Drone footage of ships in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, on June 15, 2026.
Stringer | Reuters
Hello, my name is Leonie Kidd and I’m from London. Welcome to today’s Daily Open Newsletter.
Geopolitical developments dominated the news flow over the weekend, with the flare-up of tensions in Iran rapidly easing.
But the market may need to be convinced that the ceasefire can indeed hold, as negotiations are stop-start at best.
What you need to know today
The United States and Iran have reached a new agreement to cease hostilities after fresh fighting continued between the two countries over the weekend.
In military exchanges, the United States struck Iranian military targets in response to Iran’s recent attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
But on Sunday, the U.S. and Iranian governments agreed to suspend hostilities, resume commercial shipping through the strategic waterway and resume technical talks toward a peace deal.
A U.S. official told CNBC on Sunday that “technical discussions will continue on all areas under the memorandum of understanding.” “For the time being, both sides have stopped and ships can sail freely.”
While U.S. stock futures are slowly rising, trading across Asia is mixed and Europe is expected to start trading subduedly. Oil prices have once again exceeded $70 per barrel due to concerns about the fragility of peace negotiations.
Central banks will take center stage this week in Sintra, Portugal, where the European Central Bank will host its own Jackson Hole. Later in the day, ECB President Christine Lagarde will open the event with an opening speech. CNBC will also be participating in the event, and be sure to tune in for Wednesday’s headline panel, moderated by Sarah Eisen.
The meeting comes as the Bank for International Settlements warns that pressures on the sustainability of the AI boom, from rising public debt to fiscal vulnerabilities, are increasing global risks and stressing the need for disciplined policy-making.
In technology news, SK Hynix The group reversed deep losses and returned to profit after it announced multitrillion-dollar investment plans to build new factories alongside Samsung. Meanwhile, tensions are rising between Google and Meta after the Alphabet group announced restrictions on the social media giant’s use of its AI tool Gemini. According to the Financial Times.
— Leonie Kidd
And finally…
The AI boom is colliding with a new threat: Severe weather.
As Europeans scramble to stay cool during a record heatwave, Big Tech companies are facing a unique battle to keep the powerful chips in their AI data centers running.
This week’s temperatures have highlighted the impact weather can have on infrastructure such as factories, nuclear power plants and data centers. The extra demand from air conditioning units can overload the power grid and cause power outages that disrupt infrastructure. And it’s not just Europe.
Over the past three years, severe weather has been the leading cause of losses in the risk portfolio of Zurich’s US data center builder. Patrick McBride, Zurich’s head of international construction, told CNBC that this now accounts for a third of the company’s losses.
— April Roach
