CryptoQuant’s CEO criticized MicroStrategy for continuing to buy Bitcoin, arguing it is intensifying cash-flow pressure as the company’s USD reserve has fallen 38% since the start of 2026 and annual dividend obligations have risen to $1.2 billion. He said Strategy has $1.1 billion in cash versus $2.8 billion needed to cover 24 months of dividends, while STRC fell to $82.50—its deepest 17.5% discount to par. The note also flagged MSTR testing the $100–$103 support zone, warning that a break below $100 would leave no major support until much lower.

SpaceX has been public for only two weeks, but short interest has climbed to 13% from 8%, representing roughly 83 million shares sold short. The stock is down about 30% from its post-debut peak. Borrow costs remain low at around 1% while utilization has risen to 39%, suggesting active short positioning alongside ample stock available to lend. The shift underscores widening investor disagreement over the company’s $2 trillion valuation and the pace of profit delivery.

U.S. stocks opened higher early Wednesday as chipmakers rebounded sharply, with Micron Technology up about 4%, SanDisk nearly 3%, and the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) up 3% after falling 13%–14% in the prior session. The bounce came ahead of Micron’s earnings announcement and lifted both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. Oil prices slid, with Brent down 3% to $74 a barrel and WTI down 3% to $71, though the move in crude was not cited as the driver of the chip rebound.

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.