Tonight's Highlights: 10-Year Treasury Yield Hits 19-Year High as Stock Index Futures Slide

On Tuesday, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield touched 5.041%—its highest level since 2007—before paring gains. At publication time, the 10-year yield was up roughly 1 basis point, hovering near the 5% threshold.

 

Oil prices edged higher following reports that Saudi Arabia has shut down a critical crude pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. At publication, Brent crude futures advanced nearly 1% to trade near $106.50 per barrel, while WTI crude futures gained about 1.5% to hover around $103 per barrel.

 

Against a backdrop of surging bond yields and crude prices, Wednesday's looming Federal Reserve rate decision is exerting mounting pressure on trading desks.

 

Fed funds futures indicate an approximate 92% implied probability that the central bank will deliver a 25-basis-point rate hike, lifting the target range from its current 3.5%–3.75% level.

 

Barclays strategists noted in a recent client report that higher borrowing costs have begun squeezing equity valuations and increasing portfolio risk.

 

"While corporate earnings have thus far offset this drag, a 10-year yield approaching the 5% mark represents a major historical inflection point; once breached, interest rates typically transform into a more persistent headwind for equities," the report stated.

 

Technology shares faced broad downward pressure as AI-related equities experienced a selloff following Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s weekend call to slow the pace of artificial intelligence development.

 

"I personally view this as a temporary speed bump rather than the end of the AI trade," said Nancy Tengler, CEO of Laffer Tengler Investments. "I do not expect the pullback in AI names to derail the broader market. We've run hard and fast over the past few years."

 

Meanwhile, fading expectations for legislative progress on U.S. cryptocurrency regulation sent Bitcoin down roughly 1%, dragging crypto-linked equities lower. Both cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy dropped more than 3% in pre-market trading.

Company News

OpenAI Reportedly Acquires Optical Imaging Startup Glass Imaging for $300 Million

 

OpenAI has quietly completed another acquisition, signaling technical preparations for an upcoming hardware initiative. According to people familiar with the matter, OpenAI has acquired Glass Imaging, a startup specializing in high-performance smartphone camera software designed to leverage artificial intelligence to deliver DSLR-equivalent image quality.

 

Founded in 2019 by former Apple camera algorithm engineers Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop—who worked on the iPhone's Portrait mode—Glass Imaging was built on the premise that smartphone hardware limits had hit a bottleneck, requiring a software-hardware co-design approach to unlock new performance thresholds.

 

Anthropic Remains on Track for 2026 IPO Despite Ongoing AI Safety Debates

 

Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic continues to target an initial public offering in 2026, with plans to list on the Nasdaq exchange, according to sources familiar with the matter. Recent heightened scrutiny regarding AI safety, liability, and regulation has not altered the company's timeline.

 

Anthropic believes that transitioning to a public entity subject to rigorous disclosure and external oversight will bolster transparency around AI safety. While relying on private financing in the short term remains an option, leadership views a long-term exit to the public capital markets as a necessity.

 

SoftBank’s SB Energy Seeks Up to $5 Million in Japan IPO Prelude

 

According to a filing with Japan's Ministry of Finance, SoftBank Group’s data center and energy infrastructure arm, SB Energy, plans to raise up to $500 million through a domestic share offering in Japan as a precursor to a planned U.S. IPO.

 

Mizuho Securities, Daiwa Securities, PayPay Securities, Rakuten Securities, and SBI Securities are managing the transaction.

 

Microsoft Releases AI Code of Conduct Emphasizing Human Oversight and Rejecting Unbounded Superintelligence

 

On September 14, Microsoft’s AI team published a draft Human-Centric AI Code of Conduct, establishing "people matter more than AI" as the core guiding principle for future model design, training, and deployment.

 

Microsoft emphasized that artificial intelligence must remain under meaningful human control and supervision, prioritizing safety above all other metrics.

 

The draft is currently open to a six-week public consultation period, with a finalized revision slated for release by year-end and implementation across model development pipelines beginning in 2027.

 

Oracle Initiates New Round of Job Cuts with Double-Digit Reductions in Select Teams

 

Oracle has commenced a fresh round of workforce reductions, with impacted employees and internal memos confirming that layoffs began on Tuesday. Earlier reports indicated Oracle aimed to trim operational headcount, with certain corporate units facing double-digit percentage cuts.

 

iPhone 18 Pro Sees 900-Yuan Discount at Launch as Apple Products Break Issue Price for Third Consecutive Year

 

Just two days after pre-orders opened on September 14, e-commerce listings showed the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro discounted to 9,099 yuan, down 900 yuan from Apple's official retail price of 9,999 yuan.

 

This marks the third straight year that newly released iPhone models have broken below official launch prices on third-party e-commerce platforms immediately upon release. The 900-yuan markdown comprises a 300-yuan official platform subsidy alongside a 600-yuan merchant promotion, with delivery guaranteed before September 27.