Top Stories This Morning: U.S. and Iran Sign Peace Agreement, Fed Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged, Apple to Raise Prices

Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum paving the way for the drafting of a peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran. The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive time, reinforcing signals of a possible rate hike this year. Meanwhile, Apple warned that it would raise prices due to higher costs for memory modules. These and other topics are covered in our roundup of key events as of the morning of June 18.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding that is intended to serve as the basis for drafting a permanent peace agreement between the two countries, according to CNBC. The 14-point document calls for an end to Israeli military operations in Lebanon, the full opening of the Strait of Hormuz for at least 60 days, and negotiations on the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles.

The signing drew criticism from a number of Republicans. Senators Bill Cassidy and Tom Tillis stated that the agreement does not eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat and is too costly for the U.S. Trump himself joked that if the deal succeeds, he will take all the credit, but if it fails, he will blame U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.

The U.S. Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at 3.5–3.75%, but the updated forecast from Fed officials pointed to a growing likelihood of a rate hike by the end of the year, according to CNBC. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh reaffirmed the central bank’s commitment to fighting inflation, emphasizing the importance of price stability—a message the market interpreted as a hawkish signal: Yields on two-year U.S. Treasury bonds rose sharply, while stock indices fell.

At the same time, Warsh announced the creation of five working groups to review the Fed’s approaches to communication, its balance sheet, the data it uses, the impact of artificial intelligence, and its inflation-targeting policy. He also declined to publish his own interest rate forecast and drastically reduced the length of the regulator’s statement, the TV channel notes.

Apple may raise prices on its devices due to a sharp rise in the cost of memory chips and storage devices, driven by a boom in the construction of AI data centers, according to The Wall Street Journal. CEO Tim Cook said that memory manufacturers are passing on significant cost increases to customers, while the availability of components for consumer electronics is shrinking amid growing demand from the artificial intelligence market.

According to Cook, Apple has long held back price increases for consumers, but the current situation has become “unsustainable.” The company is considering using its financial resources to support the expansion of memory production, but has no plans to build its own factories to manufacture such components. The Apple CEO did not specify which devices would be affected or by how much their prices would increase.

Noam Shazir, Google’s vice president of engineering and one of the leaders of the Gemini family of AI models, has announced that he is joining OpenAI, according to CNBC. He said the decision was not an easy one and thanked the Google team for their collaboration and achievements in the field of artificial intelligence.

Shazir returned to Google less than two years ago as part of a deal involving Character.AI, the startup he founded. His departure underscores the intensifying competition among major tech companies for top AI talent, the TV channel notes. The move came shortly after the announcement of the new Gemini products and as OpenAI prepares for one of the most anticipated IPOs in the tech sector.

India's largest stock exchange, the National Stock Exchange, has filed for an IPO that could be one of the country's largest offerings this year, according to CNBC. The offering will take the form of a secondary offering: a number of major investors, including the State Bank of India, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Temasek, will reduce their stakes. The exchange controls about 93% of India’s spot stock market and nearly the entire stock futures market, serving more than 129 million registered investors.

The NSE listing comes amid a gradual recovery in the Indian IPO market following a decline in activity due to the conflict in the Middle East. An additional driver could be the anticipated IPO of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s telecommunications division, which, according to media reports, could raise about $4 billion. Investment bankers estimate that the combined amount raised through the NSE and Reliance Jio IPOs could exceed $6.3 billion, accounting for nearly one-third of the total funds raised in the Indian IPO market last year.

Less than a week after its record-breaking IPO, SpaceX appointed Rulof Bota—a former managing partner at Sequoia Capital and longtime associate of Elon Musk—to its board of directors, according to CNBC. Bota, who worked with Musk back at PayPal, has also joined the company’s audit committee. Sequoia is one of SpaceX’s largest investors and holds a stake of about 1.5%, which is valued at approximately $35 billion following the IPO.

The appointment came as Musk tightened his grip on the company: following the IPO, he retains more than 82% of the voting rights, leaving minority shareholders with limited ability to influence management. Bota stepped down from his leadership role at Sequoia last year amid internal disagreements and criticism directed at the fund’s management.

— Japan's broad-based Topix index rose 1.4%, while the Nikkei 225 rose 1.8%.

— Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.9%, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index rose 0.5%.

— In South Korea, the KOSPI index rose 1.8%, while the KOSDAQ fell 3%.

— Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%.

— S&P 500 futures rose 0.7%, Nasdaq Composite futures rose 1.2%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.5%.

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