The U.S. flag flies at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, after Iraqi security sources said the embassy was targeted with drone and rocket attacks and called them the most intense since the start of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran on March 17, 2026.
Thaier Al-sudani | Reuters
Hello, this is Leonie Kidd writing to you from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
Iran’s retaliatory ‘revenge’ attacks show Tehran still has the firepower to hit back at Israel and U.S. assets in the region. It also underlines the international reluctance to join President Donald Trump in a full-scale war situation. Attention will shift to central banks on Wednesday, with the Federal Reserve decision later today — with markets pricing in a near-zero chance of a rate cut.
Iran unleashed a flurry of retaliatory attacks against U.S. assets in the Middle East and Israel on Wednesday, vowing ‘revenge’ for the killing of the country’s security chief Ali Larijani, as the weeks-long conflict shows no signs of abating.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that its missiles have hit more than 100 military and security targets in the heart of Israeli territories, while Tehran also launched several explosive drones at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, a small number of non-Iranian ships have made the crossing through the Strait of Hormuz, but the international community remains reluctant to send support to President Donald Trump.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said “we are willing to do something to free the Strait of Hormuz, provided this is not a war situation any more.”
In the investing space, the boss of the world’s biggest investor, Norges Bank Investment Management CEO Nicolai Tagen, told CNBC he was surprised by how muted the market action has been to the war, saying he is concerned by the long term impact of higher oil prices.
Away from the war, tech is back on investors’ minds after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that open-source autonomous AI agent platform OpenClaw was ‘definitely the next ChatGPT.’ The chief of the most valuable company in the world also said that Nvidia was preparing to provide its H200 processors to some customers in China.
It’s a complex mix of stories for investors to contend with, but sentiment seems to have fallen on the positive side today, with Asian markets rallying and European and U.S. futures in the green.
— Leonie Kidd
The Fed issues its latest interest rate decision Wednesday. Here’s what to expect
The Federal Reserve has little choice but to stay on the sidelines this week as it navigates a mix of complicated and conflicting forces playing out in the U.S. economy.
Markets are pricing in a near-zero chance that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee will be cutting at this meeting — or any other in the near future. Futures pricing suggests policymakers won’t consider easing until at least September, more likely October, and even then just a single cut this year.
— Jeff Cox