Brent crude has traded between $60 and $70 per barrel through May despite the Iran war’s ongoing Hormuz disruption, with the UAE’s exit from OPEC and weak global demand growth suppressing the price that Saudi Arabia’s $80 budget breakeven requires.
Category: Markets
Posted inMarkets
US stocks reach records even as the Middle East rattles global supply chains
The S&P 500 has hit new highs in 2026 driven by AI-linked earnings growth, with large-cap tech outperforming across the board while commodities and credit spreads reflect the risk of a longer supply chain disruption from the Iran conflict.
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Nvidia guides to $78 billion for Q1 as Blackwell demand stays ahead of supply
The chipmaker’s fiscal first-quarter results, due May 20, carry $78 billion in management guidance — a sequential increase from the $68.1 billion reported in Q4 — driven almost entirely by data center orders for its Blackwell architecture platform from hyperscale cloud providers.
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Bitcoin ETFs pass $100 billion in assets as BTC breaks $80,000
US spot Bitcoin ETFs have now exceeded $100 billion in total net assets, with BlackRock’s IBIT alone holding roughly 809,000 BTC — about 7 percent of total circulating supply — as four consecutive days of institutional inflows lifted the token above $80,000 in early May.
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Gold retreats from its $5,589 record but forecasters still see $5,000 ahead
After hitting an all-time high in January 2026, gold has pulled back roughly 16 percent to trade around $4,700, driven by rising US inflation expectations and growing conviction that the Federal Reserve will keep rates elevated well into 2027.