META PUTS A FACE ON MUSE AND SENDS IT SHOPPING At its Connect event on Wednesday, $META unveiled a major expansion of Muse, the personal AI agent it launched in early September, which Mark Zuckerberg called the centerpiece of the company's vision. New features include a digital avatar users can video chat with in real time, voice access through Meta's smart glasses, the ability to operate any app on a Mac, and a dedicated email address for the agent.

The MicroSectors lineup now covers three single-country equity markets, each from both directions. Brazil: the MicroSectors 3X Long and -3X Short Brazil ETNs $BRZL / $BRZD target +3X and -3X the daily move of $EWZ. Japan: the 3X Long and -3X Short Japan ETNs $JPNU / $JPND target +3X and -3X the daily move of $EWJ. Taiwan: the 3X Long and -3X Short Taiwan ETNs $TAWN / $TPEI target +3X and -3X the daily move of $EWT. Each is built to amplify a single session's move. Daily trading tools for sophisticated investors. ETNs subject to BMO credit risk. Learn more: microsectors.com

Weekly Oil Update IRAN SAYS IT CAN REOPEN THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ WITHIN A WEEK IF THE US LIFTS ITS BLOCKADE Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday. The official said Tehran's UN General Assembly delegation in New York has full authority to restart talks with the US, noting a proposal was already delivered through mediators on September 16, though President Pezeshkian will not meet President Trump. The offer lands just days after Iran's military warned of unrestrained retaliation if the US resumes operations with regional backing. ARAMCO SIGNALS RED SEA OIL EXPORTS COULD RESTART SOON AFTER PIPELINE ATTACK Saudi Aramco has informally told at least three Asian refiners they will soon be able to load crude at the Red Sea port of Yanbu, according to traders familiar with the matter, though no timeline was given. Loadings there have been nearly frozen since drones launched from Iraq struck the East West pipeline on September 10, cutting off a route that carried about 4 million barrels a day to the port. European buyers have been hit hardest, with Aramco telling refiners across the continent they will receive no October allocations under long term contracts. NEW US LAW PUTS INDIA IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF 100% TARIFFS OVER RUSSIAN OIL President Trump signed the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law on September 18, allowing tariffs of up to 100% on imports from the five largest foreign buyers of Russian crude and natural gas, a group that puts India and China at direct risk, according to the Global Trade Research Initiative. The law takes effect within 30 days, after which targeted countries would normally get 180 days to cut Russian energy purchases or negotiate, though the president can shorten that window. GTRI urged New Delhi to keep buying discounted Russian oil while it stays commercially competitive and to avoid trading permanent concessions for temporary tariff relief.

Weekly Gold Update CHINA IS HOARDING GOLD AT A RECORD PACE, EVEN AS PRICES SLIP China imported more than 1,000 tons of gold in the first eight months of 2026, spending a record $158.8 billion and already surpassing its full 2025 total, as depressed property, stock and bond markets leave households and the state with few alternatives. Official buying may be running hotter than disclosed, with estimates suggesting the PBOC bought 35 tons in July versus the 20 it reported. Appetite has accelerated even as bullion retreated from its January peak, with Chinese gold ETFs adding roughly 44 tons through August while global funds stayed largely flat. VENEZUELA'S $4 BILLION GOLD STASH COULD FINALLY LEAVE LONDON Venezuela's government and opposition are nearing a deal to move about 31 tonnes of gold, worth roughly $4 billion, from the Bank of England to the New York Fed, potentially ending a legal fight that has kept the reserves frozen since 2019. The agreement would give Delcy Rodríguez's interim government legal control of the bullion but bar an immediate sale, with the gold instead expected to serve as collateral for borrowing, including reconstruction after June's twin earthquakes. A UK court must still rule on who controls the account before the Bank of England will release anything.

ANTHROPIC LAUNCHES OPUS 5.5 AS AMODEI PUSHES TO PACE THE AI FRONTIER Anthropic released Opus 5.5 on Tuesday, claiming new highs in coding and knowledge work along with faster performance and clearer, less jargony responses that lead with key information. The company says the model's biology and cybersecurity capabilities rival its restricted Mythos model, so it ships with tighter safeguards limiting uses like exploit discovery. It is Anthropic's first release since CEO Dario Amodei called for deliberately slowing capabilities progress so safety work can keep up.

