Morning Brief: Iran and Oman Reach Agreements; Nvidia Reported Strong Earnings and Forecasts; BOK Delivers Back-to-Back Hike; Wheat Hits Three-Year High; Putin Moves to Escalate War in Ukraine
Find here our morning brief which compiled the main macro news — released on Twitter — concerning Americas, Asia and Europe.
Americas
Markets
Both Goldman and Citadel’s CTA simulation sees unusually stretched positioning in long-dated Treasuries that could amplify a rally through short covering.
— Lance Roberts (@LanceRoberts) August 26, 2026
This is something we wrote about last week when we made a case for a short-term bond trade.https://t.co/grXLbvHVuP pic.twitter.com/DlqoSP9o1v
The move higher in bonds (lower in yields) comes as @dailychartbook notes in their nightly email that, like BofA, Goldman sees CTAs as meaningfully short Treasuries.
— Neil Sethi NEW account, please refollow (@neilsethinew) August 26, 2026
So short in fact a "jump" in bond prices would see short covering at "the highest on record". https://t.co/ftuNKXX3iD pic.twitter.com/XXtbbeDWPw
Meta Settles With US States For $16.7 Billion Over Social Media Harms To Children https://t.co/ivNtA89Ei2
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 26, 2026
*Focus on AI
Nvidia In Talks To Acquire Hugging Face For More Than $13B – Business Insiderhttps://t.co/e6u2oULpZr
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 27, 2026
Anthropic Y/Y spend growth decelerated in July as user growth slows.
— YipitData (@yipitdata) August 26, 2026
Total customer spend with Anthropic was up ~2,800% Y/Y but decelerated for the first time, while customer growth also decelerated for the 2nd consecutive month. pic.twitter.com/0fvULrY6cG
Anthropic is paying $45B over six years for 460MW of Vera Rubin compute at Nscale’s West Virginia campus.
— Shanu Mathew (@ShanuMathew93) August 26, 2026
Contract economics:
>$45B ÷ 6 years = $7.5B/year
>$7.5B ÷ 0.46GW = $16.3B/GW-year
>Nscale maps the initial 1.35GW to ~430,000 GPUs (PR):
430,000 ÷ 1,350MW = ~319 GPUs/MW… pic.twitter.com/aWDbAJTk7A
Economic Indicators and Prospects
U.S. economy expands at sluggish 1.5% pace in second quarter, but consumer spending stayed strong https://t.co/VFTUNwI6YM
— BNN Bloomberg (@BNNBloomberg) August 26, 2026
July core PCE was +0.25%, which annualizes to 2.99%
— Nick Timiraos (@NickTimiraos) August 26, 2026
This was essentially the same as July 2025, holding the 12-month change at 3.34% (vs 2.86% in July 2025)
Core PCE was 3.0% using a three-month annualized rate and 3.5% on a six-month annualized basis https://t.co/U8dFjdNE4o pic.twitter.com/1srnPvCmpU
The saving rate rebounded in July but remains very low. Standing back, real disposable income has been flat since Liberation Day. If the saving rate stabilizes while income growth remains weak, spending growth will end up slowing. pic.twitter.com/rdo9FFMacW
— Peter Berezin (@PeterBerezinBCA) August 26, 2026
Govt worker wages plunge to just 1.4% YoY, lowest since March 2021
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 26, 2026
Private worker wages dip to 3.8%, lowest since March 2026 pic.twitter.com/CkrGsetNk8
US Durable Goods Orders (M/M) Jul P: 1.1% (est 0.5%; prev 0.5%)
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 26, 2026
– Durables Ex-Transportation (M/M): 0.4% (est 0.6%; prev 0.7%1.2%)
– Cap Goods Orders Nondef Ex Air (M/M): 0.2% (est 0.7%; prev 1.2%; prev R 1.7%)
– Cap Goods Ship Nondef Ex Air (M/M): 1.4% (est 1.0%; prev 2.0%; prev…
Say it with me: GDP upside. pic.twitter.com/O0INl5RNn0
— Jeff Weniger (@JeffWeniger) August 25, 2026
The Atlanta Fed's Q3 real GDP tracker ticked back up to +4.61% as of August 26th, up from +4.03% on August 18th but still down from the +5.83% peak on August 6th, with the gain since the last update driven by the contribution from consumption (to +2.10% from +1.69%).
