U.S. President Donald Trump holds a press conference at Be\u015ftepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 8, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. <\/p>\n
Burak Kara | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hello, this is Justina Lee writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.<\/p>\n
The latest developments from the NATO Summit are signaling strains in the Europe-U.S. relationship, with no new commitments from alliance members over assistance with the Middle East conflict. <\/p>\n
Renewed U.S.-Iran tensions have raised energy concerns<\/a>, with oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowing down. <\/p>\n Looking past geopolitical worries, the tech and financial sectors are taking significant strides. Trillion-dollar South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix<\/a> is set to list<\/a> in the U.S., while Goldman Sachs<\/a>\u00a0has won deals to manage a combined $70 billion in retirement assets for\u00a0Verizon Communications<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lockheed Martin<\/a>.<\/p>\n What you need to know today<\/p>\n The NATO Summit became a one-man-show, with the meeting revolving largely around President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a> \u2014 and his disappointment with the alliance members.<\/p>\n “I’ve never witnessed such dramatic reversals of fortune, affecting so many global players, compressed into just 48 hours,” said<\/a> CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick<\/a>. And while U.S.-Iran tensions escalated as the summit was ongoing, Trump<\/a> left Turkey on Wednesday without any new commitments from NATO to assist with the conflict. <\/p>\n “I’m not happy with NATO, because of the fact that they didn’t want to help us with the No. 1 state sponsor of terror, that’s Iran,” Trump said<\/a> during an appearance with NATO chief\u00a0Mark Rutte<\/a>. “They were unwilling to help us.”<\/p>\n Renewed tensions in the Middle East, meanwhile, have raised concerns over energy supplies<\/a>, with Iran attacking commercial ships. Though signs that diplomatic efforts<\/a> were ongoing helped calm oil markets after prices shot up in the aftermath of U.S. strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n Over in the tech space, investors stay glued to the trillion-dollar South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix<\/a>‘s debut in U.S. markets<\/a>. The company’s stock has surged more than sevenfold over the past year, driven by the global memory crunch. <\/p>\n SK Hynix is not the only tech company in the spotlight. Competitor Micron<\/a>‘s shares surged Thursday after it announced<\/a> a new round of multi-billion investments aimed at boosting the U.S. semiconductor supply chain. The memory chipmaker, which hit a\u00a0$1 trillion market cap<\/a>\u00a0for the first time in May, has seen shares skyrocket almost 250% in 2026. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Goldman <\/a>Sachs\u00a0won<\/a> deals with Verizon Communications<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lockheed Martin<\/a> to manage a combined $70 billion in retirement assets. This is one of the larger recent announcements in the fast-growing market for outsourced corporate investing.<\/p>\n \u2014Justina Lee<\/p>\n And finally…<\/p>\n Inside NATO\u2019s extraordinary 48 hours that revealed Trump\u2019s grip on global diplomacy<\/p>\n For 48 hours in Ankara, Turkey, it felt as though the world was moving on\u00a0Donald Trump’s timetable<\/a>.<\/p>\n Markets lurched.\u00a0NATO allies<\/a>\u00a0braced for confrontation.\u00a0Ukraine searched<\/a>\u00a0for reassurance.\u00a0Iran threatened<\/a>\u00a0to upend the agenda. One moment, leaders were preparing for diplomatic crisis; the next, they were describing a “love-in” with the very president many had feared would leave the alliance more divided than ever.<\/p>\n To recount, every European NATO member \u2014 plus Canada \u2014 was effectively on trial coming into this gathering.\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u00a0and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had again been aggressively criticizing NATO for its lack of support over Iran and for failing to spend anywhere near enough money on its own security.<\/p>\n \u2014Steve Sedgwick<\/p>\n