which quickly climbed to the top of app store charts, according to Bloomberg. The company's stock is on track for its best month since July 2013, and Meta's market capitalization has approached $2 trillion.

The rise in the stock price eased investors’ concerns about Meta’s heavy spending on AI. The company’s capital expenditures this year are expected to reach nearly $140 billion, compared with about $70 billion in 2025, but investors are counting on new AI products to help accelerate revenue growth, the agency notes.

Oil prices are falling following reports that the U.S. and Iran are discussing a phased agreement in New York to resolve the situation in the Persian Gulf, according to CNBC. Brent fell 0.9% to $105.68 per barrel, while WTI dropped 1.5% to $93.09.

According to Reuters, Tehran may allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to the U.S. naval blockade. The two sides agreed on a similar approach in June, but the deal soon fell through, the TV channel noted.

Oracle Japan's stock jumped more than 7% after the company reported record first-quarter sales and profits, CNBC reported. Revenue for June–August rose 13% to 74.86 billion yen ($472 million), operating profit rose 22.7%, and net profit rose 23.2%.

Revenue from the cloud business increased by 31.7% to 25.14 billion yen, driven by growing demand for data center capacity in Tokyo and Osaka. The company maintained its full-year sales growth forecast of 6–10%.

— Japan's broad-based Topix index rose 1.32%, while the Nikkei 225 rose 1.3%.

— Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.6%, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index dropped 1.7%.

— The Korean stock exchange is closed for a national holiday.

— Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5%.

— Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures remained virtually unchanged.

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