The Guardian·United Kingdom·Monday, September 14, 2026 at 03:16 PM

UK government moves to acquire Speciality Steel UK – business live

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Graeme Wearden, Heather Stewart, Nick Robins-Early

Donald Trump has hit out at calls for a slowdown in AI development, claiming that there is a “sick conspiracy” against artificial intelligence and data centres.

In a punchy post on Truth Social, Trump posts (with typical modesty):

The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!

That rather indicates the White House will not be backing a slowdown in AI development, despite calls for it in recent days from the major US AI companies.

Trump to goes on to claim that his administration has reined in Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, writing:

The Trump Administration has stopped AI “people” from doing bad, or potentially bad, “things,“ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a “perfect little angel” - and we will continue to do so! We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Fact check: Anthropic and the White House did fall out earlier this year, when the AI company refused to ethical guidelines on its AI systems despite the threat of severe consequences.

Key events

There are worrying signs in the bond market today too.

The yield, or interest rate, on US 10-year Treasury bonds has risen over 5% for the highest level since October 2023.

That follows the jump in the oil price today – Brent crude is now up 4.5% – and expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates on Wednesday.

UK bond yields are rising too – with the yield on 10-year British gilts up 7 basis points (0.07 of a percentage point) to 5.4% for the first time since 2008.

The Nasdaq 100 index hit a six-week low in early trading, dropping by at least 1.7%.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns the Grok AI assistant, are down 1.7% this session.

Nvidia, the chipmaking giant at the heart of the AI boom, is also caught up in today’s sell-off.

Shares in Nvidia are down 3.6% in morning trading in New York. That still appears to leave it as the world’s largest listed company, though, worth around $5tn.

Donald Trump has hit out at calls for a slowdown in AI development, claiming that there is a “sick conspiracy” against artificial intelligence and data centres.

In a punchy post on Truth Social, Trump posts (with typical modesty):

The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!

That rather indicates the White House will not be backing a slowdown in AI development, despite calls for it in recent days from the major US AI companies.

Trump to goes on to claim that his administration has reined in Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, writing:

The Trump Administration has stopped AI “people” from doing bad, or potentially bad, “things,“ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a “perfect little angel” - and we will continue to do so! We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Fact check: Anthropic and the White House did fall out earlier this year, when the AI company refused to ethical guidelines on its AI systems despite the threat of severe consequences.

The S&P 500 share index, which tracks a broad swathe of the US stock market, is down 0.5% in early trading.

AI-powered robotics platform Teradyne (-9.2%) are the top faller, followed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, who sell enterprise AI products to companies.

Back in the UK seaside resort of Brighton, the TUC is expected to pass a motion at its annual congress this afternoon promising to campaign against the Labour party’s promise of cutting the costs of business regulation by 25%.

It was tabled by the Prospect union, which has members in watchdogs including the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency.

Prospect’s general secretary Mike Clancy told the Guardian it was a mistake to think of such bodies as barriers to economic growth, warning:

“Regulators have been starved of resources, or constrained by public sector pay constraints - and consequently, they become a bottleneck, not because of the regulations, but because of the resources.”

Clancy added the government is “barking up the wrong tree” with the 25% promise, which could even be “dangerous,” if it results in important regulation being cut back for the sake of an “arbitrary” target.

Chip designer Marvell Technology are down almost 7% this morning, also among the big fallers on the Nasdaq.

They’re still up around 160% so far this year, though – they got a boost after Nvidia’s Jensen Huang claimed Marvell could be the next trillion-dollar company.

One of the top fallers on the Nasdaq are Astera Labs, which sells connectivity products to help move data rapidly within a data centre.

Astera Labs are down 9.3% in early trading; traders will be concluding that a slowdown in AI deployment could hit demand for its services.

Wall Street’s chipmakers are among the big fallers in early trading.

ARM Holdings’ shares are down 7.5%, as are rival Intel, while Micron are down 7.1%.

Technology stocks are dropping on Wall Street at the start of trading, as calls from top AI CEOs for a slowdown in development worries investors.

