Anthropic in Talks to Lease Up to 1 GW of Data Center Capacity, Reducing Cloud Dependency

1. U.S. Stock Futures (Wednesday, September 23): U.S. stock index futures declined across the board. As of writing, Dow futures fell 0.16%, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.05%, and Nasdaq futures dropped 0.24%.

1. European Indices: The German DAX fell 0.75%, the UK FTSE 100 declined 0.08%, the French CAC 40 dropped 0.26%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.41%.

1. Oil Prices: WTI crude rose 0.20% to $90.70/barrel, while Brent crude gained 1.02% to $100.26/barrel.

Market News

Anthropic Seeks to Reduce Cloud Dependency with Direct Compute Capacity

Anthropic is in early-stage discussions to lease up to 1 gigawatt of computing capacity from a data center developer majority-owned by Apollo Global Management (APO.US). This marks a significant effort by the AI company to reduce its reliance on cloud service providers.

According to sources, Anthropic has discussed becoming a direct tenant at facilities developed by Stream Data Centers, where it would deploy TPUs designed by Broadcom (AVGO.US) and Google (GOOGL.US). The company is seeking direct control over computing resources, which could lower costs. Anthropic has also discussed the possibility of Google providing credit guarantees for the project, though it remains unclear which portion of the project Google would back.

SoftBank Launches Record Junk Bond Issuance for AI Investments

SoftBank has launched what is expected to be one of the largest corporate junk bond issuances in history, as the Japanese conglomerate taps debt investors to fund massive AI investments.

One of the world's largest AI investors, SoftBank has begun marketing a multi-part transaction, with preliminary price guidance underway for the U.S. dollar tranche. The issuance aims to raise over $11 billion, including $10 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and €1 billion (approximately $1.1 billion) in euro-denominated bonds. This is the latest in a series of bond market moves by SoftBank this year, intended to help fund its nearly $65 billion commitment to OpenAI and finance further M&A in the AI sector.

U.S. Crypto Regulation: SEC and CFTC Move to Fill Vacuum After Clarity Act Stalls

Just two days after the Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expanded its crypto regulatory rulebook under existing authority. The agency issued an order creating a temporary channel for certain tokenized stock trades, moving financial markets closer to 24/7 trading.

On the same day, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) submitted a crypto rulemaking proposal to the White House for review. Details of the proposal have not been made public, but a notice from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) confirmed that the rules are pending review.

Iran Engages U.S. via Qatar Mediation, Sets Conditions

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei stated that Iran engaged with the United States in New York through Qatari mediation. Baghaei said Iran conveyed conditions to the U.S., including ending the war on all fronts and stopping what Tehran calls U.S. "acts of aggression." Iran's conditions also include ending the maritime blockade and economic war, as well as unfreezing Iranian assets.

Trump Signals Support for Diesel Export Ban, Decision "Soon"

Amid rising diesel prices hitting historic highs and growing speculation about a potential U.S. diesel export ban, President Trump expressed support for the measure on Tuesday. Trump stated he has internally called for a ban on diesel exports and said he will make a decision "soon" on whether to implement it. Treasury Secretary Bessent later said the government is assessing the feasibility of a diesel export ban based on overall U.S. refining capacity and is studying whether a full or partial ban would be more viable.

OECD: AI Boom May Temporarily Offset Middle East Energy Shock

In its interim economic outlook, the OECD projected global economic growth will slow to 2.9% in 2026, slightly better than the 2.8% forecast in June. Looking to 2027, commodity price shocks from the Middle East conflict are expected to weigh on growth momentum, with the OECD forecasting global growth of just 3.0%, down from the 3.1% forecast in June.

The OECD noted that strong AI infrastructure spending this year—from data centers to semiconductors—has become an important pillar of economic resilience, boosting U.S. economic growth and lifting tech exports from Japan and South Korea. However, the OECD warned that the global outlook is particularly vulnerable to energy market volatility, extreme weather from a strong El Niño, surging government bond yields, and disappointing returns on AI investments. If these risks materialize, they could reduce global economic growth by 0.7 percentage points and increase global inflation by 1.1 percentage points next year.

