Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Oil markets are giving back their wartime premium today as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz resumes, erasing gains that had built on supply disruption fears. Traders are unwinding risk positions as physical crude flows normalize, pulling benchmark prices lower across the session.
Shifting to memory chips, Micron is the earnings story of the week. The company reported gross margins surging to eighty-four point nine percent, up from thirty-nine percent a year ago, leapfrogging Nvidia and Meta in profitability. The memory cycle has turned decisively in Micron's favor, driven by AI infrastructure demand absorbing supply at premium prices.
Meanwhile the dollar is pressing higher, with the DXY index posting a fresh thirteen-month high. The Federal Reserve's hawkish posture from last Wednesday's FOMC meeting continues to drive the move, as markets reprice rate expectations upward. Gold is feeling the squeeze, sinking as real yield differentials tighten against the metal.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
