The Thailand-flagged bulk carrier ‘Mayuree Naree,’ which was struck by a missile near the Strait of Hormuz during attacks launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28, is seen stranded off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, on September 11, 2026.
Fatemeh Bahrami | Anadolu | Getty Images
Hello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
Washington’s pledge not to strike Iran again before the Nov. 3 midterms has the world watching for what comes after. Oil traders may be right to stay cautious, keeping oil above $108 a barrel as the U.S. and Israel have reportedly drawn up plans for afterward.
Meanwhile, there’s a Starlink whodunit, with Trump saying he wasn’t involved and doesn’t know who was, and a PHP flaw that knocked government websites in Europe and elsewhere offline.
What you need to know today
Washington says it has no plans to renew strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterms, but escalation may not wait long after that. The U.S. and Israeli militaries have drawn up plans for renewed strikes once the election is over, targeting energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, as well as missile and drone arsenals, The New York Times reported, citing U.S. officials and people briefed on the plans.
Meanwhile, oil prices staying above $108 a barrel and gas prices in Asia and Europe at multiyear highs could weigh on households for longer.
Russia, the world’s second-largest diesel supplier, took heavy drone attacks from Ukraine this week that damaged key oil infrastructure, as Kyiv widens its targets to keep the Kremlin from raising diesel exports. Kyiv has also ended its brief adherence to the energy ceasefire Trump declared unilaterally earlier this month. Moscow ignored the truce from the start.
Starlink whodunit
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have both been suspected of being behind Ukraine’s Starlink slowdown. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered the slowdown of a version of Starlink that the country relies on in its war with Russia.
Musk and Trump, who have both recently criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, discussed the move “soon after” it became public, two people told the Journal. Trump however has denied any role. “I don’t know who did it, but I was not involved,” he said as he left the White House for a campaign rally in South Carolina.
SpaceX shares jumped as much as 10% after an earnings beat, and Musk hinted at a tie-up with Tesla. Options trading in Meta and Tesla leaned bullish ahead of their reports Wednesday after the close, with Meta seeing more calls than puts.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg has committed to remaining a California resident, or living wherever Meta is headquartered, for eight years, according to a company filing. The pledge is part of the company’s creation of a new class of non-voting Class C shares and allows relocation only under “material unforeseen circumstances.”
Anthropic announced a preview of Claude Duet, an AI agent that works in the background and seeks approval before sending messages or making payments, and may take on OpenAI’s Dots and Meta’s Muse. Aimed at small businesses and professionals, it can send daily briefs, keep tabs on connected apps, and build dashboards, schedule meetings and create financial forecasts.
AI hazard
As AI and jobs become the hot new topic for global central bankers, eBay said it will cut about 1,000 jobs, or roughly 9% of its workforce, its second round of cuts this year, as it streamlines operations and focuses on its fastest-growing areas. The company said it will keep hiring in “priority areas aligned with our strategy.”
Meanwhile, government websites in Europe and elsewhere went offline Wednesday after developers of the PHP programming language disclosed two critical vulnerabilities and urged users to update. A fixed version was live by around 1345 GMT, they said.
South Korea is expected to hold interest rates unchanged in a decision Thursday as the central bank focuses on taming inflation while growth remains strong.
— Anniek Bao
And finally…
BlackRock’s Rick Rieder sees ‘historic’ opportunity in high-quality bonds
Investors may be wary of the volatility hitting parts of the bond market right now, but they have an “historic” opportunity to grab attractive yields in high-quality credit, Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer for global fixed income, told CNBC in an exclusive interview.
Hypothetically, it’s now possible for investors to build a diversified portfolio that yields more than 7% with less than three years of duration and an average credit quality of A-, he said. Duration is a measurement of a bond’s price sensitivity to fluctuations in rates, and issues with shorter maturities tend to have lower duration.
“Not only is it historic in that these yields are where they are, but the only time these yields are ever here is when there’s some problem, like an economic problem or default problem,” Rieder said in an interview about his fourth-quarter outlook.
— Michelle Fox
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