US Market Close | U.S. Stocks, Oil, Treasury Buybacks, SoftBank, Apple, and UK Air Traffic Hit the Headlines

Global financial media focused on several major headlines overnight and this morning. According to Sina Finance, the main stories included U.S. military strikes near Iran's Kharg Island and the port city of Jask, oil prices rising, the U.S. Treasury preparing to expand bond buybacks, SoftBank planning to meet investors in New York, Apple CEO John Ternus set to unveil a foldable iPhone on Wednesday, and a renewed failure in the UK air traffic control system. According to Sina Finance, U.S. military strikes targeted areas near Iran's Kharg Island and the port city of Jask as the Trump administration increased economic pressure on Iran. Brent crude settled near $98 a barrel and kept rising after reports of explosions on Kharg Island. Brent rose about 1% to $97.92 a barrel, while WTI futures climbed 1.7% from last Friday's close to $93.03, the highest since early June. According to Sina Finance, Wall Street interest-rate strategists expect the U.S. Treasury to raise the size of its long-dated bond buybacks to as much as $10 billion per operation after announcing in August that it planned to at least double the program. According to Sina Finance, SoftBank Group will meet investors in New York next week to gauge interest in a potential dollar junk-bond sale. The company is continuing to borrow heavily to finance its large bets on artificial intelligence, and Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto and other executives are scheduled to meet investors at Citigroup offices from September 14 to 17. According to Sina Finance, Apple will hold its annual iPhone product event on Wednesday, where CEO John Ternus will make his first appearance as chief executive after replacing Tim Cook on September 1. Market expectations are that Apple will unveil its first foldable iPhone, along with updates to the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and Apple Watch products. According to Sina Finance, the foldable iPhone is expected to resemble Samsung's mainstream foldable devices, but it may cost more than $2,000. Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899, while the higher-end Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,099. According to Sina Finance, a fault in the air traffic control system caused several hours of severe disruption across the UK on Tuesday. Heathrow said the failure at National Air Traffic Services affected only departing flights, while other airports including Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, and Edinburgh also reported delays or cancellations. FlightAware data showed more than 80 cancellations and about 200 delays at Heathrow alone.