Hello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

It’s not often a president cheers a three-year high in the inflation rate, but this is where we are.

U.S. consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 4.2% in May, to which Trump responded: “I love the inflation,” while predicting that prices will fall “like a rock” once the war with Iran ends.

That war, however, has entered a second day of renewed hostilities, with Washington and Tehran now fighting over the narrative on shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz as they trade strikes.

The chain of consequences becomes clear: Hormuz is driving oil, oil is driving inflation, and inflation is now the first real test for new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. But that might just be music to Warsh’s ears.

Markets find themselves under a stress test, weighing a war that’s “very complete” against strikes that keep coming. Against that backdrop, SpaceX’s rocket of an IPO is soon to launch into the middle of it.

The U.S. began striking multiple targets in Iran overnight, with the Central Command describing the strikes as a response to Iran’s “unwarranted and continued aggression,” putting fresh strain on an already brittle ceasefire.

Tensions have escalated following Washington’s retaliatory strikes against Iran after a U.S. Apache helicopter was downed near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Wednesday the U.S. would hit Iran “hard again today,” while pressing Tehran to sign a deal he says must be “meaningful.”

The U.S. president also disclosed a secret operation he said he ordered last month, in which the military helped 200 commercial ships and more than 100 million barrels of oil transit Hormuz. The claim is not entirely at odds with data: JPMorgan estimated last week that around 2 million barrels per day may be moving through on tankers with transponders switched off.

While Iran’s military command has ordered the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels as tensions flare up, the U.S. CENTCOM sought to state the opposite, claiming in a X post that “commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz tonight.”

U.S. crude oil futures for July rose 2.94% to $92.68 per barrel Thursday. Brent futures, the international benchmark, for August delivery gained 2.52% to $95.45 per barrel.

The May CPI report — the one that Trump apparently loves and the first since Kevin Warsh was sworn in as Fed chair — showed energy costs rippling through the economy, with market odds overwhelmingly favoring the Fed to hold its short-term rate steady.

Amid rising energy prices and hot inflation, Wall Street stumbled Wednesday, with chip stocks also selling off. The Dow shed more than 900 points. Stock futures slipped overnight, with Oracle down more than 10% in extended…

Hello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

Wall Street had a strong session overnight — if you squint past the Nasdaq. The Dow hit an all-time high and oil cooled on optimism that the Iran war was nearing its end.

Chip stocks, however, stumbled; bitcoin is hovering at its weakest since the war began, private credit is throwing off sparks again — and a flesh-eating parasite has turned up in Texas.

As Wall Street is throwing a rocket-themed party for SpaceX, rating agency S&P Global made it clear that the blockbuster IPO may not see a swift entry for the company into its benchmark index.

The ceasefire trade is back on, with the Dow surging to a fresh all-time high, the S&P 500 edging higher and oil prices cooling 3%.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he’d be “honored” to meet Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, if a deal can be reached, while the Wall Street Journal reported that the president was reluctant to resume a full-scale war with Tehran.

Brent futures, the international crude benchmark, lost 2.8% to close at $95.03 per barrel, West Texas Intermediate futures dropped 3.1% to settle at $93.04 per barrel Thursday. Both were down in Friday Asia trading.

That drop in oil comes even as Iran-backed Hezbollah has rejected the terms of a U.S.-backed ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon as “absurd, humiliating and insulting,” demanding a full Israeli withdrawal before any deal holds.

From energy to tech: Broadcom tumbled about 15% after missing revenue expectations — enough to drag the Nasdaq down nearly 0.1% even as the rest of Wall Street cheered. The tech contagion spread to stocks in Asia, dragging key indexes lower.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has invited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on June 11 over the company’s China sales and U.S. export controls, according to a letter seen by CNBC.

Meanwhile, TSMC Chairman Che-Chia Wei told shareholders on Thursday that the firm was striving to keep up with demand and avoid becoming a bottleneck in the global supply chain, while signaling a willingness to raise prices.

Crypto slide continued, with bitcoin weathering its ugliest week in months, briefly dipping below $62,000 before steadying near $63,719. It has now erased all of its gains since the war began, caught between ETF outflows, a rotation into other assets and Michael Saylor’s Strategy revealing its first bitcoin sale since 2022.

