North American Morning Briefing: Stock Futures Rise as Tech Rally Rages On

Stock futures were on the rise Friday as oil prices eased and tech stocks

extended their rally.

Investor confidence around AI returned in the last session following a selloff earlier this week. AI adoption still exceeds expectations, UBS said, with signs of tight supply supporting the AI supply chain.

Oil prices extended losses, with Brent crude now at around $102 a barrel amid efforts to restore Saudi export capacity.

"Supply concerns have eased as Saudi Arabia works to restore its damaged East-West pipeline," MUFG said. "The recent decline in spot oil prices largely reflects a perception of moderating geopolitical risks, but continued threats to both Hormuz and Red Sea routes should keep Brent above pre-war levels and volatility elevated."

Meanwhile, Japan's central bank lifted its benchmark interest rate to 1.25%, its highest level since 1995, and plans further increases.

The global move to higher interest rates leaves "little doubt we're in a globally synchronized cycle of rate hikes again," said Deutsche Bank.

Looking ahead, investors will watch for U.S. industrial production and capacity utilization data for August due today.

Stocks to watch

Coinbase Global, Robinhood Markets, Strategy: Shares of companies tied to cryptocurrencies jumped premarket as bitcoin's price advanced beyond $78,000, up more than 2% from its 4 p.m. ET level Thursday.

Corning, Intel, Alphabet: Shares of companies tied to AI jumped premarket, as investors returned to a strategy that has worked time and again this year.

Nike: Shares of the sports-apparel retailer retreated premarket ahead of its deletion from the S&P 100 index of large-cap companies on Sept. 21.

Watch For:

U.S. Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for August; U.S. Leading Indicators for August; Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman speaks at a chat on stress testing in London

Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:

- The U.S. and China Want AI Guardrails. But Their Ideas Couldn't Be More Different.

- Hackers Used Anthropic's Claude to Break Into OpenAI

- Weeks Before the Midterms, Almost Everything Is Getting More Expensive

MARKET WRAPS Forex:

The dollar traded steady, close to a multiweek high against a basket of currencies, as the Japanese yen fell after a split vote by the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates Friday cast doubt over further policy tightening.

The euro traded flat and was likely to stabilize against the dollar Friday, ING said.

Sterling rose slightly after data showed U.K. retail sales unexpectedly returned to growth in August.

Bonds:

Treasury yields mostly rose, with 10-year yields ticking up to 4.948% and heading toward the 5% level hit earlier this week, while two-year yields added 2.2 basis points to trade at 4.705%. Yields on 30-year Treasurys were little moved at 5.285%.

Energy:

In early European trading, Brent fell 2.2% and was on track for a weekly loss of nearly 2%, while WTI futures were down 1.9%.

Metals:

Gold prices rose above the $4,400-an-ounce mark, supported by lower Treasury yields and easing oil prices.

Iron ore

Iron ore prices are higher in early Asian trade, finding near-term support from a seasonal pickup in steel demand and pre-holiday restocking, said Baocheng Futures.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

Hackers Used Anthropic's Claude to Break Into OpenAI

Two weeks after a swarm of AI agents broke out of containment at OpenAI to hack the company Hugging Face, the ChatGPT maker learned about another AI-powered intrusion-and this time it was the target.

Independent security researchers had used Anthropic's Claude software to gain access to an OpenAI employee's ChatGPT account, giving them a way to read and suggest changes to the company's private cache of software.

Apple's Chip Strategy Keeps Paying Dividends

When Apple's iPhone turned into an immediate hit upon its 2007 release, CEO Steve Jobs was quick to realize the value of designing and owning as many of the components in its devices as possible. By 2008, it was working on a smartphone chip and in 2010 the iPhone 4 shipped with the first Apple chip, the A4. Since then, designing the main chips for all its devices has been a priority for Apple, and a potent differentiator, enabling deeper integration between software, services, and hardware than any other consumer technology company.

This week's release of iPhone 18 Pro and the A20 Pro chip inside of it, makes the advantages of Apple's chip strategy as clear as day. In single-core computing-the majority of what people do on their devices-the A20 Pro is faster than the best PC chips from Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, or Qualcomm, according to GeekBench benchmarks, and remains better than the high-end Android smartphone chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek.

