Good morning, you're listening to Markets Desk, and here's what's moving the tape.
Oil is climbing sharply this session after fresh Iranian missile strikes raised fears that a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East could collapse entirely. Traders are pricing in supply disruption risk, and with geopolitical uncertainty already elevated, the bid under crude is holding firm. Front-month contracts are reflecting genuine concern, not just noise.
Complicating that picture, President Trump told the Financial Times that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will have, quote, no choice but to accept a deal with Iran, adding that he calls the shots on the direction of any agreement. That kind of direct pressure on an ally is unusual even by this administration's standards, and bond markets are watching closely for what it means for broader regional stability and Federal Reserve calculus on inflation.
Meanwhile, the AI trade is facing a different kind of pressure. Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft are all aggressively scaling custom chip designs to run their own workloads in-house, reducing dependence on Nvidia. This is not a trivial development. When your three largest cloud customers start building around you, the earnings growth story for Nvidia demands a harder look than the market has been willing to give it.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
