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Oil is pulling back this Friday as diplomatic signals out of the Persian Gulf take some heat off the crude market. Reports indicate U.S. and Iranian negotiators are actively discussing a phased agreement to defuse the standoff, and traders are taking that seriously, unwinding the risk premium that had been baked into prices.
Shifting to the geopolitical backdrop shaping technology markets, Presidents Trump and Xi met at the White House Thursday, with Xi pressing Washington to cooperate on artificial intelligence rather than treat it as a battleground. That comes just ahead of a separate meeting next week where top AI executives are expected to sit down with Speaker Johnson and the Trump administration to discuss the industry's trajectory and the question of federal oversight.
On the national security front, federal prosecutors have charged the CEO of Virginia-based Oxygen Forensics, a Russian national, with concealing the firm's Russian ties from the U.S. government. Oxygen Forensics counted multiple federal agencies among its clients, making the alleged deception particularly serious and raising fresh questions about foreign influence inside domestic technology supply chains.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
