Donald Trump said “oil tankers are starting to move” through the Strait of Hormuz, signaling that a potential U.S.-Iran understanding may be restoring traffic through the key energy corridor. The Strait of Hormuz handles about 20% of global seaborne crude oil, making its stability a direct driver of near-term supply-risk premia. The remark marks the first time a senior U.S. official has confirmed substantive progress rather than routine diplomatic messaging or speculation, providing an immediate catalyst for sentiment and pricing in oil markets.

Mark Zuckerberg put $14.3 billion into Scale AI, bringing in Alexandr Wang as Meta’s Chief AI Officer and delivering Muse Spark, the company’s first proprietary frontier AI model. Meta has kept Muse Spark closed, citing biosafety risks, and is positioning it inside Facebook, Instagram and other products rather than as an open developer platform. Even so, the model is seen as trailing rivals such as Claude and Gemini, and Meta has yet to rebuild developer confidence. The company remains heavily dependent on advertising and is testing subscriptions, while its shares are down 18% over the past 12 months.

A peace deal between the United States and Iran fueled expectations of easing geopolitical risks, pushing international oil prices sharply lower. Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures extended premarket gains to about 2%. SpaceX shares rose 5.5% for the day. The surprise geopolitical shift weighed on energy-cost expectations and improved risk appetite for growth stocks.

OpenAI, Anthropic and another unnamed AI company are expected to raise about $200 billion in total, far exceeding historical IPO records. Such offerings would absorb a large share of primary-market capital and could also strain liquidity in secondary markets. New AI listings are unlikely to enter the S&P 500 soon because of profitability requirements, while Nasdaq-100 index funds would have to buy them, potentially triggering short-term rebalancing. For Indian investors, indirect holdings of Nasdaq index products via the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) are presented as the only workable route, with no direct subscription channel.