• Commodities: Brent crude prices closed in on $100 per barrel after Iran-allied Houthi militants attacked energy facilities in Saudi Arabia over the weekend. Goldman Sachs strategists estimate that if the war doesn’t end soon, prices could climb to $120 per barrel.
• Stocks: Indexes tumbled as renewed fighting pushed oil prices higher, which raised fears of higher inflation, which increases the likelihood of the Fed raising interest rates later this month.
• Trade war: Canada unveiled tariffs ranging from 15% to 50% on 27.6 billion Canadian dollars (roughly $20 billion) worth of US imports, including agricultural equipment, household appliances, and beauty products, in what Prime Minister Mark Carney called a “dollar for dollar” rebuttal to recent US levies.

AI

Morning Brew Inc.

Amazon just received a warrant—and no, it’s not the kind that has anything to do with Big Tech’s legal troubles.

Qualcomm issued Amazon warrants to acquire $4 billion worth of the tech giant’s stock as part of a new chip deal that could ultimately be worth up to $60 billion.

Qualcomm will build out Amazon Web Services’ AI infrastructure “across multiple generations of customized silicone” according to a press release from the companies. Shares of Qualcomm rose 3.16% today as investors cheered the company’s evolution from a smartphone-chip maker into a bigger player in the AI infrastructure race.

If you can’t beat ’em…

For years, Nvidia has been the reigning king of AI hardware. But as Big Tech’s demand for all-things AI has become insatiable, other chipmakers are following the money and transforming into AI infrastructure powerhouses.

Part of the dynamic comes down to technology. Nvidia’s main product is graphics processing units, aka GPUs, which run AI models. But as more and more tech companies develop large language models, the market for central processing units (CPUs) has grown, too. While GPUs are still the main chip used for running models, CPUs can perform sequential tasks in the background.

That’s why, back in June, Qualcomm first entered the AI chip race when it announced its own CPU for data centers dubbed Dragonfly C1000, which Meta will start using in 2028. But Qualcomm still has steep hurdles to overcome before it transforms into the next Nvidia.

“Data center progress is promising,” wrote Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya after the company’s last earnings report. He expects the company to rake in $600 million in data center revenue in the first quarter of 2027, and $5 billion by the end of 2027.

But in the same July note, Arya downgraded the stock’s price target from $220 to $180, and gave it an “underperform” rating, arguing that Qualcomm’s data center expansion brings with it lower margins and higher costs.

While there’s plenty of money flowing into the AI trade, Qualcomm still has to prove it can turn that demand into actual profits.—LB

      

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Stocks

🟢 What’s up

• Solaris Energy Infrastructure jumped 16.38% after raising its third-quarter profit outlook, helped by stronger performance from its power services business.
• Corning climbed 7.58% on a multibillion-dollar deal to supply Verizon with fiber-optic technology through 2032.
• Roivant Sciences surged 18.75% on promising mid-stage trial results for an experimental treatment of a rare lung disease.
• Lockheed Martin gained 2.1% following a UBS upgrade to Buy that pointed to stronger earnings growth than investors expected.
• Bloom Energy rallied 9.63% on news that it will join the S&P 500 later this month.
• Intel gained 9.05% on plans to raise prices for its PC processors by roughly 10% next month.

🔴 What’s down

• Novartis fell 13.93% after its experimental treatment for a muscle-wasting disorder failed in a late-stage trial.
• Amgen dropped 10.08% after disappointing trial results for a rival cholesterol drug from Novartis raised concerns about Amgen’s own experimental treatment.
• Strategy slipped 4.4% after the world’s largest corporate bitcoin holder went a week without buying any of the cryptocurrency.
• Peloton declined 6.67% on a Morgan Stanley downgrade that cited persistent challenges in the fitness industry.
• Boston Scientific sank 5.9% after warning that a recent cyberattack will prevent it from meeting its 2026 sales and profit targets.

Stock of the day

Balance the books

Morning Brew Inc., Photos: Walter Cicchetti/Getty Images, Adobe Stock

Every quarter, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rebalance their respective indexes—adding an up-and-coming stock here, trimming a poor performer there. It’s a mundane affair that has evolved into a pretty big deal for the stocks affected: When a company is added to an index, all the index-tracking funds and ETFs must buy that stock, boosting share price. But when a company is removed, it’s taken as a sign that it’s time for investors to cut their losses.

