Continuing Jobless Claims At 3-Month-Highs, Initial Claims Tumble Back To 2021 Levels

Amazon Data Centers "Disrupted" Across Bahrain After Drone Activity Brent crude futures are back in triple-digit territory as fighting in the Middle East continued overnight, even as President Trump claimed that talks are underway with Iran to resolve the conflict, which has now entered its fourth week. Overnight, the Amazon Web Services in the Bahrain region was severely "disrupted," according to Reuters, citing an Amazon spokesperson, following drone activity in the area. The spokesperson would not confirm whether Iranian drones struck any data centers. "As this situation evolves and, as we have...

Pentagon Picks OpenAI To Replace Anthropic Update (2345ET): Sam Altman on Friday night announced that OpenAI and Department of War have struck a deal in which the DoW will be able to use the company's AI for military applications, and has agreed to abide by the company's red lines regarding safety (which were similar to rival Anthropic).  "Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems," Altman said on Friday night, adding "The DoW agrees with these...

Gulf Oil Is Available Again, But Asian Refiners Balk At Soaring Tanker Rates Iran and the US have a peace deal? check (for 60 days, allegedly).  Strait of Hormuz open? check (for 60 days, allegedly). Ships transiting freely? check (not really) Massive build up of Gulf oil desperate to reach Asian refiners? check. All great news, which means that oil should now flow freely and in huge amounts, right? Wrong: two of Asia's largest refiners, PetroChina and Indian Oil, failed to secure very large crude carriers to lift Iraqi Basrah crude in late June, Reuters reported, while...