Stock-Specific News

AI Agents "Reshape" Services Sector: Muse Rekindles "Panic," Financial Stocks Hit

The U.S. financial sector fell approximately 2% in a single day on Tuesday. JPMorgan (JPM.US), Wells Fargo (WFC.US), and Charles Schwab (SCHW.US) all posted declines not seen in months. Insurer Allstate (ALL.US) and travel booking platform Booking Holdings (BKNG.US) were also affected. Analysts noted that AI agents can automate price comparisons and bill management, directly undermining business models that rely on "consumer inertia."

Microsoft (MSFT.US) Plans Up to 50% Copilot Discount for Enterprise Customers, Launches AI "Super App"

According to sources, Microsoft executives told sales staff this week that the company will authorize discounts of 30% to 50% on its Copilot AI software subscriptions for enterprise customers who commit to purchasing large numbers of seats and make additional payments based on usage of certain features. These discounts could begin as early as October, coinciding with Microsoft's planned launch of a revamped Copilot super app. The new version of Copilot is expected to launch this week, integrating AI coding tools and OpenAI-style AI agent features into a single application. Some features of the app will be charged separately based on subscriber usage.

"Big Short" Investor Burry Increases Short Positions on Micron (MU.US), Warns of "Sharp Selloff"

Michael Burry, famed for shorting the U.S. subprime mortgage market in 2008, disclosed new trading activity, increasing his short positions in Micron Technology, Dutch AI infrastructure provider Nebius Group (NBIS.US), the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX.US), and Palantir Technologies (PLTR.US), describing the short positions as "significant." Burry expressed clear skepticism about the valuations of memory chip manufacturers, describing their stock prices as "ridiculously high relative to themselves" and predicting a "sharp selloff" once the cycle reverses.

SpaceX (SPCX.US) AI Agent Grok Bot Reaches 400,000 Weekly Users After One Month

SpaceX's AI division, SpaceXAI, launched its AI agent product Grok Bot approximately one month ago, and it has already surpassed 400,000 weekly users, indicating moderate early demand for the product, which is key to Elon Musk's company's AI ambitions. According to a presentation at a London event and attendee reports, Grok Bot had 418,000 weekly users as of September 14, up 24% from the previous week. The latest user data is not yet available. The agent product is distinct from SpaceXAI's flagship chatbot, Grok.

Nvidia and SpaceX Executives Signal Share Sales

According to a Form 4 filing submitted Tuesday, Nvidia director Mark Stevens sold an additional 1.4 million shares on September 18, valued at approximately $300 million, continuing a trend of large insider sales at the chip giant. This latest sale follows Stevens' earlier disposal of approximately $640 million in Nvidia stock earlier this month.

At SpaceX, regulatory filings show that President and COO Gwynne Shotwell filed to sell shares worth nearly $52 million. Another disclosure revealed that an investment account held in the name of President Donald Trump bought and sold SpaceX shares in July.

Qualcomm (QCOM.US) Launches Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Chip: TSMC 2nm Process, Targets Apple A20 Pro with "On-Device AI Agents"

Qualcomm has released its latest chipset for Android phones, tuned for on-device AI and set to compete with Apple's (AAPL.US) A20 Pro in iPhones. In a press release Tuesday, Qualcomm said the new chip, branded "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6," will be manufactured using TSMC's 2-nanometer process and will be adopted by flagship smartphones from Motorola, Xiaomi, and ZTE. Qualcomm is launching two versions, one with additional capabilities branded "Extreme."

Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) Eyes Hair Loss Market as Part of "Post-Wegovy" Growth Strategy

Novo Nordisk is turning its attention to the hair loss market as the Ozempic manufacturer seeks to diversify as part of its "post-Wegovy" growth strategy. "We can leverage our scientific knowledge to potentially enter this area," said Novo Nordisk Chief Scientific Officer Martin Lange, adding, "It's not necessarily the first direction we would pursue, but that would be a clear possibility."

Key Economic Data and Events

• 21:45 Beijing Time: U.S. September S&P Global Manufacturing PMI (Preliminary)
• 22:05 Beijing Time: Federal Reserve Governor Barr speaks on "Housing"
• 22:30 Beijing Time: U.S. EIA Crude Oil Inventory Change (Week Ending September 18)