— Neil Sethi NEW account, please refollow (@neilsethinew) August 26, 2026
As a… https://t.co/zvb2wb8IYf pic.twitter.com/N3X10f30bc
Energy
WTI Rises After Big Product Draws, Tiny Crude Build, SPR Nears 'Tank Bottoms' https://t.co/jA30d2EGxh
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 26, 2026
Monetary Policy
Treasury yields edged higher after a key gauge showed inflation remains well above the Fed’s target, keeping alive expectations that the central bank will start raising interest rates by the end of the year https://t.co/d02CiCa65Q
— Bloomberg (@business) August 27, 2026
Fed reporter Ann Saphir explains how Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's push to lower bond yields is muddying Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's inflation message at Jackson Hole, where he'll address global central bankers https://t.co/LTf9zfQdiZ pic.twitter.com/oLZrMUcUQV
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 26, 2026
Fed’s Cook Denies Wrongdoing As Trump Revives Push To Fire Her – BBGhttps://t.co/WZxqDvPNt1
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 26, 2026
Fiscal Policy
House GOP Leaders Eye Quick Vote On Senate-Passed Stopgap – POLITICOhttps://t.co/wG1NKOZtN1
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 26, 2026
Trade, Politics and Geopolitics
President Trump signed an emergency order that aims to keep some foreign-made transformers and other critical energy equipment out of the nation’s electric grids on national security grounds, according to a White House official. https://t.co/mHoMwHX890
— Bloomberg (@business) August 26, 2026
President Donald Trump suggested he was open to changing federal regulations on beef processing in an effort to boost beleaguered US ranchers https://t.co/iJ44Ja5dU6
— Bloomberg (@business) August 26, 2026
President Donald Trump’s latest trade upheaval is threatening to deepen Republicans’ peril in November’s midterm elections, saddling Senate GOP candidates with another economic headache as the party fights to hold onto its majority https://t.co/XIig1GQpOA
— Bloomberg (@business) August 26, 2026
According to Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, CIA Director John Ratcliffe did not meet with President Vladimir Putin during yesterday’s sudden visit to Moscow, with talks involving an exchange of views between U.S. and Russian intelligence officials which was later briefed… pic.twitter.com/1cUt8dCCSh
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 26, 2026
The US Justice Department and FBI said they disrupted online infrastructure allegedly used by Chinese state-sponsored hackers to target American government agencies and critical infrastructure https://t.co/3tdhdjht6h
— Bloomberg (@business) August 27, 2026
Focus on Middle East conflict
Six months after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, the war that President Trump has called a ‘little excursion’ has become a deeply unpopular stalemate that threatens to derail his presidency.
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 27, 2026
What happens next is unclear but many of the war's probable…
35 port vessels hit in July.
— Jack Prandelli (@jackprandelli) August 26, 2026
22 seagoing vessels hit.
67 port facilities damaged.
More than 90% of Ukraine's agricultural exports pass through the ports around Odesa.
Ukraine's export capacity is down a 1/3.
This is one broken artery out of 6.
The world is short of nearly… pic.twitter.com/lwTd5Pl9aj
Qatar PM To Visit Tehran To Pursue Mediation Efforts – RTRShttps://t.co/TQkaZ8Wwvj
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 27, 2026
Asia/Middle East
Markets
*Focus on AI
Ziphu achieved 3× performance gains and Nvidia level cost parity on domestic Chinese chips for serving GLM 3.5 Flash!.
— Alok (@analogalok) August 26, 2026
The wildest detail in the GLM-5.3-Flash release:
Ziphu used a GLM 5.3 infrastructure agent to write custom GPU kernels, debug bottlenecks, and build an… https://t.co/S4GJN9yjGn pic.twitter.com/S4U4UqK6nU
GLM-5.3 Flash, aka Ox Alpha, has officially arrived. The announcement and benchmarks are up already, and the Pareto Frontier has been redrawn. https://t.co/jVij8PJ5xc pic.twitter.com/Z0Ug3nmnmL
— Andrew Curran (@AndrewCurran_) August 26, 2026
GLM-5.3-Flash aka Ox Alpha is now the best intelligence per dollar choice now!
— Zain (@zainhas) August 26, 2026
> GLM-5.3-Flash – 63% for $0.24/task
> DeepSeek-V4 Flash 0731 – 53% for $0.46/task
> GPT-5.6 Luna – 67% for $0.60/task pic.twitter.com/Lludku1Pzn
GLM-5.3-Flash scores 57 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. At $0.09 Cost per Task, it sits comfortably on the Intelligence vs. Cost per Task Pareto frontier@Zai_org has released GLM-5.3-Flash, a smaller and cheaper sibling to GLM-5.3 at 320B total parameters and… pic.twitter.com/YJRMoU02oK
— Artificial Analysis (@ArtificialAnlys) August 26, 2026
BREAKING: GLM-5.3 Flash by @Zai_org debuts at 6th overall on Design Arena with a preliminary Elo of 1343.
