Good evening, you're tuned into Markets Desk.
The Federal Reserve is back in focus tonight as oil prices surge, pushing traders to reprice rate expectations sharply higher. Odds of a September hike have climbed meaningfully, with energy inflation threatening to force the Fed's hand just as markets had grown comfortable with a pause. Watch the two-year yield closely.
That macro pressure lands against a geopolitical backdrop that is anything but stable. President Trump signaled he is considering an Iran strike, quote, bigger than ever before, saying Tehran hasn't received enough pain yet. Meanwhile the Pentagon quietly revised its official Iran war death toll downward from eighteen to fourteen, removing four service members killed this month — a revision that raises serious questions about transparency and battlefield accounting.
Stepping back from the conflict, Alphabet delivered a standout quarter with YouTube ad sales hitting a record eleven point zero six billion dollars, up thirteen percent year over year. That pace has YouTube closing the revenue gap with Netflix faster than many expected, and it underscores how AI-driven ad targeting is compounding returns across Alphabet's entire platform stack.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
