Hormuz Supply Premium Deflates as Heavy Flows and Oman Rejection Undercut Iran Fee Pitch

Vice President Vance said about 15 million barrels moved out of the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, indicating the waterway remained open at large volume. Oman separately rejected Iran’s proposal for transit fees, despite an IRGC claim of a deal, according to a report published before the September 3 close.

The combined reports removed an immediate toll or closure scenario. A heavy daily flow signals functioning transit, and Oman’s rebuff undermines the idea that Iran could restrict the waterway or extract fees; without that scenario, the crude supply premium that would lift Brent, WTI and energy-sector exposure is reduced.

In Japanese markets, Bank of Japan policy board member Hajime Takata kept a hawkish repricing in view. Takata implied a 50-basis-point hike in September or back-to-back tightening was possible and said he favored moving the policy rate toward a neutral level near 2 percent relatively quickly; the assessment pointed to yen strength that would pressure Japan exporters and carry trades.

The Bank of Canada was separately expected to hold rates at 2.25 percent, with a very low risk of a surprise hike. The preview noted core inflation remained anchored near the 2 percent target but trade frictions with the United States clouded the outlook and left the near-term Canadian dollar path exposed.

The session’s technology story centered on Nvidia’s $13 billion Hugging Face deal, reported before US trading. Analysts framed it as support for AI ecosystem demand across compute and software infrastructure, though the follow-through was concentrated in QQQ and XLK while SMH lagged, leaving confirmation from semiconductor names as the next test.

In corporate litigation, BASF sued Apple in the United States for allegedly infringing face authentication patents, according to a report published before the close.