Summary · why it matters
West Texas crude for October delivery closed at 95.78 dollars a barrel, down 4.52 dollars, or 4.51 percent, while the November contract closed at 92.47 dollars a barrel. North Sea Brent for November delivery closed at 100.34 dollars a barrel, down 3.53 dollars, or 3.4 percent. Prices touched a 12-day low after investors bet that this week's United Nations General Assembly, or UNGA, could bring diplomatic progress toward defusing the war in Iran. Data from TankerTrackers.com showed that Saudi Aramco loaded about 14 million barrels of crude onto seven very large crude carriers in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, after attacks disrupted shipments through the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, another sign that Saudi oil exports are beginning to recover partially and a factor that pushed Brent below 100 dollars a barrel for the first time since September 9. European and U.S. diesel prices hit all-time highs after the wars in Iran and Ukraine sharply reduced oil exports from major producers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. U.S. pump diesel prices topped 6 dollars a gallon this month for the first time on record, while diesel stocks at Europe's oil trading hub fell to their lowest level for this time of year, according to Insights Global, and European diesel futures closed last week at a record high, more than double their level at the start of 2026, after supply disruptions spread to the Red Sea. In politics, China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that President Xi Jinping will make an official visit to the United States from September 23 to 25 at the invitation of President Donald Trump and will hold in-depth talks with the U.S. leader on key issues in China-U.S. relations, including world peace and development. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is set to reaffirm Japan's commitment to large-scale investment in the United States when she meets President Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UNGA, the first formal summit between the two leaders since Takaichi visited Washington in March. A latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found that President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to 32 percent, the lowest since he entered politics. The U.S. government proposed a 5 billion dollar fund called Partnership for Allied Construction & Trust under the leadership of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, to rebuild key Middle East infrastructure damaged by the war in Iran, amid a conflict that has lasted seven months. In stock markets, semiconductor shares surged on Monday after early signs that Meta Platforms' new AI Agent was a success, led by Advanced Micro Devices, Intel Corp. and Arm Holdings, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 4.3 percent for a fifth straight day of gains. SoftBank Group Corp. is considering raising more than 11 billion dollars through a junk bond issue, with plans to sell 10 billion dollars of dollar-denominated notes and 1 billion euros of euro-denominated notes to fund additional investment in OpenAI, expected to be completed next month. OpenAI unveiled its safety and security proposals for advanced AI development on Monday, focusing on alignment research and recursive self-improvement, or RSI, techniques that open the way for AI to continuously improve its own capabilities.
SoftBank Group Corp.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc
Arm Holdings plc American Depositary Shares
Intel Corporation
Meta Platforms Inc.