Cracks in private credit widened. Blackstone capped withdrawals from its flagship Blackstone Private Credit fund, following a spike in investor redemption requests. It followed Switzerland’s Partners Group, which did the same for one of its private equity vehicles while warning that it…

Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to the latest edition of the Daily Open newsletter.

Traders in Asia are evaluating another round of mixed signals from the Middle East, as the U.S.-Iran war continues into its fourth month.

In an interview with CNBC, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and the U.S. were ready to return to military action against Iran, if needed.

The remarks pushed oil prices higher and stock futures down, even as progress was reported on a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block further American military involvement.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC aired Wednesday, Netanyahu said that Trump had warned Iran of “a full scale return to military action,” if necessary, emphasizing that it would ultimately be the U.S. president’s decision.

Netanyahu, however, noted that there had been tactical disagreements between the U.S. and Israel, though they were largely on the same page on their Middle East strategy. 

The comments appeared to spook oil traders, with Brent and WTI crude both moving higher on fears of renewed escalation, though crude remains below the psychologically important $100-per-barrel level. 

S&P 500 futures were pointing lower after the benchmark snapped a nine-day winning streak during the trading day. 

In a more positive development for a peace deal, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire. Asia markets, however, opened lower Thursday as Mideast worries keep investors on edge.

Signaling diminishing appetite for the conflict in Washington, the U.S. House voted in favor of a war powers measure that would direct an end to U.S. military involvement in the Iran conflict unless Congress authorizes continued action.

While the bipartisan vote underscores growing congressional pushback over the scope and duration of the Iran campaign, the measure still needs to pass the Senate, and any final legislation could face a presidential veto.

Trump on Wednesday suggested that Iran had agreed not to have nuclear weapons, while adding that “they can change their mind.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Trump’s interview when contacted by CNBC. A government official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told CNBC Trump’s words were “misleading.”

The comments came after the The Kuwait International Airport was struck by Iran, a day after the U.S. Central Command launched “self-defense strikes” on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf. 

Corporate America delivered its own set of headlines on Wednesday, pouring cold water on Wall Street’s recent tech-led rally. 

Broadcom shares plunged nearly 14% after-hours after the company reported weaker-than-expected software revenue and didn’t raise its full-year AI chip sales target. CrowdStrike…

Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to today’s edition of the Daily Open newsletter.

After weeks of paused action in the U.S.-Iran conflict, the two countries are once again trading airstrikes, complicating hopes for a permanent resolution to a war that has stained global oil supplies. 

However, Wall Street hasn’t flinched. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed at record highs yesterday, lifted by an unrelenting surge in artificial-intelligence names that has overshadowed the latest geopolitical jitters.

The AI trade has shown few signs of cooling this earnings season. 

Shares of Snowflake surged 36% on Thursday after the cloud-data specialist delivered blockbuster results and highlighted explosive demand for its AI-powered platforms, lifting software stocks more broadly. 

Meanwhile, Dell Technologies was right behind, jumping 31% after reporting its strongest sales growth since 2018. The company also secured a massive Pentagon contract on Wednesday, adding to investor excitement for Dell’s growing AI server business. 

In private markets, Anthropic leapfrogged OpenAI to become the most valuable AI startup in Silicon Valley, closing in on a $1 trillion valuation in its latest funding round as more LLM companies look to go public this year. 

Boosted by the rally in the technology sector, all three major averages finished at new closing records on Thursday. That was despite retailers like Gap and American Eagle posting disappointing results in the face of growing inflation concerns. 

Stocks had risen to their session highs after Axios reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators agreed on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire, with a White House official later confirming to CNBC that the U.S. and Iran had “mostly agreed” to the terms.

But just a few hours later, Iranian state media outlet Fars reported that the country’s armed forces had fired missiles at unidentified targets late Thursday local time.

The overnight headlines from the Middle East come amid traders’ fading optimism for a full U.S.-Iran nuclear deal this year despite earlier reports of progress. U.S. officials have said that if Iran fails to meet nuclear demands during negotiations, President Donald Trump will have economic or military options on the table. 