— Design Arena (@DesignArena) August 26, 2026
This places the MIT-licensed, natively multimodal model in the same performance band as GLM-5.3 – and ahead of Claude Fable 5 and Muse Spark 1.2.
At $0.15/1M input tokens… pic.twitter.com/uTMkqGTY49
BREAKING: MiniMax H3 Max sets the new Pareto Frontier for video generation, nearly 50x faster than the base model.
— Design Arena (@DesignArena) August 26, 2026
This model is post-trained by @fal on @MiniMax_AI H3, and it's in a league of its own: no other Image to Video model on the arena delivers higher preference at a… pic.twitter.com/VuGbIe5qu1
Alibaba today launched Qoder, a new intelligent agent workspace built on coding capabilities as its core foundation.#CHINA #AI #ALIBABA $BABA pic.twitter.com/e6lYkpg8i8
— CN Wire (@Sino_Market) August 27, 2026
Economic Indicators and Prospects
Growth in China’s industrial profits slowed for a third straight month to the weakest pace this year, as a cooling economy weighed on production and price gains https://t.co/XPPvSO7zME
— Bloomberg (@business) August 27, 2026
Australia’s household spending rose more than anticipated in July, providing further evidence of solid demand in the economy even after three interest-rate rises earlier this year https://t.co/GTICqVxPxI
— Bloomberg (@business) August 27, 2026
Australia Private Capital Expenditure (Q/Q) Q2: -3.6% (est 0.8%; prev 6.5%)
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 27, 2026
Japan wholesale power prices set to surge 40% on LNG costs, IEA forecasts https://t.co/xHb4RkTMyH
— Nikkei Asia (@NikkeiAsia) August 25, 2026
Monetary Policy
BOJ deputy chief calls for timely rate hike, focus on inflation risk https://t.co/gsl5AG7n3X https://t.co/gsl5AG7n3X
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 27, 2026
Energy
China is making a big bet on green hydrogen that could make or break a fuel long-touted as holding the keys to the global energy transition https://t.co/sbIjrntpd3
— Bloomberg (@business) August 27, 2026
Trade, Politics and Geopolitics
China, India reaffirm border peace, expand communication channels https://t.co/sIztcos929 https://t.co/sIztcos929
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 26, 2026
Europe
Markets
Economic Indicators and Prospects
Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed confidence that Germany will maintain its top credit rating despite record borrowing and said Europe’s biggest economy had prospects to bolster growth. https://t.co/92zSkwhExx
— Bloomberg (@business) August 26, 2026
Sentiment among German exporters improved to a four-and-a-half-year high in August, underpinned by optimism about business with EU partners https://t.co/pRLk9Z6P34 pic.twitter.com/CiIo2JObQH
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) August 26, 2026
Natural gas has overtaken oil to become the biggest concern for European bond traders as depleted supplies of the key fuel threaten a resurgence in inflation https://t.co/BEWv8tFQ1Z pic.twitter.com/ajJa4GEzxm
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) August 26, 2026
Household energy bills are set to reach a three-year high after Ofgem raised its price cap by 4% from October 1st.
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) August 26, 2026
The regulator's decision was driven by higher wholesale gas prices because of the Iran war.
It means the average household will pay £60 a year more if they're not… pic.twitter.com/dkYgeo73VL
UK households face highest winter bills since January 2024 https://t.co/ZuylIja4tx via @EamonFarhat pic.twitter.com/U4DgPo2WrV
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) August 26, 2026
Monetary Policy
Government tells the BOE to boost innovation in digital currencies https://t.co/wIhum1Yj5Q via @LucyGJWhite pic.twitter.com/4pFylpXL8c
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) August 27, 2026
Fiscal Policy
Meloni extends fuel relief as Italian election pressure builds https://t.co/i3JLZHIAGe via @donatopmancini pic.twitter.com/VMu6CPp3qy
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) August 26, 2026
France faces a particularly perilous annual budget battle in the coming months as political parties jockey for position ahead of next spring's presidential election while increasingly anxious investors look for evidence that Paris can regain control of its public finances…
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 27, 2026
Ireland credit rating raised by Moody’s on fiscal strength https://t.co/UwXV0NscGK via @livfletcher_ pic.twitter.com/Js8YWX1KV8
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) August 26, 2026
Energy
Trade, Politics and Geopolitics
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 26, 2026
EU States Revive Plan To Use Frozen Russian Assets For Ukraine – FThttps://t.co/WxJDHbMozP
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) August 27, 2026
Other Areas And Global Economy
*Note: Previous briefs can be found here