Qualcomm said it will acquire AI startup Modular in an all-stock deal valued at nearly $4 billion to build an AI inference software platform that works across different chips and takes on Nvidia’s CUDA. The company is aiming to strengthen its position in the datacenter AI market and reduce CUDA’s developer lock-in. Modular’s software supports chips from Nvidia, AMD and other vendors, positioning it as a neutral layer for AI deployment. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2024.

The United Arab Emirates has formally left OPEC, a move that reduces the group’s projected share of global crude output in 2025 from 35% to 31%. OPEC+’s share is also set to slip from 46% to 42% once the UAE is excluded. The UAE, an OPEC member since 1967 and long the bloc’s third-largest producer by capacity, is leaving amid rising geopolitical risks around the Strait of Hormuz.

Sunrun, Tesla and Renew Home said they reached a 16-gigawatt framework agreement to aggregate distributed energy resources, combining home batteries, smart thermostats and electric vehicles to supply dispatchable power for data centers and the grid. The deal requires no new hardware and is designed to be deployed in months, with Virginia already offering 300 megawatts of immediately available capacity. Sunrun shares rose 19.28%, and Tesla was named as a core partner for batteries and energy dispatch.

Tanker chartering surged after the U.S. and Iran announced a memorandum of understanding, stoking expectations that the Strait of Hormuz could reopen and prompting importers to rush for ships to lift Persian Gulf cargoes. VLCC day rates jumped from about $106,000 to nearly $470,000, with one Persian Gulf-to-India fixture priced at 897% of the MEGIndia benchmark. Some of the largest state-owned refiners in China and India have struggled to secure supertankers because freight is too expensive and safe-passage assurances through Hormuz are lacking. Higher Middle East Gulf rates are also lifting spot freight elsewhere and adding near-term support to crude prices by raising transport costs and regional spot premiums.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as a broad tech selloff weighed on the market, with investors uneasy ahead of chipmaker Micron’s earnings report. The decline intensified after South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service warned about risks in leveraged ETFs tied to memory chip companies, adding to a global chip-stock retreat. Micron’s shares sank more than 13% in the session.

Micron Technology shares rose 3.81% to $1091.80 in Wednesday premarket trading as investors positioned for its upcoming fiscal results. Wall Street expects fiscal third-quarter EPS of $20.76 and revenue of $35.75 billion, implying a sharp year-on-year jump. Options markets are pricing an implied one-day move of about 14% in either direction, according to Benzinga Pro data.

India’s fertiliser subsidy outlay is highly sensitive to international crude prices, and a sustained USD 80–90 a barrel range could add about Rs 70,000 crore to spending in FY27. That would imply a 30–40% increase in the subsidy bill and put pressure on the government’s fiscal deficit targets. The strain could also weigh on nontax revenue and corporate tax contributions linked to oil-sector entities, according to Bank of Baroda.

J.P. Morgan lowered its Brent crude price forecasts for 2026, projecting $86 a barrel in Q3 and $80 in Q4, with an end-2026 level of $78. The bank cited smaller-than-expected draws in OECD commercial inventories and a larger-than-expected decline in oil demand. It also said private operators have largely avoided drawing down stocks, leaving refineries reliant on releases from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The report expects a sizable oversupply in 4Q26 through 1H27 that could force production curbs in early 2027.