Global equities are finding their footing after the recent bond-led selloff, with investors moving back into the AI trade following Nvidia’s quarterly earnings, reviving confidence in the broader AI supply-chain theme. Asian stocks rallied strongly, with the bellwether for AI and semiconductors — South Korea’s Kospi — rising as much as 8.2%.
The improvement in sentiment has also been helped by signs of easing geopolitical tension. Trump said the US was in the “final stages” with Iran, raising hopes that energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz could restart, which helped pull oil lower and ease some of the inflation pressure that had been weighing on bonds. That said, the move is not yet decisive: Brent has already rebounded back above $106, Iran is still reviewing the latest US draft, and markets remain wary after repeated false starts on a deal. Bond yields remain elevated, with the 10-year Treasury around 4.59%, while Jamie Dimon’s warning that rates could move much higher is a reminder of the higher-for-longer risk.
In the UK, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to detail a package to ease cost-of-living pressures at 11:30 today. However, Reeves has backed away from her proposal to cap grocery prices following backlash from supermarkets.
On today’s economic calendar, we have a series of May PMI releases: Eurozone (9:00 AM), UK (9:30 AM), and US (2:45 PM), as well as US weekly initial jobless claims at 1:30 PM.
• Bitcoin was little changed at $77,715.51
• Spot gold fell 0.4% to $4,526.44 an ounce