New on our site: Brazil votes October 4th, and here is why its equity market is moving. What it covers: - Why a policy rate that hit 15% is coming down, and what decides how far it falls - A presidential race that has tightened all year, and the two dates that settle it - How $BRZL and $BRZD let you trade it, long or short BRZL and BRZD are the only US-listed exchange-traded products built to give +3X and -3X of the daily move in $EWZ , the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF. Daily trading tools for sophisticated investors. Subject to BMO credit risk. Read it here: microsectors.com/insights/wh…

Weekly Bank Update CITIGROUP CEO WARNS OF A "TSUNAMI" OF PATCHING AS AI CYBER RISK MOUNTS $C Chief Executive Jane Fraser told the Qatar Economic Forum in New York that companies are racing to shore up their perimeters, describing a tsunami of patching underway across the corporate world as AI models grow more capable. She pointed to Anthropic's Mythos release as a turning point, an event that prompted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and then Fed Chair Jerome Powell to summon Wall Street leaders over cyber preparedness, while $GS CEO David Solomon urged the industry to slow down. Fraser added that the bottleneck on AI buildout has shifted from chips to energy, with demand surging worldwide. TRUIST EXITS NEAR PRIME AUTO LENDING WITH $5.5 BILLION PORTFOLIO SALE $TFC is shedding its near prime auto lending business, selling a $5.5 billion loan portfolio that accounts for nearly all the assets of subsidiary Regional Acceptance Corp. The deal generates $5.2 billion in net proceeds, a $535 million loan loss reserve recapture and roughly $945 million of common equity tier 1 capital, with closing expected late in the third quarter or early in the fourth. CFO Mike Maguire framed the move as part of a broader strategic review that new CEO Mike Lyons has pushed forward with added urgency, as the bank retreats from noncore, loan only businesses.

Trade AI like a sector, not a sub-theme. $AIQU (3X long) and $AIQD (-3X short) deliver daily exposure to the BITA AI Leaders Select Index, 25 U.S.-listed AI leaders like $NVDA, $PLTR, $AVGO, $META, and $AMD plus the infrastructure behind them. Daily trading tools for sophisticated investors. Subject to BMO credit risk. Learn more: microsectors.com/ai/

AI LABS SHRINK THEIR DATA CENTER AMBITIONS Anthropic and OpenAI are now hunting for compute deals in the 20 to 30 megawatt range across the U.K., the Nordics, and the U.S., sources told CNBC, a sharp step down from the gigawatt scale projects both have announced over the past year. Securing a few megawatts at an already powered site gets capacity online faster than waiting on a massive single location build, and large projects are increasingly stalled by community pushback and constrained land and power. The pivot tracks the broader shift toward inference, which can run across scattered clusters and is projected to overtake training as the dominant use of data center capacity by 2027.

Weekly Travel Update AMERICAN AIRLINES TAPS THE BRAKES ON HOLIDAY FLYING AS FUEL COSTS BITE $AAL will scale back holiday period capacity growth after jet fuel rose roughly $1 per gallon over the past four weeks, an increase CFO Devon May said would add about $1 billion in fuel costs over a full quarter. The carrier had been scheduled to expand December domestic flying far faster than the industry at large and faster than its three largest rivals, and May said slower growth is the lever to protect margins and hold fares higher. $ALK, $UAL and $LUV all trimmed fourth quarter plans last week, and American now expects to grow less in 2027 than it projected earlier this year. THE AIRPORT CHECKPOINT STARTS LOOSENING ITS GRIP A quarter century after the attacks that built the modern screening regime, the U.S. is quietly unwinding pieces of it, with shoes now staying on at standard security and new scanners at some checkpoints letting travelers keep liquids in their bags. TSA this week launched Gateside, a free program at 13 airports including Dallas Fort Worth, LAX, Detroit and Salt Lake City that lets approved PreCheck members past security to meet arrivals at the gate without a boarding pass, reopening an area locked down since 2001. The agency also scrapped its TSA Gold+ privatized screening program last month after Tampa International declined to participate, and says a new screening partnership program will take its place.

