Overnight US stocks | Nasdaq rises for a fourth straight session; SanDisk (SNDK.US) gains 6.8%; U.S. and Brent crude oil move lower.

On Tuesday, the three major indices closed mixed, with the Nasdaq hitting an intraday record high. Media reports said Iran may reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. takes action to ease military pressure, sending oil prices lower on Tuesday. [U.S. Stocks] At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 185.03 points, or 0.36%, to 51,863.80; the S&P 500 rose 0.14 points, or 0.00%, to 7,764.84; the Nasdaq Composite rose 122.18 points, or 0.45%, to 27,244.28. Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) rose 5%, SK Hynix (SKHY.US) gained over 3%, SanDisk (SNDK.US) rose 6.8%, and Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO.US) fell over 4%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 0.32%, and Alibaba Group Holding Limited Sponsored ADR (BABA.US) rose 0.45%. [European Stocks] Germany's DAX30 rose 14.08 points, or 0.06%, to 25,587.74; the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 29.86 points, or 0.28%, to 10,709.15; France's CAC40 rose 15.97 points, or 0.20%, to 8,154.91; the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 6.85 points, or 0.11%, to 6,325.05; Spain's IBEX35 rose 27.94 points, or 0.14%, to 19,752.34; Italy's FTSE MIB fell 270.04 points, or 0.52%, to 52,101.50. [Asian Stocks] Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.38%, South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.15%, and India's Mumbai 30 fell 0.44%. [U.S. Dollar Index] The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, rose 0.17% on the day and closed at 100.603 at the end of the New York foreign exchange session. As of the end of the New York foreign exchange session, 1 euro traded at $1.1442, down from $1.1465 the previous trading day; 1 pound traded at $1.3335, down from $1.3369 the previous trading day. 1 dollar traded at 157.50 yen, up from 157.45 yen the previous trading day; 1 dollar traded at 0.8212 Swiss francs, down from 0.8213 Swiss francs the previous trading day; 1 dollar traded at 1.4068 Canadian dollars, up from 1.4039 Canadian dollars the previous trading day; 1 dollar traded at 9.8487 Swedish kronor, up from 9.8398 Swedish kronor the previous trading day. [Cryptocurrencies] Bitcoin hovered near $86,000, at $86,130 as of press time; Ethereum fell over 1.2% to $2,744. [Crude Oil] The October-delivery light crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $1.19 to close at $94.59 per barrel, a decline of 1.24%; the November-delivery London Brent crude oil futures fell $1.09 to close at $99.25 per barrel, a decline of 1.09%. [Precious Metals] Spot gold was at $4,358.6 per ounce; spot silver was at $67.21 per ounce. [Macro News] New York Fed official: Monetary policy toolbox is functioning well; Treasury bill purchases depend on market needs. New York Fed System Open Market Account Manager Perli said the Fed's monetary policy control toolbox continues to be very effective. "We have maintained very strong rate control, kept reserves in the ample range, and our Treasury bill purchases have also run smoothly," Perli said. He also said the Fed's recent actions to add liquidity to the financial system, currently paused, were not a preset path, suggesting the Fed could buy Treasury bills again if it deems it necessary to boost market liquidity. He also said so-called reserve management purchases (RMP) of Treasury bills will be adjusted according to market liquidity needs. Anthropic launches more affordable Opus 5.5 model ahead of IPO. Anthropic is launching a new artificial intelligence model designed to handle a variety of business tasks at lower cost, one of the company's moves to maintain a competitive edge ahead of its highly anticipated Wall Street listing. The company released the Claude Opus 5.5 model on Tuesday, saying it performs comparably to Anthropic's more powerful Fable 5.1 in most work scenarios but costs far less to use than the previous Opus 5 version. Anthropic said the new model also produces output faster than Opus 5 and was found to generate clearer content. The AI developer plans to continue expanding its 5.5 series of models in the coming weeks with new versions of Claude Sonnet and Haiku. Fed's Barkin: Inflation pressures will take time to subside. Fed's Barkin warned that inflation shocks may take some time to ease, and there is a risk that inflation pressures remain elevated and become entrenched. Barkin said the Fed's rate hike last week would help slow inflation, but he did not explicitly say whether further tightening would be needed. Instead, the Fed official emphasized that supply shocks are no longer merely sporadic or temporary phenomena, but persistent price pressures affecting the entire economy. "These conditions may fade over time, but I expect that will still take some time," Barkin said. "In the meantime, the current elevated level of inflation could influence future inflation." Barkin noted, "What do we do next? We are committed to bringing inflation down sustainably to our 2% target. Last week's rate hike will help with that. Whether further hikes are needed, and how many? We will see." The Fed official also laid out two inflation scenarios: the first in which recent shocks gradually fade and price pressures cool quickly; the second in which inflation pressures persist. "I am open to the possibility that inflation may