Hormuz peace talks, a 60-day countdown, Keir Starmer's tearful exit from Downing Street, Micron's record-shattering quarter, Alphabet's AI researcher exodus, Chevron locking up 20 years of West Texas gas, and the United States banks collecting their annual clean bill of health from a test they had a hand in writing - not a bad haul for five trading days.
All the top moves, shakes, and red-hot takes from Azzet's editorial team are right here in your weekly business wrap every Friday (26 June 2026).
Monday
U.S. and Iranian negotiators sat down at Switzerland's Bürgenstock resort for the first formal round of talks under the fragile interim memorandum, Trump threatening fresh military strikes on Truth Social throughout.
The two sides agreed to a 60-day roadmap toward a final deal, mediators Pakistan and Qatar confirming a High Level Committee and a Lebanon deconfliction cell had been established alongside a direct Hormuz communications channel.
Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5 smashed the franchise's opening weekend record with a US$160 million domestic debut and a $312 million global haul - the largest single-weekend gross of 2026.
Keir Starmer's hold on Downing Street was looking increasingly untenable, with dozens of Labour MPs backing Andy Burnham after his decisive by-election win, approval ratings already the lowest of any British prime minister on record.
Tuesday
Starmer announced his resignation from the steps of 10 Downing Street, voice cracking, as the United Kingdom was heading toward its seventh prime minister in a decade, with Burnham confirming his leadership bid within hours.
Vance told reporters the Iran talks had made "great progress", though Iran's insistence that Lebanon hostilities cease before nuclear and sanctions discussions begin set up the real negotiating work for the weeks ahead.
Alphabet slid around 5% after AI researcher Noam Shazeer quit for OpenAI, compounding investor anxiety over US$180-190 billion in annual capex that has compressed free cash flow 47% year-on-year to $10.1 billion.
This week's Commodities Wrap tallied the pressure building on copper from tariff uncertainty and AI-driven structural demand, U.S. COMEX prices running at a sustained premium to LME as buyers front-run potential new duties.
Nadella's Microsoft and Chevron signed a 20-year power deal for Project Kilby, a 2.67-gigawatt natural-gas facility at Pecos, West Texas, co-developed with Engine No. 1 and GE Vernova, targeting first power in 2028.
Wednesday
The U.S. Treasury suspended restrictions on Iranian oil sales for 60 days, formalising the economic concession in the peace process and allowing Iranian crude exports to resume without sanctions exposure.
Cerebras Systems doubled its revenue in its first post-IPO earnings report, but the stock dropped around 10% as compressed gross margin guidance overshadowed the beat and G42 customer concentration remained a live concern.
FedEx sank nearly 6% after hours despite beating quarterly estimates, the Federal Express operating margin sliding to 7.7% from 8.4%, and calendar 2026 guidance of $16.90-$18.10 well short of the $19.86 consensus.
Australian headline inflation eased to 4.0% in the year to May, below the 4.3% consensus, though the trimmed mean ticked higher to 3.6% - the highest reading since September 2024.
The federal government is being pressed to take on a share of Australia's workers' compensation burden, a potentially significant shift in a liability framework historically managed at the state and territory level.
Oil fell to four-month lows as the Hormuz reopening gathered pace, Brent sliding toward US$73-76 a barrel as stranded tankers began moving again and the market priced in three months of backed-up supply.
Thursday
Zuckerberg's Meta unveiled its own-brand smart glasses starting at US$299, shedding Ray-Ban co-branding for the first time, three styles running Muse Spark - the company's first proprietary AI model.
At least 20 tankers carrying 35 million barrels cleared the Strait of Hormuz, oil flows reaching 4.8 million barrels per day - still less than a third of the 15 million bpd that transited pre-war.
All 32 banks passed the Federal Reserve's annual stress test, JPMorgan authorising a $50 billion buyback and lifting its dividend to $1.65 per share, with Goldman, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley all raising payouts alongside.
Mehrotra's Micron smashed Q3 estimates with $41.5 billion in revenue against $35.8 billion expected and EPS of $25.11 versus $20.60, Q4 guidance of $50 billion blowing the $43 billion consensus wide open.
Australian unemployment eased to 4.4% in May, down 0.1 percentage points from April, with the number of unemployed falling 18,300 to 671,300 and youth unemployment pulling back 0.6 percentage points to 10.4%.
Friday
A ship attack near the Strait forced the United Nations to halt its maritime evacuations, a reminder that the corridor remains a long way from ordinary commercial navigation even as stranded tankers begin moving again.
Headline PCE climbed to 4.1% in May - the highest since April 2023 - with core PCE at 3.4% and Q1 GDP revised to 2.1%, the combination keeping rate cuts off the table.
This week's Mission Critical column traced the minerals gap beneath the global AI power build-out - the rare earths, copper, and permanent magnets every data centre depends on, supply chains still tangled in geopolitics.
El-Khoury's Onsemi agreed to acquire Synaptics in a US$7 billion all-stock deal to expand its addressable market to $243 billion by 2030, Onsemi sliding 7% while Synaptics jumped 13% after hours.
Baghdad weighed leaving OPEC if its production quota is not significantly raised - following the UAE's exit in May - though the oil ministry later stepped back, oil briefly dipping below $73 a barrel.
Week ahead:
- Macro data: U.S. ISM manufacturing index (Monday, 29 June) - the first read on whether tariff anxiety is biting into factory activity; U.S. non-farm payrolls and June unemployment rate (Friday, 3 July)
- Inflation: Eurozone flash CPI for June (Tuesday) - watched closely given the ECB's own Hormuz-era inflation headache
- Central bank: Fed Chairman Warsh's five policy task forces continuing their review of the central bank's framework, rate path, and inflation measurement
- Geopolitics: Second round of U.S.-Iran technical talks under the 60-day roadmap; Lebanon deconfliction cell meetings; Strait security monitoring after Friday's ship attack; OPEC+ capacity review, with Iraq's quota demands creating real pressure on Saudi Arabia
- Corporate: Andy Burnham's Labour leadership campaign formally underway, nominations open 9 July; Meta Glasses on sale; Onsemi/Synaptics moving toward regulatory review; Nike quarterly earnings (Thursday, 2 July)
Happy hunting out there, macro watchers - the Strait is open and the chips are flying.
