Good morning. Markets closed Friday on a strong note, with the Sensex and Nifty both up over a percent as PSU bank and realty stocks rallied alongside a broader rebound in global chip shares. Away from the trading floor, it was a busier stretch for diplomacy and technology than for policy, with India's top diplomat wrapping up a Gulf swing and a legal fight breaking out between two of Silicon Valley's biggest names.
In today's newsletter: Apple's lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing hardware secrets, India's women cricketers making history at Lord's, and Jaishankar closing out his four-nation Gulf tour.
Closing levels ยท July 10, 2026
Sensex 77,569.39 UP 1.08% |
Nifty 50 24,206.90 UP 1.02% |
USD/INR 95.38 RUPEE FIRM |
Brent Crude $76.24 DOWN 6c |
PSU banks and realty led the charge while a rebound in global chip stocks lifted sentiment further, and the rupee held firm even as crude stayed soft, giving traders a rare all-around calm session.
Apple Sues OpenAI, Alleging Its Former Partner Stole Hardware Secrets to Build Rival Gadgets
Two years after striking a landmark AI partnership, Apple and OpenAI are now adversaries in federal court. Apple has sued OpenAI in Northern California, accusing the AI lab of running a scheme, directed from the top, to lift its confidential hardware plans for a line of consumer AI devices.
The complaint names OpenAI's chief hardware officer Tang Tan, alleging he used Apple's internal project code names while recruiting, asked candidates to bring in Apple components during interviews, and coached departing engineers on how to slip past Apple's security checks. A separate claim accuses a former senior systems engineer of keeping an Apple laptop after joining OpenAI and using it to pull confidential technical files.
Apple is seeking damages and an injunction to stop OpenAI from using specifications and engineering presentations tied to unannounced products, a fight that could shape how far AI labs can go in poaching hardware talent from rivals.
This is really about who builds the next AI-native gadget. OpenAI has been developing its own hardware with Jony Ive's design studio, and Apple's lawsuit is as much a defensive move to protect its device roadmap as it is a legal claim about stolen files.
Most of the specific allegations involve rank-and-file engineers who moved jobs, not top executives. That suggests Apple's real worry is a slow bleed of institutional knowledge through ordinary hiring, not one dramatic leak.
India's Women Cricketers Make History With Their First Test at Lord's
It took 142 years after Lord's hosted its first men's Test, but the women's game finally arrived at the ground on Friday. Smriti Mandhana's 83 anchored India to 285 all out, with half-centuries from Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma giving the innings real depth.
England navigated the final overs to close on 21 for 1, with young seamer Kranti Gaud trapping Tammy Beaumont leg-before for the innings' first big wicket. The occasion itself carried weight beyond the scoreline, marking the first-ever women's Test staged at the home of cricket, a milestone that took far longer to arrive than it should have.
With the match still finely poised heading into day two, this one-off Test is shaping up to be more than ceremonial, a genuine contest at a ground that waited well over a century to host it.
Jaishankar Wraps Up His Four-Nation Gulf Tour as West Asia Stays on Edge
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar closed out the Gulf leg of his broader tour on Friday, when he arrived in Oman on the final stop after stops in Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, before he moves on to New York and Brussels to round out an 11-day, six-nation itinerary.
In Kuwait, discussions with Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah covered energy security and consular cooperation, alongside trade and investment ties with a country that hosts a large Indian diaspora. The timing matters: the trip comes as the Strait of Hormuz standoff keeps regional shipping and energy markets on alert.
With Jaishankar covering the Gulf while other engagements continue elsewhere, the tour reads as Delhi hedging its bets, tightening energy and diaspora ties in the Gulf just as instability in the wider neighbourhood makes that relationship more valuable, not less.
Breaking.exe
Voice AI consolidation. Bengaluru-based Nurix AI is acquiring conversational AI company Verloop.io, folding its chat automation business into Nurix's voice platform to chase enterprise customer-service deals. |
GPT-5.6 goes wide. OpenAI began its global rollout of GPT-5.6, split across three tiers named Sol, Terra and Luna, its first release since the government-limited preview a fortnight ago. |
Chipmaking's big bet. Micron raised its US investment target to $250 billion through 2035 for AI memory chips, pouring first concrete at a new fab in upstate New York the same day. |
Pangaea Revisited
Palestine's first vote in 20 years. President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree setting November 28 as the date for the first Palestinian legislative elections since 2006, expanding the legislative council from 132 to 200 seats. |
Washington arms Kyiv further. The Trump administration approved licences allowing Patriot air-defence systems to reach Ukraine, a notable shift after months of hesitation over the Russia-Ukraine war. |
A bill Trump won't sign but can't stop. A major US housing bill is set to become law at midnight even without the president's signature, an unusual twist that says as much about Washington's gridlock as the bill itself. |
Also, Also, Also
Ashwin's season ends early. Ravichandran Ashwin's Major League Cricket campaign is over after a right knee injury, with Peter Siddle brought in as his replacement at San Francisco Unicorns. |
Cricket diplomacy. Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese unveiled the first overseas Big Bash League match, to be played in Chennai this December, as part of deepening India-Australia sporting ties. |
A weekly jab for diabetes. Novo Nordisk launched Awiqli, the world's first once-weekly basal insulin, in India, making it only the seventh market globally to get the drug. |