soon fall back. Some recent shocks may reverse," Barkin said, adding that consumers may "reach their limits," investment growth may slow, and employment may "fluctuate." "On the other hand, inflation may prove harder to contain than expected. Temporary shocks may persist," he said. "New cost pressures may emerge. Stronger demand may pass through to prices, and so may the effects of today's inflation." OpenAI to allow external institutions to evaluate AI models at an earlier stage. OpenAI plans to let third-party institutions review its artificial intelligence models for safety risks at an earlier stage of the development cycle, part of its ongoing effort to address growing public concern about the technology's potential harms. In a blog post on Tuesday, the company announced it will allow external organizations to conduct technical safety evaluations of new AI models during training, evaluation, and rollout. OpenAI also clarified priorities for ensuring such reviews work effectively, including ensuring "strong independence mechanisms, scientific rigor, robust safety measures, and clear lines of responsibility." Lama Ahmad, who oversees the company's work with outside experts on safety reviews, said that previously OpenAI typically invited such groups to conduct safety evaluations before model release and assess their capabilities. "As risks increase, we want to focus not only on deployment but also on high-risk stages such as training and evaluation at the same time." [Individual Stock News] SEC plans to weaken retail proposal rights; Microsoft Corporation promises to maintain current threshold for one year. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) will continue to consider shareholder proposals before next year's annual shareholder meeting, a move made at the request of activist Paul Chesser to protect investor rights as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to tighten shareholder proposal rules. It is reported that Microsoft Corporation will continue to use the existing threshold for investors to submit resolutions, even as the SEC considers related changes that critics say would marginalize individual investors, religious groups, and labor unions that have had a voice for decades. The agreement lasts one year but could effectively offset the SEC's effort to shift power from investors to executives. Chesser hopes Microsoft Corporation's approach will become a governance model to ensure retail investors have a voice. A Microsoft Corporation spokesperson said that given the SEC's announcement to review the shareholder proposal regulatory framework, the company agreed to maintain the current eligibility threshold for one year to provide a clear and predictable process for the next proxy cycle. Meta is testing a "human concierge" feature for its new personal AI assistant Muse. According to internal company posts seen by media, Meta Platforms (META.US) is testing a "human concierge" model for its new artificial intelligence personal assistant Muse, in which live customer service staff quietly answer some calls placed through the digital assistant. Last week, the company introduced the test to employees, shortly after it publicly launched Muse's calling feature. Some employees raised privacy concerns about human agents handling calls, warning that it could lead to sensitive information being inadvertently disclosed to call center contractors. When asked about the feature, a Meta spokesperson said employee feedback was "overwhelmingly positive" and that the purpose of the test was to "gather user input so that safety and privacy protections can be refined and the relevant features improved before official release." The spokesperson said, "We are working with businesses to continue improving this potential calling feature, and will only roll it out once it is ready and accompanied by appropriate disclosures." Apple Inc. is developing a new fitness tracker aimed at competing with Whoop. According to people familiar with the matter, Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) is developing a screenless health and fitness tracker similar to Whoop's wristband device, part of its effort to rethink its smartwatch lineup and introduce new wearable technology. The people said the company has explored the area for months and is working on prototypes. The project has support from senior managers, but Apple Inc. has not decided whether to launch the product. The project is still at an preliminary stage and is internally called a "technology investigation." If Apple Inc. decides to release it, the device would likely not hit the market before 2028. SpaceXAI's Grok Bot agent surpasses 400,000 weekly users in first month. SpaceX (SPCX.US) AI's Grok Bot artificial intelligence agent has surpassed 400,000 weekly active users about a month after launch, a figure that shows initial market demand for its product remains moderate. On-site presentation materials showed that as of September 14, Grok Bot users reached 418,000, up 24% from the previous week. SpaceX's artificial intelligence unit launched Grok Bot in mid-August to address growing competition in the AI agent market and catch up with Anthropic PBC and OpenAI. Grok Bot is designed to be more like an employee working around the clock rather than a chat Siasun Robot&Automation. The product can handle emails, update sales databases, process invoices, schedule workflows, or submit software bug reports.