The Nasdaq share index has fallen by 1.2% at the start of trading, as traders respond to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s proposal to slow down the technology’s advancement to ensure public safety.

Investors are closely watching to see if companies follow through on proposals to slow down the pace of AI development for safety reasons, says Stephen Coltman, head of macro at 21shares.

He adds:

Such a decision would have a substantial macroeconomic impact given the outsized importance of the tech sector and AI related investment to the broader economy at the moment.

Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey has lost his appeal against a ban from the UK financial services industry.

Odey had appealed against the decision by the Financial Conduct Authority, which ruled in 2025 that Odey had shown “reckless disregard” for the governance of his hedge fund, and that he was “not a fit and proper person to perform any function related to regulated activities”.

Today, the Upper Tribunal rejected his appeal.

According to the FCA, the Tribunal fully upheld the regulator’s allegations against Odey.

Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said:

“Mr Odey clearly thought he could act with impunity. He twice sacked those tasked with protecting female employees from his inappropriate behaviour when they tried to hold him to account. He felt the rules shouldn’t apply to him and acted to save his own skin.

“During the hearing he reinvented history, painted himself as a victim and displayed no contrition. That arrogant entitlement and the resulting complete disregard for proper governance means Mr Odey is unfit to work in financial services.”

The FCA had proposed to fine Odey £1.83m alongside the ban, but the Tribunal decided to reduce this to £1.53m.

The UK government has welcomed the discussion among leading AI companies about safety, and the risks the technology poses to the future of humanity.

Andy Burnham’s spokesperson told reporters:

“It’s a good thing that the companies developing the most advanced AI systems are now talking openly about the risks as well as the opportunities.”

European commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier has told reporters that the EU is in favour of developing innovation in artificial intelligence, but companies have to prove their services are safe for citizens to operate in the bloc.

US stocks exposed to the AI boom are set to drop when trading begins in two hours.

Chip stocks could be worst hit. In pre-market trading, Intel’s stock is down 5.9% while Micron is on track for a 5.5% fall.

SpaceX, which owns the Grok AI assistant, is down 2.1% in pre-market trading.

Motor fuel prices across the UK have hit their highest level since the Iran war began, according to motoring body the RAC.

This follows the recent rise in oil prices, which are being passed onto customers through higher prices at the pumps.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams explains:

“Fuel prices hit new Iran War highs on Monday with petrol climbing 169.68p and diesel hitting 191.68p, surpassing Sunday’s petrol high of 169.52p and the diesel high of 191.54p set on 15 April. This takes the cost of filling up a 55-litre family car with unleaded to over £93 and diesel to more than £105.

“Both fuels are now at prices last seen in early August 2022, just a few months after the start of the Ukraine War, following price rises of 8p a litre since the start of September. And with oil well over $100 a barrel, there’s no end in sight to high pump prices and the pain it brings to drivers who depend on their vehicles. In fact, the average price of diesel may be on the way to overtaking the record high of 199.05p set on 25 June 2022. Petrol, however, is still a long way from its all-time record of 191.53p on 3 July 2022.”

Here’s a breakdown of the parts of the AI value chain that are vulnerable to a slowdown, from Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo:

AI model developers: Launches may take longer, while spending on safety and testing rises.
Advanced processors: Near-term orders may remain supported, but future demand could soften if companies run fewer large training programmes.
Memory chips: This is one of the more vulnerable areas. Manufacturers are adding supply to meet very strong demand forecasts. If demand is delayed just as new production arrives, shortages could turn into excess supply and weaker prices.
Data centres, power and cooling: Projects already underway provide near-term support. The risk would rise if major technology companies began cancelling future projects.
AI use and adoption: Companies can continue using models that already exist. Demand for computing power to run those models—often called inference—may therefore remain strong.
Cybersecurity and AI monitoring: These areas could attract more investment as companies spend more on independent testing, system controls and protection against misuse.
Business software: The next winners may be companies that use AI to deliver clear productivity gains, rather than those simply spending the most on building larger models.

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