Nestle Weighs Options for Russia Unit After Moscow Seizes Control

Nestle said it is assessing options for its Russian unit after Moscow transferred control to external administrators, in the latest move by the Kremlin to seize the local assets of international conglomerates.

Russia placed Nestle Russia, as well as the businesses in the country of French retailers Auchan and Leroy Merlin, under temporary external administration, according to a presidential decree published Thursday.

Ant International-Backed Fintech Unicorn Gets Nod for Philippines's Largest-Ever IPO

A Philippine fintech unicorn backed by Ant International has secured approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange for a nearly $1.3 billion initial public offering that, if completed, would be the country's largest-ever listing.

Mynt, which operates mobile financial-services platform GCash, plans to offer 8.03 billion shares at up to 10 Philippine pesos each, equivalent to 16 cents, according to a preliminary IPO prospectus filed Friday.

Bank of Japan Raises Rates, Making U.S. Less Alluring for Tokyo Investors

TOKYO-The Bank of Japan lifted its benchmark interest rate to its highest level in 30 years and signaled more increases are on the way, a policy shift with the potential for big ripples far beyond Japan's shores.

Japanese investors own around $2.5 trillion of U.S. stocks, bonds and other financial assets, accounting for about half of Japan's enormous $5 trillion stock of overseas portfolio holdings.

Failure of Clarity Act Turns Crypto Industry Focus to Federal Regulators

The Clarity Act's failure to progress through Congress leaves regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to government agencies and vulnerable to interpretation as administrations change, analysts said, another potential stumbling block to wider adoption.

The legislation, which fell 11 votes short of passing a procedural Senate vote Tuesday, was designed to establish the first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets, eventually helping to widen acceptance of crypto. The bill faced several challenges, including disagreements over the language around ethics rules that would prevent government officials from profiting off digital assets.

Malaysia's Former Prime Minister Can Serve Rest of 1MDB Sentence Under House Arrest

SINGAPORE-Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak can serve the remaining two years of his sentence for abuse of power in the looting of the 1MDB sovereign-wealth fund under house arrest, the government said Friday.

The pardon is conditional on Najib paying a fine of 50 million ringgit, equivalent to around $12 million, and relates to the former leader's 2020 graft conviction-a watershed moment in one of the largest financial crimes of the century that touched jurisdictions from Switzerland to Curaçao, as well as the U.S.

North Korea Sends Women to Russian Factories in Line of Ukrainian Fire

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un found a new way in recent years to deepen his alliance with Russia, sending North Korean workers by the thousands to aid an economy suffering from President Vladimir Putin's protracted war with Ukraine.

This summer it became evident that those workers, including many women who have been deployed to Russian factories and warehouses, are no longer at a safe distance from the battle.

Red and Blue America Have Found Something to Agree On: Flock Cameras Must Go

In the liberal Blue Ridge Mountains city of Asheville, N.C., progressives fear the Trump administration could use Flock Safety cameras to spy on political dissidents, transgender residents and undocumented immigrants.

In the foothills 95 miles south, Republicans in conservative Oconee County, S.C., view the same AI-enabled license-plate readers as a threat to constitutional privacy rights and have even read aloud from the Federalist Papers at tense public meetings.

Republican Lawmaker Breaks With Trump on Immigration

Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents a red-leaning South Florida district, rolled out a straight-to-camera ad on Thursday breaking with President Trump on his immigration enforcement tactics, a stark warning for her party as it heads to the midterms.

The 30-second ad, airing in English and Spanish, is one of the most direct examples of a Republican candidate criticizing the president. It comes as support has frayed for the GOP among Hispanic voters with less than two months until the November election.

Write to priscila.barrera@wsj.com

TODAY IN CANADA Earnings:

Nothing major scheduled.

Economic Indicators (ET):

Nothing major scheduled.

Stocks to Watch:

Reitmans Canada 2Q Net Income CAD 10.1M; 2Q Revenue CAD 211.8M; 2Q EPS CAD 0.20; 2Q Gross Profit CAD 123.9M; 2Q Adj EBITDA CAD 18.8M; Reports 2Q Revenue of CAD 211.8 Million

Sandoz Gets Canada Approval for Generic Version of Ozempic

Expected Major Events for Friday 06:00/GER: Aug PPI

06:00/UK: Aug Retail sales

08:30/UK: 2Q Bank of England statistics on UK banks' external claims

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

September 18, 2026 06:11 ET (10:11 GMT)