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Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter: 🔍 Google says EU rules will worsen its search 🛢️ Oil tops $100 after US strikes Iran tankers 🤝 Amazon taps Qualcomm for custom AI chips 💳 Visa's stablecoin settlement tops $20B ✈️ GE Aerospace deal targets engine parts bottleneck Plus: 🌍 10 macro news, 🏢 10 corporate news, and 📑 6 research & reports.
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📊 Before The Bell
 | Change over the last 24 hours · as of Sep 9, 2026, 5:55 AM ET |
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🔍 Google says EU rules will worsen its search
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- Google says new EU-mandated changes to its European search results, rolled out yesterday to satisfy antitrust regulators, mark the biggest quality drop in the engine's 29-year history and will favor price-comparison sites like Expedia and Booking.com.
- The overhaul stems from a $534 million fine the European Commission levied in July for Google favoring its own shopping, hotel and transport results, with 60 days to comply or face periodic penalties of up to 5% of global turnover.
- Google, which will now rank specialized search engines above listings for hotels, airlines and restaurants that lose features like real-time prices, says earlier compliance moves cut free direct booking traffic to European businesses by 30%.
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🛢️ Oil tops $100 after US strikes Iran tankers
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- Brent crude climbed 2.25% to $100.12 a barrel today, its highest since July 24, after US forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers, dimming hopes for US-Iran talks and a swift return to normal supply.
- The rally followed US Central Command's strikes on five Iranian crude carriers in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island, with Iran and its Houthi allies targeting energy sites in the region, including Saudi Arabia yesterday.
- WTI, the US benchmark, rose 1.80% to $94.67, as ING strategists said markets will keep pricing in a sizeable risk premium given how far the two sides remain from restarting negotiations.
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🤝 Amazon taps Qualcomm for custom AI chips
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- Qualcomm has struck a partnership with Amazon Web Services to co-develop several generations of custom chips for Amazon's AI data centers, marking its deeper push into the market dominated by Nvidia and AMD.
- Under the deal, the chips will target AI inference and use Qualcomm's optical links inside Amazon's data centers, while Amazon received a warrant to buy 25 million Qualcomm shares at $161.26 each, vesting as it purchases Qualcomm's server chips.
- The agreement follows Qualcomm's earlier tie-up with Meta and its Modular acquisition, and comes as quarterly revenue slipped 4% to $9.95 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.21 a share missed estimates by a penny.
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💳 Visa's stablecoin settlement tops $20B
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- Visa said its stablecoin settlement volume has passed a $20 billion annualized pace, more than 15 times higher than a year earlier, as digital-dollar-linked card programs multiply across its network.
- More than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs were live globally in Visa's fiscal second quarter, with payment volume on them up nearly 200% year over year, though issuers now face daily funding needs before cardholders pay.
- To ease that squeeze, a Credit Coop credit line backed by settlement receivables has cut borrowing costs up to 30%, financing over $2.5 billion since 2023 and helping travel card issuer Karta raise $140 million in June.
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✈️ GE Aerospace deal targets engine parts bottleneck
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- GE Aerospace is buying casting manufacturer Consolidated Precision Products for $11.75 billion, its largest deal since splitting from General Electric, aiming to expand supply of precision-cast turbine and jet engine blades that have become a production bottleneck.
- The price values CPP at roughly 26 times projected 2027 earnings before interest, taxes and one-off items, dropping to 18 times with expected cost savings; GE will fund it with cash and debt, and shares slipped 0.6% in premarket trading.
- The deal follows Elon Musk's remarks that turbine blade casting is a critical constraint for AI data center power, and GE is betting demand will outstrip supply, keeping CPP's third-party clients rather than restricting rivals' access.
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🌍 Macro News
- White House to ban Canadian dairy, alcohol and motorcycles in three weeks. LINK
- China imposes duties up to 99.2% on Japanese chip chemical imports. LINK
- China's factory-gate inflation beat forecasts, while consumer prices rose 0.8%. LINK
- UK borrowing costs hit highest-ever level for 30-year debt. LINK
- US agencies accuse Chinese AI firms of industrial-scale knowledge extraction. LINK
- European gas prices hit highest since energy crisis amid Middle East shock. LINK
- Market firms urge EU to raise proposed €100 billion blockchain trading cap. LINK
- US sanctions 27 Iranian airlines, widening pressure on Tehran amid Hormuz fighting. LINK
- India flags 15 offshore crypto platforms for violating anti-money-laundering rules. LINK
- US-Saudi nuclear deal advances, granting UN watchdog monitoring powers in Saudi Arabia. LINK
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🏢 Corporate News
- Block seeks bank charter to custody digital assets and settle stablecoins. LINK
- Google commits €13 billion for Finnish AI data centers through 2028. LINK
- Cognition raises $2 billion at $48 billion valuation for coding AI. LINK
- Chime will buy Stride Bank for $590 million, gaining its own charter. LINK
- Robinhood takes stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com, which will settle event-contract trades. LINK
- Circle will buy Tazapay for $400 million in stock, expanding cross-border payments. LINK
- Justice Department deepens antitrust review of Fox's $22 billion Roku acquisition. LINK
- Huawei faces US trial over racketeering, fraud and trade-secret theft charges. LINK
- Stoke Space raises $1 billion to develop fully reusable orbital rockets. LINK
- NextEra secures $1.9 billion loan to restart Iowa's Duane Arnold reactor. LINK
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📈 Stocks
| ▲ Biggest winners | | Lumentum Holdings rose 11% after announcing stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and guidance. LINK | | Bloom Energy rose 10% after JP Morgan raised its price target to $346 from $267. LINK | | Intel rose 9% after Bloomberg reported Apple held exploratory discussions with Intel about producing main processors for its devices. LINK |
| ▼ Biggest losers | | Expedia Group fell 8% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Underweight. LINK | | Shopify fell 8% after the company predicted growth slowdown. LINK | | Gartner fell 7% after third-quarter 2025 results showed operating margin plunged to 5.7% from 16.6% and free cash flow margin dropped to 17.6% from 38.1%. LINK |
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📑 Research & Reports
- Aleph's 2026 SaaS benchmarks: collect the growth, retention and efficiency numbers SaaS finance teams are actually measured on this year. Download the free benchmarks
- Americans felt better about jobs but worse about finances in August. LINK
- BIS tests Ripple's XRP Ledger for anchoring and verifying official data. LINK
- Morgan Stanley forecasts India's Sensex reaching 89,000 by June 2027. LINK
- UBS says global exports rose 19% year-on-year despite tariff-war recession fears. LINK
- Deutsche Bank says bond selloff reflects higher-rate era, not fiscal crisis. LINK
- UBS expects Fed rate hikes in September and December, pressuring Bitcoin. LINK
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📅 Market Calendar
 | Earnings · Economic events |
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