Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Oil is surging after Iran launched a ballistic missile strike on U.S. forces in the Middle East, reigniting geopolitical risk across energy markets. U.S. Central Command confirmed all missiles were intercepted, but the brief pause in hostilities has clearly ended, and crude is pricing in the uncertainty with sharp gains.
Pulling back to the broader macro picture, the United States has moved to ban Chinese humanoid and quadruped robots from American markets, with the FCC citing national security and economic concerns. The move is significant for domestic robotics and manufacturing plays, and raises fresh questions about the next frontier of the U.S.-China technology decoupling.
On the infrastructure side of that same AI and technology buildout, Microsoft's power demands are putting companies like Caterpillar squarely in the spotlight. As data centers multiply to support artificial intelligence workloads, industrial suppliers providing generation and energy infrastructure are seeing a meaningful lift in their order books and long-term contract pipelines.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
