- Equity Mates
- Posts
- 📈 US to control Venezuelan oil | Open AI bans Elon
📈 US to control Venezuelan oil | Open AI bans Elon
Here's what you need to know today
Ned Stewart
August 31, 2026
Presented by
The Big Picture
US announces control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil. President Trump has struck a deal giving the US 55% control of a joint venture over 17 Venezuelan oil fields containing 65 billion barrels of reserves. The move is said to more than double American oil reserves and lower petrol prices. The 25-year agreement involves more than US$100 billion in private investment and comes as Trump faces domestic pressure over spiking fuel prices from the Middle East war. (BBC)
US Fed chair signals interest rate rise if inflation doesn't ease. US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh has warned that his organisation will "have work to do" if policymakers are not confident inflation is moving toward its 2%. With US inflation sitting at 3.4% annually, the market is now pricing in a greater chance of a rate rise at the September meeting following his remarks. (BBC)
$22 billion added to G7 borrowing costs since Iran war began. The rise in global bond yields since the US-Iran war began in February has added $22 billion (US$16 billion) in debt financing costs across G7 nations, with the US bearing the largest share at nearly $15 billion. Economists warn the trend reflects a world where government borrowing is increasingly competing against AI infrastructure spending, defence outlays and energy transition costs for the same pool of savings. (FT)
Nepal faces $7 billion rebuild after devastating floods. Nepalase Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has estimated the country will need $7 billion (US$5 billion) to rebuild after the devastating floods through Nepal's mountainous border region with China. This would represent around 11% of Nepal's US$45.5 billion economy -- a figure echoed by the country's only billionaire Binod Chaudhary, who said he "wouldn't be surprised" if costs reached that level given the difficult geography and time required. (Business Standard)
Auction clearance rates slip as rate rise fears spook buyers. The national auction clearance rate eased to 52.4% this week, down from 53.2% the previous week as buyers step back amid growing expectations of a fourth RBA interest rate rise in September. Auction volumes are rising as spring approaches, up 6.6%, though they remain 32.3% below the same week last year. (AFR)
ATO chases property owners who skipped capital gains tax. The Australian Tax Office is pursuing the owners of around 6,000 investment properties sold between 2020 and 2025 who failed to lodge tax returns disclosing their sale. Owners who ignore the ATO's letters face a default assessment plus a penalty of 75% of the tax owing, with interest charges also potentially applying. (AFR)
Companies in the news
OpenAI cuts off SpaceX's Cursor coding tool. OpenAI has announced it will stop providing AI models to Cursor, the coding tool acquired by Elon Musk's SpaceX for US$60 billion in June. OpenAI flagged that they had concerns that SpaceX would not use its technology within its terms of service "based on our experience with Elon Musk's companies violating contracts." Musk responded on X saying he "couldn't care less.” Anthropic moved quickly, announcing it would increase compute support for its Claude models in Cursor. (Reuters)
Chinese chipmaker CXMT sues US government. CXMT, China's top memory chipmaker that became the country's most valuable listed company in its Shanghai IPO debut last month, has sued the Pentagon to overturn its classification as a "Chinese military company." The company argues the label lacked evidentiary support and violated its due-process rights, with the designation triggering government contracting restrictions and reputational damage. (Reuters)
ASIC micro-cap share trading investigation deepens. ASIC's examination into irregular trading in micro-cap stocks has expanded beyond its initial raid on Evolution Capital's Sydney offices to include at least two other listed companies and a second broker. The regulator is pursuing unusual trading in Torque Metals, an ASX-listed gold explorer, as well as Vection Technologies, while Brisbane-based Whairo Capital was separately raided over trading in critical minerals explorer Tambourah Metals. (AFR)
Gap shares jump as new CEO aims to reverse sales slump. Gap has appointed Michael Francis as the new CEO of Old Navy after the brand's worst sales result since 2023, blamed on disappointing summer marketing and a slowdown in traffic. Current Gap CEO Richard Dickson called it "a planned and thoughtful transition", with shares jumping 12% in after-hours trading. (CNBC)
Legendary fund manager Bill Ackman is joining FinFest 2026. Are you?
Yep, you read that right. Founder of Pershing Square Capital Bill Ackman will sit down with Bryce and Ren for an exclusive pre-recorded conversation to be aired at FinFest 2026.
If you want to hear Bill unpack all things markets, investing and the opportunties he’s seeing in the world, then this is your chance to see it.
Who knows Ren may even Boost Bill’s Budget while they’re at it.
White House teleprompter operator fined $240k for betting on speeches
A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay $240,000 (US$172,000) after using advance knowledge of Donald Trump's speeches to place bets on prediction market platform Kalshi in late 2025 and early 2026.
Gabriel Perez has also been ordered to surrender his $150,00 in profits and pay a $90,000 civil penalty. The fine was said to be reduced due to "exemplary co-operation" with the investigation. Perez has also been banned from trading for three years. Kalshi flagged the unusual betting activity after noticing suspicious patterns on its "mention markets", which allow users to bet on whether a speaker will use specific words or phrases. (BBC)
Dovetail, Ramp and Writer spend 82% less time on audits.
That’s what Vanta does - automates the busywork of compliance. Meaning your team can prep for SOC 2 or ISO 27001 in a fraction of the time and run enterprise GRC without drowning in evidence collection. Less audit prep, more time closing deals.
AI talent wars, beef prices and oil markets
This is an excerpt from Ren's Roundup column on the Equity Mates website. This week he covered US beef prices, the limits of the AI talent war and why oil markets have stopped caring what Washington says
The story that caught our eye most this week was the AI talent war, and specifically what happened when Google spent $2.7 billion trying to win back two of its former employees.
In August 2024, Google struck a licensing and talent agreement with CharacterAI, whose founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas had previously worked at Google. This was Google's attempt to get them back. Less than two years later, Shazeer announced he was leaving Google for OpenAI.
It is a reminder that in the AI talent war, money can convince people to join you. It cannot convince them to stay.
Elsewhere, Trump has temporarily removed tariffs on imported ground beef to bring down burger prices. The short-term win for consumers might keep prices higher for longer. Higher beef prices create an incentive for farmers to rebuild herds, which have fallen to their lowest level since 1951 after years of drought. Artificially suppressing prices dulls that incentive. Sometimes the solution for high prices is high prices.
And finally, oil markets appear to have stopped listening to Washington. When Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced what he called economic D-Day against Iran, Brent Crude dropped 2% on the day and another 3% the next. Markets are waiting for facts to change before prices move.
Want to read what else caught Ren's eye this week? Head to the Equity Mates website and read the full column
