U.S. forces conducted overnight strikes against Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a U.S. official who spoke to NPR and CNBC. The strikes were in response to recent attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on an American base that had previously launched operations.
Key Takeaways
U.S. forces conducted overnight strikes on Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz in response to recent attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Meanwhile, stock markets reached record highs driven by strong tech earnings and AI optimism, despite economic concerns like inflation. A Google engineer was charged with fraud for leveraging confidential data to profit from prediction markets.
The escalation sparked a risk-on reaction in early trading across Asia and European futures, with oil prices rising as the conflict threatens commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. However, earlier in the day, oil prices had plunged more than 5% after Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that Washington was giving Iran talks 'every chance to succeed,' according to CNBC.
Rubio also noted that talks with Iran have made some progress but warned that President Donald Trump retained options if diplomacy failed. Shortly after the news of the strikes broke, oil prices began to rise again, with markets in the Asia-Pacific opening lower on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, stock markets continue to rally, with the S&P 500 reaching record highs despite economic concerns such as inflation and consumer confidence. The market rally is driven by strong corporate earnings, particularly in the technology sector, and optimism about artificial intelligence's potential to boost productivity. Analysts from Goldman Sachs project that the S&P 500 could reach 8,000 points by year-end, citing above-trend profit growth and lower tax rates as contributing factors.
In other tech news, shares of cloud-based AI and data platform company Snowflake rocketed as much as 36% after the company reported a strong earnings beat and announced plans to spend $6 billion on Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure. Salesforce also posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations, though its full-year guidance came in slightly below forecasts.
Dell Technologies secured a massive $9.7 billion Pentagon software deal, underscoring its growing ties with the Trump administration. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that low-income households are facing a 'remarkable' rise in food insecurity due to prolonged inflation, which has disproportionately affected lower- and middle-income households.
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