Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving markets right now.
The artificial intelligence trade is unwinding hard. Data centre construction stocks — the so-called picks and shovels of the AI buildout — have shed four point two trillion dollars in market value as the broader tech sell-off accelerates. Investors who rode the infrastructure wave up are now questioning whether the demand assumptions ever penciled out.
That pressure extends directly to Nvidia, where the Financial Times is raising a longer-term structural question: what does the company look like in a post-Jensen Huang era. Nvidia has accumulated a remarkable list of adversaries — rivals, regulators, and former customers building their own silicon — and the piece argues the company's dominance has made it a target on every front simultaneously.
Meanwhile, geopolitical risk is repricing sharply. Iran launched a fresh attack on Bahrain, escalating a conflict that has seen the island kingdom struck repeatedly since the war began. Bahrain warned civilians to take cover during the morning strike. Energy markets and regional risk assets are watching closely, as any further escalation through the Gulf corridor carries immediate implications for oil supply and safe-haven flows.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