Such was the case late last week when Nike was cut from the S&P 100, a subset of its 500-member cousin that tracks the bluest of blue-chip stocks. The shoemaker had spent 18 years on the venerable index, but its removal was a long time coming: Shares have plunged 76% since hitting an all-time high back in 2021, erasing about $230 billion in market cap during that time.

On the other hand, SpaceX is widely expected to get a serious bump when the Nasdaq 100 rebalances on Friday. Thanks to the unique nature of the company’s small free float and massive insider holdings, JP Morgan Chase analysts forecast upwards of $15.5 billion in inflows from indexes and ETFs.

The stock market, and the indexes that track it, are ever-changing—which is why it’s important for investors to keep tabs on who’s hot and who’s not. For instance, it’s worth noting that the S&P 100 cut Nike, Colgate-Palmolive, Simon Property Group, and Honeywell Aerospace, while it added Dell, Palo Alto Networks, Arista Networks, and Sandisk. Take it as a sign of the times: Traditional consumer-facing companies are out, and everything AI-related is in.—MR

Digital assets

Morning Brew Inc.

If you had to explain today’s financial system to someone from 100 years ago, you’d probably lose them somewhere between “dog-themed digital currencies” and “internet bank robbers.”

Over the long Labor Day weekend, hackers put in some serious overtime, withdrawing 4,000 bitcoin worth a combined $320 million from bitcoin platform Liquid Network. The haul represented about 95% of the bitcoin held in the network’s federation wallet.

The attackers claimed to be “white-hat” hackers, or people who break into systems to expose security flaws rather than steal for profit. They eventually returned about 3,400 bitcoin, while keeping a modest $47 million for their troubles.

The cracks around the chain

One of crypto’s biggest selling points is decentralization—that transactions can happen without relying on a bank or any other central authority. But making those decentralized networks actually useful has required a growing layer of crypto infrastructure that allows people to move assets between platforms, and every new connection creates another potential opening for hackers.

That’s becoming especially clear with bridges and cross-chain infrastructure, which connect different blockchains. There have already been 26 attacks on those systems this year, up from just three in 2025, according to Bloomberg. And even a security audit is no guarantee: CoinGecko found that 60% of hacked crypto platforms had previously completed an independent audit assuring them they were safe.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems

This is an especially awkward time for crypto to have a security problem.

Digital assets have spent the past few years inching closer to mainstream finance. A group of 21 major financial institutions—including Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo—recently said it plans to launch a dollar-backed stablecoin venture in the first half of 2027 and will establish a company to support it. Capitol Hill is also continuing to work toward clearer rules for the industry with the CLARITY Act.

But as more Wall Street money moves in, the tolerance for security failures gets smaller. If hacks keep exposing weak spots, institutions could demand tougher safeguards before committing more capital—potentially slowing crypto’s march into the mainstream.

For investors, that means the winners might not be only the companies attracting crypto money, but the cybersecurity firms building the locks around it.—SY

      

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News

• Former Amazon employees are suing the company, alleging they were punished for seeking pregnancy accommodations.
• Speaking of Amazon’s terrible PR day, investigators are looking into the cargo plane crash that killed five people on Sunday.
• Robinhood and Crypto.com inked a deal to add the crypto website’s prediction market contracts to Robinhood’s platform.
• President Trump threatened to ban sales of Canadian jetmaker Bombardier unless it starts manufacturing planes in the United States.
• The Treasury Department sanctioned 27 Iranian airlines as the US moves to economically isolate the country.
• TikTok is expanding its data center capacity, taking 150 megawatts of capacity from a new data center in Finland.

Calendar

Earnings reports: Quarterly numbers keep coming, from the likes of SailPoint, Chewy, AeroVironment, and American Eagle—plus the inaugural report from Jersey Mike’s will be worth watching.

Everything else: New Apple CEO John Ternus steps into the spotlight for what is widely expected to be his first big reveal of a new device: the foldable iPhone.

recs

💩 The worst ideas now make the most money. Welcome to the enshittification era.

🧠 If you’re worried about a stock market bubble, here are five smart ways to stay invested through the turbulence.

⁉️ Here are 14 questions you should be asking about today’s economy, including: How much do interest rates really matter?

📍 The trade war is back, so here’s a handy map breaking down the biggest trade surpluses and deficits around the world.

🎨 Okay, seriously: What’s with all the art heists these days?

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This time last week...

🗓️ Readers’ most-clicked story was about the three stocks to buy and three to sell this month.