Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Crude oil is taking a significant hit for a third consecutive session, with September West Texas Intermediate settling down more than four percent to a one-week low. The driver is renewed optimism around a potential United States-Iran diplomatic resolution, which traders are reading as a supply risk premium coming out of the market.
Shifting to equities, Australian shares are holding firm above the nine thousand mark on the S&P ASX two hundred, extending gains for a third straight session. The broader Asian picture is more complicated, with South Korea and Taiwan continuing to slide, leaving the regional tape genuinely split. Cautious optimism around Middle East de-escalation is providing some floor to sentiment, but conviction remains thin.
And on the technology policy front, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg is pushing back against any potential ban on Chinese artificial intelligence in the United States, warning that heavy-handed domestic regulation risks what he calls regulatory capture, essentially allowing incumbents to write rules that freeze out competition rather than protect consumers. It is a notable intervention from one of the industry's most powerful voices at a moment when Washington is actively shaping its AI posture.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
