Good evening, you're listening to Markets Desk.
Bank of America strategists are drawing a direct line between oil prices and interest rates, and the math is uncomfortable. Their analysis shows a dramatic correlation across the U.S., U.K., and Germany — meaning if crude keeps climbing, central banks may have little choice but to push rates significantly higher, regardless of how quickly the Iran situation resolves.
Staying with the rate-sensitive picture, the crypto legislative calendar took a hit this week. SkyBridge founder Anthony Scaramucci says Trump's memecoin ventures helped derail the CLARITY Act, with ethics restriction disputes adding fuel to the fire. Scaramucci was careful to spread the blame, but the signal is clear — Washington's crypto framework remains stalled, and the political noise isn't helping.
And on artificial intelligence, JPMorgan's Michael Cembalest is urging investors to look past the current build-out frenzy toward two thousand twenty eight, when the real reckoning arrives. His concern centers on what happens to data center investment cycles after midterm elections, when political winds shift and capital commitments face harder scrutiny. The AI trade has momentum now, but the structural test is still ahead.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
