Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving.
Advanced Micro Devices crossed a major threshold today, its market capitalization surging past five hundred billion dollars after Intel's disappointing earnings report sent investors flooding into AMD as the clear alternative play in the chip space. The contrast between the two couldn't be sharper right now.
Staying in the AI power trade, nuclear energy startup X-Energy made a striking debut on public markets, its IPO priced well above the expected range and shares surged out of the gate. Wall Street appetite for the AI-power infrastructure theme remains intense, though veteran investors will note that a strong open is no guarantee of long-term performance.
And on the geopolitical front, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are heading to Islamabad as diplomatic momentum builds around a potential US-Iran deal. Tehran's foreign minister has confirmed the meeting, and the Financial Times notes that while hopes are rising, any lasting arrangement in the Gulf will require far more than a fragile ceasefire to hold.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
