Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Oil is sliding for a second straight session as fears over Middle East supply disruptions continue to fade. With geopolitical risk premium draining out of the crude market, traders are unwinding the defensive positions they built up in recent weeks, and prices are feeling that pressure on both sides of the barrel.
Shifting to technology, the conversation around artificial intelligence is getting more complicated. A new analysis argues the puzzle pieces for an AI bubble-bursting event are quietly falling into place. While infrastructure demand remains extraordinary, several historical parallels to prior speculative cycles are drawing serious attention from market watchers who remember how this kind of story tends to end.
And on the venture capital beat, a startup founder has been arrested on charges of allegedly using investor money to fund personal expenses, including a house and a Caribbean wedding. Shiloh Luckey raised millions from prominent backers to build a tax-compliance company called ComplYant. The case is a sharp reminder that VC accountability mechanisms, while improving, still have meaningful gaps.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