The conflict and uncertainty surrounding it have continued to ripple through energy markets, with Exxon delivering a warning Thursday that oil inventories are on track to reach dangerously low levels in the coming weeks, forcing prices to spike and curbing demand.

That comes as broader inflation continues to hit consumer wallets, with recent data showing that the U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index jumped 3.8% in the 12 months through April. 

While that data…

Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of the CNBC Daily Open.

As major U.S. stock benchmarks fell, and bonds saw a sell-off, President Donald Trump said he had paused his plan to attack Iran.

Following the decision to halt military action, oil was lower, but the broader energy shock continues to ripple globally, amid continued warnings of an extended energy crunch.

Enjoy!

Iran was back in the headlines Monday, with Trump saying he would postpone a “scheduled attack of Iran,” following requests from leaders in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, while threatening a “large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice.”

International benchmark Brent crude futures for July delivery fell more than 2% to trade at $109.15 per barrel on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate futures declined 1.27% to $107.28 per barrel.

But the broader energy supply worries remain intact as the critical energy waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, continues to be blockaded by Iran.

Commodity analysts and strategists have sounded alarms that European oil shortages could emerge within weeks as inventories deplete as a result of disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz. Global stockpiles may not recover until 2027, with major implications for prices and supply chains, they warned.

That has also resulted in pressure on airlines, with Ryanair’s CFO warning of a potential “armageddon” jet fuel crunch, saying weaker European carriers may not survive. 

Heightening global inflation fears have also led to a rout in global bond markets, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yields reaching their highest level in a year on Monday and Japan’s 30-year government bond yield rising to a record high. 

Easing those inflation fears will be on the agenda for the Trump-nominated Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who, a White House official told CNBC, will be sworn in on Friday. 

Meanwhile, U.S. markets started the trading week down, with the S&P 500 posting back-to-back losses amid a tech sector sell-off. However, Asia-Pacific markets opened broadly higher Tuesday as oil prices, while elevated, eased.

Amid the tech sell-off in the U.S., Meta is expected to begin a round of layoffs this week, reflecting the impacts of AI investment and efficiency drives inside the American tech giant.

Also in tech news, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk lost his court battle against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman over claims they allegedly violated an agreement to run their artificial intelligence venture strictly as a charitable nonprofit.

A federal jury in Oakland, California, determined that Musk waited too long to launch the suit, with Musk and his attorneys saying they would appeal the verdict.  

Investors will continue to monitor geopolitical developments, with Russian leader…

Hello, this is Dylan writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

Wall Street was riding high as the first day of the U.S.-China summit raised hopes for a positive relationship reset and agreements from both sides.

Markets will be closely watching the second and final day of talks, to gauge how the developments at the summit ripple through trade, tech and energy.

U.S. stocks powered higher Thursday, with the S&P 500 posting its first close above 7,500, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping 370 points to recapture the 50,000 level.

The performance was fueled by optimism around President Donald Trump’s China visit, as well as strong earnings from Cisco Systems. 

Day one of the high-stakes summit in Beijing saw Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump agreeing to develop a “constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability.” 

The two sides also discussed global conflicts, with Trump and Xi aligning on keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to restore energy flows through the critical waterway, according to a White House official.

Xi also met with American CEOs traveling with Trump, including Elon Musk and Tim Cook, and told them that China will “open wider” to foreign businesses.

In regard to commercial deals struck so far, Trump told Fox News that China will order 200 Boeing jets in a major win for the U.S. planemaker.

However, there was also some tough talk at the summit, with Xi warning Washington that mishandling Taiwan would put the U.S.-China relationship in “great jeopardy.” Beijing considers Taiwan, a democratically self-ruled island, part of its territory, while the island’s ruling party rejects that claim.

The summit is set to end today, and Trump has reportedly invited ⁠Xi ​Jinping to ​the White House ​for ​a visit on ‌Sept. ⁠24.

The tech world has also been exciting markets this week, with shares of AI chipmaker Cerebras skyrocketing 68% in their Nasdaq debut, lifting the company’s market cap to $95 billion and highlighting the ongoing hunger for high-growth AI names. 

