Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks at the SoftBank World event in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. Speaking via teleconference, Son and OpenAI chief Sam Altman argued that advancing artificial intelligence would lead to new jobs that are not yet imagined, and the advancement of robotics will help kickstart a “self-improvement” loop. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Hello, this is Leonie Kidd writing to you from London. Welcome to today’s edition of the Daily Open newsletter.
Chatting to my colleagues in the London newsroom this Monday morning, we remarked how there appears to be two parallel markets at play.
There is an AI-fueled bull market driving stocks from Wall Street to Japan to record highs, as every inch of the AI stack is scrutinized for investment opportunities.
Conversely, there is the geopolitically driven world of risk, which remains volatile as developments taking place far from Silicon Valley keep assets like oil swinging from session to session.
Each day, these market forces jostle for the top spot in investors’ minds – which do you think it is today?
What you need to know today
Investment juggernaut Softbank has become Japan’s most valuable firm. Shares rallied through the Asian trading session on Monday, propelling the Nikkei 225 above 67,000 for the first time.
The group, led by CEO Masayoshi Son, has made a €75 billion AI infrastructure commitment to France, its largest investment in Europe. He described the country as “a leading AI infrastructure hub in Europe.”
CNBC will speak exclusively to Masayoshi Son from Paris later this morning. Watch here on CNBC Pro.
Staying within the AI stack, Nvidia is pushing into PCs with a new ARM-based chip for Microsoft, Dell and HP laptops. During a keynote address at Taiwan’s Computex conference on Monday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a new N1X processor made alongside Microsoft.
“Microsoft and Nvidia are going to reinvent the PC,” Huang said. “This is the first completely re-engineered, reinvented line of PCs that has happened in 40 years.”
Across broader markets, an escalation in hostilities in Iran is driving oil prices higher. U.S. Central Command announced that it had conducted “self-defense” strikes on Iranian targets throughout the weekend, while Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he is in “no hurry” to make a deal with Iran, as the war dragged into its fourth month.
Over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and gave a stark warning to his international peers: “Allies who refuse to step up and carry their own weight for our collective defense will face a clear shift in how we do business.” Read more of the key quotes from that meeting here.
Stocks have started the month of June on a broadly positive note. In the Asia-Pacific session, South Korea’s Kospi hit a fresh record high, European indices look set to open higher, while U.S. futures indicate Wall Street will open near record highs.
— Leonie Kidd
And finally…
Berkshire Hathaway makes $6.8 billion housing bet with Taylor Morrison deal
Berkshire Hathaway agreed Sunday to acquire homebuilder Taylor Morrison Home in a $6.8 billion deal, deepening the conglomerate’s bet on the U.S. housing market after a prolonged downturn.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based company will pay $72.50 per share in cash for Taylor Morrison, according to a statement. The offer represents a 24% premium to the homebuilder’s closing price on May 29 and values the company at about $8.5 billion, including debt.
The acquisition marks one of the first major strategic deals under Warren Buffett’s successor Greg Abel, who took over as CEO at the start of 2026. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2026, is relatively modest by Berkshire standards as it’s sitting on a cash hoard nearing $400 billion.
— Yun Li
