Global markets faced renewed headwinds driven by an escalating U.S.-Canada trade war that dragged down Canadian futures and the Canadian dollar, alongside falling oil prices as Iran permitted Iraqi tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. dollar drifted near three-month lows as hedge funds trimmed equity positions at their fastest pace in two months, with markets bracing for remarks from U.S. Treasury officials ahead of Jackson Hole. In Europe, low water levels at the Rhine’s Kaub chokepoint restricted commercial barge traffic and chemical production across sites like BASF and Shell, though a deeper crisis was averted only due to already-weak industrial demand and crackers running at 70%. In technology and AI, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged overly ambitious deployment timelines as Anthropic widened its lead and OpenAI's IPO was reportedly pushed to next year, while Wolfe warned that rising yields could pressure broader AI spending. Geopolitical and domestic friction intensified elsewhere, highlighted by a fatal stabbing of a monk at the Svyatogorsk Lavra monastery in Donetsk, CENTCOM public affairs confirming the existence of a secret journalist blacklist amid stricter Pentagon press controls under War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and ongoing vulnerabilities in Texas where homes in Kerr County flooded again following legislative inaction on stricter building standards after last year's deadly disaster.