Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving the needle right now.
Equity markets pushed higher Tuesday as crude oil prices pulled back, giving traders room to breathe ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision. The S&P five hundred gained roughly six tenths of a percent, while the Nasdaq one hundred outperformed, climbing nearly one and a third percent on continued technology strength.
Turning to Washington's closest ally abroad, Israeli voters head into uncertainty as early returns show Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition leading but falling short of the sixty one seats required to form a government. With more than three quarters of votes counted, the prospect of yet another political deadlock is weighing on regional stability and investor sentiment tied to Middle Eastern risk assets.
And in the post-politics economy, former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is commanding up to ten thousand dollars an hour as a senior advisor to Anthropic, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs. Goldman paid him approximately one point five million dollars, while Anthropic compensated him in shares valued at roughly five hundred thousand dollars — a striking illustration of how aggressively AI firms are recruiting political credibility alongside technical talent.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