In other headlines, SpaceX’s IPO prospectus could drop as soon as next week in what’s expected to be a record share sale, sources told CNBC. 

— Dylan Butts  

Chinese parts are already in U.S. cars as lawmakers warn Trump against China auto deal

As President Donald Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, lawmakers in both parties are warning the White House not to use the U.S. auto market as a bargaining chip in any deal with Beijing.

The warning stems in part from Trump’s January suggestion that he could welcome Chinese automakers if they built vehicles in the U.S. with American workers — remarks that were later walked back but still rattled auto-state lawmakers, unions and…

Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

President Donald Trump has landed in Beijing, accompanied by a high-profile group of American CEOs, setting the stage for crucial meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid escalating geopolitical and economic tensions. 

Markets across Asia-Pacific are watching closely for any breakthroughs on trade, technology, and regional security.

Enjoy!

President Trump was received on the tarmac in China by a brass band and flag-wavers, who performed as he descended the steps of Air Force One.

The President is being accompanied on the trip by a group of executives from some of America’s most valuable companies, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. 

Trump and Xi are expected to cover tariffs, rare earths, artificial intelligence, the Iran war and Taiwan. Experts anticipate that they may announce large Chinese orders for American planes and soybeans when the meetings conclude. 

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Thursday in the leadup to the meeting. In the U.S., futures were little changed. 

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose to a new all-time high as traders’ enthusiasm for the technology trade overshadowed another hotter-than-expected inflation report. 

U.S. wholesale inflation data delivered a fresh jolt on Wednesday, with prices surging 6% year-over-year in April, the sharpest annual gain since 2022. The hotter-than-expected reading adds pressure on Federal Reserve leadership and complicates the economic backdrop as Trump engages in high-level diplomacy.

In a key development for U.S. monetary policy, Kevin Warsh has secured Senate confirmation as the next chair of the Fed. His leadership will be immediately tested by sticky inflation and potential rate implications from global energy shocks.

Meanwhile, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has continued to hurt global oil flows, with OPEC reporting a 30% since the start of the Iran war in late February. It also warned of significant risks to demand growth this year.

— Dylan Butts 

Japan’s global defense business may be on the cusp of a big breakout

Japan easing decades-old restrictions on arms exports opens a big opportunity for the country’s defense industry in a world increasingly hungry for weapons.

The global conditions seem favorable. On April 27, SIPRI reported that global military spending hit a record of $2.89 trillion in 2025, the 11th straight year of increase.

Countries are “desperate” to acquire weapons such as air defense missiles, artillery shells and armored vehicles, areas where Japan Inc. might expand its market share in the international defense economy, Hirohito Ogi,…

Singapore, long viewed as a bellwether for the global economy, expects tourism spending to soften this year despite forecasting another increase in visitor arrivals, reflecting concerns that conflicts in the Middle East could weigh on consumer and business spending.

The Singapore Tourism Board projected tourism receipts of 31 billion and 32.5 billion Singapore dollars ($24 billion to $25.6 billion) in 2026, compared with a record of 32.8 billion Singapore dollars last year. International arrivals are forecast to rise to between 17 million and 18 million this year, from 16.9 million in 2025.

The city-state is a regional hub for business travel and airline stopovers and has hosted major events, including the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix and concerts by megastars Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Blackpink. Tourism accounted for 6% of Singapore’s services exports in 2024, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.

Despite visitor arrivals rising 3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, tourism spending is expected to soften because of “muted demands in the months ahead”, Melissa Ow, chief executive of Singapore’s Tourism Board, said at the country’s annual industry conference.

The caution from Singapore’s tourism authorities echoes broader concerns across the business travel industry. The Global Business Travel Association said geopolitical tensions and higher fuel costs were creating instability across international travel markets, even as Asia remained comparatively resilient.

Asia Pacific accounts for more than 40% of global business travel spending, according to the Global Business Travel Association.

Suzanne Neufang, CEO of the Global Business Travel Association, told CNBC’s Monica Pitrelli that business travel globally has yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, even as travel costs remain elevated.

