Brent crude held near a five-month high as traders weighed the risk of further Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz against accelerating oil flows through the waterway. According to Sina Finance, citing IRNA, Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said Monday that Iran had “no choice” but to control the strait to protect national security. Brent traded above $109 a barrel, near its highest level since May, while the most actively traded WTI futures were around $98. U

Samsung Electronics has decided to use TSMC's 3nm process to make NVHBM base dies at Nvidia's request. The company is also evaluating whether it could produce the base dies in-house using its own foundry lines if NVHBM demand exceeds TSMC's capacity. The decision highlights the growing dependence of high-performance memory chips on advanced process nodes.

Anthropic is offering Blackstone a yield above 10% for a $60 billion chip debt financing plan called Project North Star. The plan would fund the purchase of about 1.5 gigawatts of custom Google TPU chips. Blackstone is set to invest $9 billion to buy half of the subordinated loans in the deal. The transaction is seen as a key test of demand for AI-related debt, at a time when similarly rated corporate borrowers pay about 7% to raise funds in the public bond market.

Kazakhstan’s central bank said it sold foreign exchange worth 374 billion tenge, or about $809 million, in August to hedge gold purchases. It said it will continue selling the same amount in September. The sales are intended to offset exchange-rate risks stemming from its gold purchases, according to Jin10.

Blackstone’s stake sale in India’s Knowledge Realty Trust was fully subscribed, reflecting strong investor demand. The upsized offering raised about 121 billion rupees ($1.3 billion), according to Bloomberg. The deal supports Blackstone’s asset monetization in India’s commercial real estate market.

Visible tanker traffic in the strait remained in single digits. Estimates of actual oil flows diverged further. WTI total open interest contracted sharply as oil prices continued to rise, according to Jin10. These data points point to tightness on the supply side alongside position adjustments, adding to concerns about near-term supply shortages.

Two oil supertankers were hit by unknown projectiles in quick succession while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping chokepoint in the Persian Gulf. The incident raised concerns about maritime security along one of the world’s most important oil routes. The information was reported by maritime security consultant Marisks, according to Bloomberg.

A renewed U.S.-Iran military clash in the Strait of Hormuz pushed Brent crude above US$90 a barrel and sent the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield to a 19-month high. Hawkish remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve chief Kevin Warsh added to risk-off sentiment, weighing on Asia-Pacific equity index futures in overnight trade. Nikkei 225 night futures closed down 630 points at 65,820, while Hang Seng Index night futures slipped 107 points to 25,346.