Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk, your end-of-day read on what's moving markets and the world behind them.
Geopolitical risk is back at the center of the tape. Two United States servicemen were killed in Iranian strikes on Jordan, with Tehran also hitting Saudi Arabia for the first time in months. The battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz is escalating fast, and energy markets will be watching every development closely heading into the week.
Pivoting to tech, all eyes are on Big Tech earnings season kicking off with Google next week, and the number traders are laser-focused on isn't revenue or profit. It's capital expenditure. How much Google, Amazon, and Microsoft commit to AI data centers will set the tone for the entire sector's forward narrative and potentially reshape valuation models across the board.
And stepping back from markets for a moment, Nouriel Roubini, the economist who called the two thousand eight crash and earned the name Doctor Doom, says artificial intelligence will likely push society toward universal basic income or some form of socialism as traditional work gets hollowed out. He frames that not as a warning, but as the optimistic outcome.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