While geopolitical or economic “wobbles” are inevitable, Singapore’s tourism strategy still has “one and a half decades to go,” Ow said.

Singapore’s “Tourism 2040″ strategy aims to increase tourism receipts to between 47 and 50 billion Singapore dollars by 2040.

In 2025, a record of 70 million passengers passed through Singapore’s Changi Airport.

Hello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

Sometimes, actions produce the opposite of the desired outcome. Washington’s attempt to assert control over the Iran conflict, whether through oil diplomacy or tough talk, has had the opposite effect. Instead of calming markets, they have highlighted just how little has been resolved.

Peace talks are stalling. Shipping lanes remain choked. And even a modest OPEC+ output hike landed with a shrug.

Markets, for now, appear to have made their peace with the stalemate. S&P 500 futures edged higher while oil barely moved. But the relative calm may prove fragile as the week unfolds.

Seven OPEC+ members agreed Sunday to raise production targets by 188,000 barrels per day in June, the third consecutive ​monthly increase. But with the Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed, the real-world impact is likely limited. The meeting was also the cartel’s first since the United Arab Emirates’ shock exit from the group last week.

Oil prices ticked down modestly, while S&P 500 futures rose slightly on Sunday as investors reacted to continued uncertainty surrounding progress in talks between the U.S. and Iran. The international benchmark Brent crude prices slipped less than 1% to about $107 a barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude edged lower to around $101 per barrel.

The U.S. will begin freeing ships stranded in the Strait on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Sunday, describing the effort as a “humanitarian gesture” for neutral countries not involved in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The president offered scant details about how the process would unfold.

Hours earlier, Tehran confirmed that it had received a U.S. response to its 14-point peace offer. Trump said over the weekend he had yet to review the exact wording of the Iranian peace proposal but was likely to reject it because “they have not paid a big enough price.”

Iranian state media quoted Foreign Ministry Esmaeil Baghaei as saying that nuclear talks are off the table until a ceasefire is reached and blockades in the vital energy artery are lifted on both sides.

Amid prolonged disruption to the Gulf oil flows, U.S. oil exports surged to a record high, shipping 5.2 million barrels per day in April, up more than 30% from February, according to Kpler.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said energy prices, which have surged since the war started in late February, are likely to ease later this year.

“Oil prices on the other side of this conflict are going to be much…

Hello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

If it feels like a lot to keep track of — that’s because it is.

Trump extended the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire by three weeks, buying diplomats more breathing room, while turning up the heat on Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.

Investors, by now somewhat seasoned in the art of looking past the headlines, held their nerve. But the uncertain prospect of a permanent end to the war will keep that enthusiasm in check.

The good news? It’s almost the weekend, though it’s worth remembering that the Iran war was launched on a Saturday about two months ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks, following a meeting in the White House with top officials.

“The Meeting went very well!” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the extension of the temporary truce. “The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote, referring to the Iran-backed militia group.

The warring powers, meanwhile, upped the ante with both Iran and the U.S. seizing ships and Trump ordering the U.S. Navy “to shoot and kill any boat” laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Amid all the mixed messaging, U.S. stocks pulled back as investors grew wary over the tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, coupled with a murky outlook for a peace deal. Stock futures were little changed, while Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed.

Brent oil futures rose about 3% to close at $105.07 per barrel on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate futures also advanced around 3% to close at $95.85. They were about 1% higher Friday.

The nearly two-month-old conflict has triggered warning calls for “the biggest energy security threat in history,” Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, or IEA, told CNBC on Thursday.

“As of today, we’ve lost 13 million barrels per day of oil … and there are major disruptions in vital commodities,” Birol told Steve Sedgwick virtually at CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore.

Also speaking at the event was former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said the “economic coercion” from the U.S. has prompted Canadian companies to make deals with China, while flagging his frustration that international financial institutions were no longer fit for purpose.

On the business front: Meta plans to lay off 10% of its workforce, about 8,000 employees, as it continues ramping up AI investments. Nike announced a new round of layoffs, affecting approximately 1,400 employees across the organization, mostly concentrated in its technology department.

Following…