Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read of the tape.
Apple and Microsoft's Xbox moved in lockstep Thursday, both raising prices sharply — Apple's MacBooks and iPads up twenty percent, Xbox hardware up as much as one hundred fifty dollars — with both companies pointing to a memory chip shortage driven by surging AI infrastructure demand. The timing was no coincidence, and markets noticed immediately.
That dual announcement hit Asian bourses hard overnight, with fears compounding around a potential delay to OpenAI's IPO. Investors are beginning to price in a scenario where AI's appetite for compute is driving input costs higher across the board, squeezing both consumer hardware margins and near-term sentiment around the sector's growth story.
On a separate front, incoming Fed chair Kevin Warsh delivered notably hawkish commentary on inflation, and paradoxically it steadied bond markets. Long-term inflation expectations moved lower as investors interpreted Warsh's tough tone as a credible commitment to price stability. Meanwhile, oil slid nearly two percent, reinforcing the disinflationary read and giving Warsh's words added weight.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
