Monday Briefing: Oil, Chips, and the Foldable iPhone

Macro: Oil Back in Focus

Crude is closing in on $100 a barrel. Saudi Aramco facilities near the Yemeni border took fresh strikes overnight. Traders warn "something has to break" as shipping attacks and eroding inventories squeeze supply. The move is dominating macro sentiment this morning and adds fresh risk-off pressure to equities.

The yen surged to a six-month high below ¥154 per dollar. Traders are watching closely for Japanese intervention signals.

US Highlights: Tech Earnings and Bearish Bets

Thursday is the week's centrepiece. ORCL and ADBE both report after the bell on September 10. Oracle's Q1 FY2027 cloud numbers and Adobe's AI monetisation progress are the two questions investors want answered.

AAPL foldable iPhone buzz is building. Short interest sits at just 0.8% of free float — bears are nowhere near this name. Options traders are buying calls to position for a major product cycle.

CHWY tells the opposite story. Short interest hit 51.5% of free float, up from 46.4% last week. Bears are not buying any pet-retail recovery. XPEV made headlines for a different reason — the EV maker rolled its first humanoid robot off a production line today.

On the analyst desk, ETN earned a consensus upgrade. AMD saw its average target price nudge lower to $612.62. NVDA received another target increase, pushing the consensus to $327.65.

Bill Gates filed $927M in RSG purchases. An NVDA director filed $411M in sales — worth watching for 10b5-1 plan details.

Europe: Defense and Energy Lead

European defense stocks rallied after Ukraine ratified a $105 billion EU loan deal. Dulux maker AKE soared after rejecting a $14.5 billion takeover bid. Oil names are catching a bid on the crude supply crunch.