Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk, your morning read on the stories moving markets and policy.
Qualcomm and Huawei have struck a broad, multi-year patent licensing agreement covering five-G, computing, artificial intelligence, and networking — and the timing is striking. This deal lands precisely as Washington tightens its technology restrictions on China, suggesting both sides see value in carving out commercial space even as the geopolitical friction intensifies. Watch Qualcomm shares closely.
Shifting to crypto, Ethereum's fee burn mechanism is covering just over two percent of new coins issued so far in two thousand twenty-six. That means after burns, validator penalties, and other destruction, the network has still added roughly seven hundred seventy-eight thousand ETH to circulating supply — a net inflation of about zero point six four percent. The deflationary thesis that underpinned much of ETH's valuation story is looking considerably weaker than bulls had hoped.
And on the policy front, the Trump administration is enlisting Russia to help expand global diesel supplies ahead of November's midterm elections. The move is explicitly aimed at lowering fuel prices for American consumers, but at least one strategist is already calling it too little, too late — a warning that energy markets may not respond on Washington's preferred timeline.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
