📈 Iran nears Hormuz agreement with Oman | REA, AMP rise on earnings

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The Big Picture

• Iran reaches Hormuz control agreement with Oman. The deal appears to give Iran control of incoming ships, which would be a major concession from the US. However, the US is reportedly running out of long-range missiles and support for the war has disappeared. Brent crude has dropped below US$75, indicating markets are taking this deal more seriously than previous deals. (FT | Reuters)
  
  

• ASX sees second day of all-time highs. The Iran-Oman deal inspired confidence in the Australian market, driving the ASX 200 up 0.5% yesterday after a 1.0% gain Wednesday. The market popped early in the day before settling after US Fed official Lisa Cook said she would vote for rate rises to combat sticky US inflation. (ABC | AFR)
  
  

• Cyber attacks hit Wall Street funds. Several high-profile hedge funds, including Citadel and Point72, were targeted with audio phishing attacks. Wall Street is beefing up cybersecurity against such attacks as AI has supercharged cybercrime. The attacks come as US water facilities were similarly hit by cyber attacks, leading to water supply disruptions. (FT | Guardian)
  
  

• Property owners cash out in Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. Properties for sale in these three cities have risen 13% as owners rush to sell at what they reckon is the peak of the market. This is a stark contrast to Sydney and Melbourne, where the number of homes up for sale dropped 16% in July. (AFR)
  
  

• China targets ultra-wealthy overseas with new tax hunt. Beijing is hunting down hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid taxes, with authorities increasing scrutiny of overseas capital gains and investments back to 2000. Wealthy Chinese citizens offshore significant amounts of wealth, and the government is looking to claw back taxes to help fill its fiscal deficits. (FT)

Companies in the news

• REA defies property slump, joins AMP in earnings bump. Property advertising firm REA Group posted an 11% boost to revenues, but a weak property market resulted in a 22% drop in annual profit. In contrast, AMP’s first-half profit grew 57%, and the Australian wealth management giant announced a $150 million stock buyback program. Investors were impressed with both, with AMP rising 6% and REA rising 3%. (Capital Brief | AFR)
  
  

• Nvidia jumps on SpaceX exclusivity. Elon Musk announced SpaceX will exclusively use Nvidia chips in its AI systems. SpaceX spent over $22 billion on AI infrastructure alone this quarter and looks to continue this trend. While SpaceX is down 12% on the news of their heavy AI spend, Nvidia is up over 3% on the news it appears to have locked in a lucrative customer. (Barron’s | Reuters)
  

• Uber commits $14bn to robotaxi race. The ride-hailing giant reported record free cash flows of US$2.8 billion and announced it will deploy US$10 billion to deploy 120,000 driverless vehicles, heating up the robotaxi race. Amazon is adding to the race, having recently been approved to begin offering paid rides in Las Vegas with its driverless Zoox platform. (FT | Axios)
  
  

• Google drops on DeepMind departure. The stock is down 4% on news that Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google’s DeepMind AI lab, will step down, take the role of chair and becoming Alphabet’s chief scientist. This follows four of Google’s top AI researchers leaving to create their own AI start-up. (FT | NYT)

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Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI hits an embarrassing roadblock

Last month, Apple mounted a landmark lawsuit against OpenAI alleging corporate espionage. However, the lawsuit got off on the wrong foot, with Apple’s external lawyers accidentally emailing the wrong person after mixing up two Asian last names.

In addition to exposing Apple’s blunder, OpenAI went further and published the texts that Apple says are evidence of corporate espionage, which appear to be harmless. OpenAI has poached AI talent from Apple, which could be an explanation for what OpenAI calls a “careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit”. (OpenAI)

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• Equity Mates Investing: AI giants are having a harder time raising money to keep up with investment needs. We’re talking about AI’s trillion-dollar question on today’s episode. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• Buy or Sell: Australian commodities are leading the ASX to all-time highs. We’ve got the names you need to know in the new commodities super-cycle. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)