Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving the needle this Thursday.
Crude oil is extending its gains as U.S. military strikes on Iran reignite fears of supply disruptions across the Middle East. Traders are pricing in a risk premium on the possibility that regional escalation could tighten global supply, pushing prices higher even as demand signals remain mixed heading into the back half of the year.
Shifting to the technology sector, Meta is planting its flag in Canada with a one gigawatt AI-optimized data center in Alberta — its thirty-third facility worldwide and its first north of the U.S. border. The company is committing nine billion dollars to the site itself and an additional forty million toward local infrastructure, with the project expected to generate three hundred operational jobs.
And in the commercial space race, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is reportedly targeting a private-market valuation of one hundred thirty billion dollars. That figure would put it at more than twice the valuation of Rocket Lab, though it still represents a fraction of SpaceX's staggering nearly two trillion dollar market capitalization, underscoring just how dominant Elon Musk's venture remains in that arena.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