Two ways to trade the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, $SMH, one ticker each. $SMHU targets +3X. $SMHD targets -3X. When you expect the chip names to gain on the day, SMHU is built to move about three times with them. When you expect them to give back, SMHD moves the other way. Daily reset, for short-term trading. The 0.70% annual Daily Investor Fee on SMHU and SMHD is waived through January 31, 2027. Other charges apply. Daily trading tools for sophisticated investors. Subject to BMO credit risk. For more information, please visit: microsectors.com/semis/

Weekly Oil Update OMAN SHELVES HORMUZ TALKS AS WASHINGTON SITS OUT Gulf diplomats and Iranian officials were set to meet Monday in Salalah to discuss an Omani framework for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, but Oman's foreign minister announced an indefinite postponement after Saudi Arabia submitted amendments over language it feared would cement an unacceptable new status quo. The draft framework floats voluntary payments for navigational safety and environmental protection rather than mandatory Iranian tolls, though regional sources concede no deal is workable without the United States, which insists it will only negotiate with Tehran on the nuclear file. Tanker traffic has picked up under US Navy escort, with as many as 40 vessels convoyed in a single day, yet commercial ships continue to come under Iranian attack in transit. IEA SLASHES OIL OUTLOOK AS DIESEL SQUEEZE TIGHTENS AND STOCKS DRAIN The IEA cut its global oil demand and supply forecasts again, with a large share of Gulf output still shut in and the expected recovery in Middle East production pushed out to next year. Refined products are where the pain is most acute: US diesel prices have roughly doubled from pre-war levels as Gulf diesel exports run at a fraction of their old pace and Ukrainian strikes cripple Russian refining. Global observed inventories have drawn down steadily since February, leaving thinning buffers and a refining system already stretched to the limit.

ANTHROPIC LOCKS IN FIRST AUSTRALIAN DATA CENTRE DEAL AT $32 BILLION QUEENSLAND SITE Anthropic has signed an agreement to use part of a $32 billion data centre hub proposed for Queensland's Western Downs, its first major investment in Australia. The facility, to be built near Dalby by Singaporean developer Zerra DC, would be the largest of its kind in the country, with a peak power draw comparable to roughly 1.5 million Australian households. Anthropic plans to begin using the site in 2027 to run inference for Claude rather than to train models.

Weekly Gold Update OSISKO GREENLIGHTS $841 MILLION CARIBOO GOLD MINE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Osisko Gold Group ($OGG) has approved construction of the Cariboo underground gold mine in central British Columbia, targeting a first pour in early 2029 and commercial production in the second half of that year. A 2025 feasibility study projects roughly 1.89 million ounces of gold over a 10 year life, with an after tax NPV of $3.2 billion. Commodities trader Trafigura is backing the build with a $30 million equity investment and a potential $120 million gold prepayment facility, plus offtake on concentrate and doré for the first four years. POWER OUTAGE AT HEMLO GOLD MINE STALLS PRODUCTION RAMP A Sept. 4 blackout in the Alimak zone of Hemlo Mining's namesake northern Ontario operation has curtailed underground development and exploration, though the processing plant and mining in other areas continue uninterrupted and no one was injured. A temporary bypass is allowing some mining in the affected area, but the planned ramp to 4,800 tonnes per day, previously targeted for year end, is now expected to slip. The company is advancing repair and expedited replacement plans for the substation and evaluating opportunities to re-sequence work into other parts of the mine. AGNICO EAGLE RULES OUT PARTICIPATION IN BARRICK NORTH AMERICAN IPO Agnico Eagle ($AEM) CEO Ammar Al-Joundi told Reuters the company has no interest in buying into Barrick Mining's ($ABX) proposed North American IPO, saying it would not make strategic sense given Agnico's own portfolio. He framed the position as a matter of strategy rather than valuation, and said any move on Barrick's Nevada assets would be for Barrick's board and management to decide. The proposed entity would centre on Nevada Gold Mines, Pueblo Viejo and the wholly owned Fourmile discovery, assets that produced roughly 2 million attributable ounces of gold in 2025.

MICROSOFT TO TRIPLE DATA CENTER CAPACITY AFTER TURNING AWAY AI BUSINESS $MSFT plans to expand its global data center network to more than 38 gigawatts by 2032, up from roughly 12 gigawatts today, an amount that would exceed New York state's peak electricity use. The buildout follows a computing crunch so severe the company restricted new cloud subscriptions and lost customers like Temu to $ORCL, while $GOOGL, $AMZN and $META race to add capacity of their own. Only about 2 gigawatts of current capacity runs AI specific chips, a share expected to reach roughly a third of the 2032 total.

