Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Crude oil surged more than two and a half percent Thursday after President Trump said the United States doesn't need a deal with Iran, effectively dimming hopes for a diplomatic resolution. That geopolitical signal pushed energy prices sharply higher, dragging bond yields up with them and giving the dollar fresh momentum.
That dollar strength hit gold hard. The dollar index climbed to a fresh one-and-a-half-year high, and as yields rose on the back of Trump's hawkish Iran comments, gold slumped as traders repriced the likelihood of a tighter Federal Reserve policy path. The combination of a stronger dollar and rising real rates is a difficult environment for the metal.
Meanwhile, a significant leadership development in the technology sector. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has abruptly resigned, sending shockwaves through AI-adjacent equities. CoreWeave, which relies heavily on Nvidia's graphics processors and counts the chipmaker as a key partner, fell nearly seven percent Thursday, surrendering a large portion of the nearly twenty-five percent gain it posted just one session earlier on strong earnings.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
