Good morning. Here’s what matters today.

The Renters’ Rights Act came into force in England yesterday — the most significant overhaul of the private rental sector in three decades. Assured shorthold tenancies are gone, meaning landlords can no longer issue no-fault evictions. Rent increases are restricted to once a year and must reflect market rates. If you have exposure to residential property funds or housebuilder equities with a buy-to-let customer base, this changes the demand picture at the margin.

Apple reported record quarterly sales overnight, with Tim Cook citing the iPhone 17 as the company’s most popular handset ever. Cook is stepping down and John Ternus takes over as CEO. The headline numbers were strong, but Cook flagged a chip supply constraint — described in some coverage as “RAMageddon” — that could weigh on the next quarter. Markets will be watching whether Ternus’s first earnings call next cycle gives any clearer guidance on the supply chain exposure.

Anthropic is reportedly asking investors to submit allocations within the next 48 hours for a fundraising round that could value the company above $900 billion. If that number holds, it would make Anthropic one of the most valuable private companies in the world. The pace of the raise — 48 hours to commit — suggests either strong demand or a deliberate squeeze on price discovery. Worth watching for what it signals about AI infrastructure valuations more broadly.

On Iran, Republican senators are beginning to break ranks with the Trump administration over the conflict, with some demanding congressional accountability for the ongoing military campaign. The ceasefire has held since 8 April but Iran has warned of a “long, painful” response if the US resumes strikes. Separately, the head of fertiliser group Yara warned that the conflict is threatening billions of meals globally by disrupting supply chains. Food commodity desks should be tracking this — Yara’s view carries weight given their market position.

The OpenAI trial continued this week with Elon Musk spending three days on the stand. His testimony was, by most accounts, damaging to his own case. No ruling yet, but the proceedings are clarifying the legal boundaries around AI governance and nonprofit-to-for-profit conversion — relevant context for anyone watching OpenAI’s restructuring and IPO timeline.

The US jobs report for April is out today at 13:30 London time. Given the tariff uncertainty and the soft ADP print earlier this week, the number will be closely read for signs of labour market deterioration. A weak print would sharpen the debate about whether the Fed has room to cut before the summer.

Sources

BBC News, Al Jazeera, Guardian, FT, Politico, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, The Economist — 2026-05-01