Weekly Tech Update MICROSOFT DRAWS RED LINES FOR ITS OWN AI MODELS AS FRONTIER LABS TAP THE BRAKES $MSFT published a provisional code of conduct barring its in house AI models from aiding weapons manufacturing, assisting with dangerous substances, or concealing their reasoning traces, days after Anthropic and OpenAI leaders agreed to slow development. Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman said the guidelines had been in the works for roughly five months and are being released now to gather outside input before an update that will shape model development starting in 2027. TRUMP REJECTS AI GUARDRAILS, TAKES AIM AT ANTHROPIC CEO President Donald Trump dismissed calls for artificial intelligence guardrails in a Monday social media post and criticized Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei for urging a slowdown in frontier model development, per Bloomberg. Trump attributed voter backlash over AI data centers and rising concern about advanced models to a "SICK conspiracy" and argued the only beneficiary is China. ORACLE ADDS $700 MILLION TO RESTRUCTURING TAB AS AI BUILDOUT SQUEEZES CASH $ORCL disclosed in a Friday regulatory filing that total costs tied to its 2026 Restructuring Plan have climbed to roughly $2.8 billion, largely severance, with about $2.1 billion already accrued and the $700 million increase reflecting additional actions the company expects to take. The cuts come as Oracle absorbs the cost of building large scale AI data centers for customers including OpenAI, a buildout that has left the company under cash pressure. Headcount stood at roughly 49,000 US and 92,000 international workers as of the end of May, down 21,000 from a year earlier, while CFO Hilary Maxson pointed analysts to simplification and efficiency actions as a margin defense.

SAMSUNG AND SK HYNIX WALK AWAY FROM KOREA'S $18 BILLION GRID BILL Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have rejected Korea Electric Power's ($KEP) proposal to prepay roughly 25 trillion won ($18 billion) for electricity, money the utility wanted to fund grid buildout for new chip and AI clusters. The prepayment, equal to about five years of bills, would have been spread over a year with Kepco paying interest on outstanding balances, cutting the utility's reliance on bond issuance. Local reports say the chipmakers balked at that much cash upfront given doubts the semiconductor boom holds for another five years.

MicroSectors is excited to be sponsoring the Future Proof Festival, Sept 14-17 in Huntington Beach! Check out our latest lineup of MicroSectors ETNs, including $MNGU , the MicroSectors 3X Long MANGOS+ ex Private Companies ETNs, which seek +3X daily leveraged exposure to the NYSE MaNGoS+ Index. DM us if you would like to meet at the event! Daily trading tools for sophisticated investors. Subject to BMO credit risk. For more information, please visit: microsectors.com/mngu

MANGOS is six specific companies: $META, Anthropic, $NVDA, $GOOG, OpenAI, and $SPCX. Four are public and sit in the index at equal weight. Anthropic and OpenAI are private, so they define the basket rather than sit in it: the index tracks who they buy from, sell to, and build with, and holds those companies. The MicroSectors™ 3X Long MANGOS+ ex Private Companies ETNs ($MNGU) targets +3X the daily move of that basket. $MNGU launched with the 0.95% annual Daily Investor Fee waived through January 31, 2027. Daily trading tools for sophisticated investors. ETNs subject to BMO credit risk. Learn more: microsectors.com/mangos

Weekly Travel Update GOOGLE SAYS EU RULES JUST FORCED THE BIGGEST QUALITY DOWNGRADE IN SEARCH HISTORY $GOOGL rolled out revamped search results across Europe on Tuesday to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, and the company is openly calling it the largest reduction in service quality in the search engine's 29 year run. The new layout elevates price comparison sites for hotels, flights and restaurants while stripping features like real time pricing from the results below, changes $GOOGL says will push traffic away from local European businesses. BLACKSTONE EYES A €7 BILLION MADRID LISTING FOR ITS MEDITERRANEAN RESORT EMPIRE $BX is preparing to float Hotel Investment Partners on the Madrid exchange as soon as late October, targeting a valuation of €6 billion to €7 billion and roughly €700 million in fresh capital from new shares. HIP owns 62 upscale seaside resorts across Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, leasing operations to brands including Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton, and the valuation marks a sharp step up from the level implied when Singapore's GIC bought in during 2023. $GS, BNP Paribas, Santander, $C and $MS are coordinating the syndicate, though a direct sale to another investor has not been fully ruled out.