Asia-Pacific markets fell Friday as Israel conducted a military strike on Iran, targeting its nuclear program, while Iran vowed to retaliate. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1.12% while the Topix lost 0.96%. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.98% lower and the small-cap Kosdaq declined 2.91%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.23%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.72% while mainland China’s CSI 300 lost 0.72%. Israel’s defence minister announced a ‘special situation’ after Israel attacked Iran.
The S&P 500 ended Thursday higher as a rally in Oracle lifted investors’ hopes and boosted the big tech sector. The benchmark climbed 0.38% and closed at 6,045.26. The broad market S&P 500 now sits less than 2% off its record. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.24% and ended the day at 19,662.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 101.85 points, or 0.24%, settling at 42,967.62.
Crude oil futures jumped as much as 13% Thursday evening after Israel launched airstrikes against Iran without U.S. support. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was last up 9.66% at $74.64 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent surged 9.27% to $75.79 per barrel, setting them on course for the largest single-day gains since 2020. Israel launched a “targeted military operation” against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address. Israel hit Iran’s main enrichment site at Natanz, its leading nuclear scientists, and struck the heart of its ballistic missile program, Netanyahu said.
Gold prices climbed on Friday to their highest point in more than a month, on track for a weekly gain, as investors sought safe-haven assets after Israel’s strike on Iran heightened Middle East tensions. Spot gold was up 1.3% at $3,428.28 an ounce, as of 0134 GMT, after hitting its highest level since May 7 earlier in the session. Bullion has gained more than 3.5% so far this week. U.S. gold futures gained 1.4% to $3,449.60. Geopolitical tensions escalated after Israel struck Iran as tensions mounted over U.S. efforts to halt Iran’s production of atomic bomb materials.
The U.K. economy shrank sharply in April as global trade tariffs and domestic tax rises kicked in; data showed Thursday. The latest monthly growth figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the U.K. economy contracted 0.3% month on month in April, following growth of 0.2% in March. It was also more than the 0.1% fall economists were expecting. The decline in April came as U.S. President Donald Trump announced global trade tariffs on trading partners and adversaries alike, creating widespread business uncertainty. The U.K. was hit with a 10% “reciprocal tariff” from Trump despite having a more-or-less balanced trading relationship with the U.S. when it comes to the exchange of goods.
India’s consumer inflation eased to a cooler-than-expected 2.82% in May, the country’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reported Thursday. The year-on-year headline inflation came in below a Reuters’ median poll estimate of a 3% increase and hits its lowest level since February 2019, according to the government release. The print had risen by 3.16% in April. Food inflation, a key metric, hit 0.99% in May, sharply below the 1.78% of April. Vegetable inflation dipped by 13.7% in April, with cereal price growth up by 4.77% in May. The Reserve Bank of India has relaxed monetary policy amid easing inflationary pressures. Most recently, the bank slashed its benchmark repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.50%, a level unseen since August 2022.
U.S. household wealth fell at the end of the first quarter, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday, dragged down by a stock market rout that has since reversed course. The net worth of households and non-profit groups shrank to $169.3 trillion as of March 31, the Fed said in its quarterly U.S. financial accounts report, down from $170.9 trillion the prior quarter and the lowest quarter-end level since the middle of last year. It was the first drop in household net worth since the third quarter of 2023 and was largely due to a $2.3 trillion decline in the value of household equity holdings. The value of household real estate holdings also fell, by about $200 billion, as house prices continued a third straight quarter of decline, the Fed said. The drop in household wealth, which had notched record highs in each of the recent quarters, may prove short-lived.
At least 241 people were killed when an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a residential area moments after take-off from Ahmedabad in western India, the carrier said. There was a sole survivor from the plane who was taken to a local hospital, the airline said on X. The plane was bound for London Gatwick Airport. Video posted on social media appeared to show the jetliner descending followed by a fireball and a dark plume of smoke. It marks the first fatal crash of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner plane. There were 242 people on board the more than 11-year-old aircraft: 230 passengers and 12 crew members, Air India said. The incident occurred just before the high-profile Paris Air Show trade event set for next week, where both Boeing and rival Airbus were set to announce hundreds of aircraft orders. Boeing shares fell nearly 5% on Thursday.
General Motors plans to invest $4 billion in three American assembly plants, including moving or increasing production of two Mexican-produced vehicles to U.S. plants. The Detroit automaker announced the plans Tuesday, as there have been few indications of progress in trade talks between the Trump administration and Mexican leaders. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump implemented 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and 25% tariffs on many auto parts imported into the U.S. GM said the investment will add assembly of the gas-powered Chevrolet Blazer and Chevrolet Equinox that are currently produced in Mexico to two other plants in the U.S. and convert a large idled plant in Michigan — formerly expected to build all-electric trucks — to make gas-powered SUVs and trucks in 2027.
Disney has agreed to pay Comcast $438.7 million for its stake in the streaming service Hulu, concluding a years-long appraisal process. In 2023 Disney announced it intended to buy Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu. At the time, Disney paid $8.6 billion, which reflected Hulu’s guaranteed minimum value of $27.5 billion. The two companies had agreed on that floor in 2019. Disney’s announcement came as no surprise as it was widely reported by CNBC and others that Disney was looking to take full ownership of Hulu. Disney took two-thirds ownership of Hulu when it acquired Fox Corp.’s entertainment assets. Following that initial payment, Disney and Comcast entered into an appraisal process that was originally expected to conclude in 2024. Disney has already begun integrating the two existing services, which are also offered together in a bundle with ESPN+, the current sports streaming offering.
Meta has invested $15bn into data-labelling start-up Scale AI and hired its co-founder Alexandr Wang, as part of its bid to attract talent from rivals in a fiercely competitive market. Scale will distribute proceeds from Meta’s investment to shareholders, and Meta will own 49 per cent of Scale’s equity following the transaction. Meta’s investment is the latest attempt by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to give his $1.8tn social media company an edge in the race to develop more powerful AI models. Zuckerberg has been trying to poach top researchers and engineers from rival groups as he seeks to build out a new “superintelligence” team. The deal is one of the biggest of its kind as tech companies increasingly strike agreements to invest in start-ups while acquiring their top staff. Last year, Microsoft paid $650mn to hire Inflection boss Mustafa Suleyman and his top lieutenants, and to license the start-up’s technology. Google also paid $2.7bn for a similar arrangement with Character.AI.
Chime Financials’ shares surged 59% in their hotly anticipated Nasdaq debut on Thursday, valuing the digital bank at $18.4 billion and extending a winning streak for new stock market listings. The San Francisco-based company's stock opened at $43, compared with the IPO price of $27. It was last trading at $39.90. The company, along with some of its investors, sold 32 million shares at a price above the marketed range to raise $864 million in the IPO. Digital banks such as Chime have grown rapidly in recent years by offering low-cost, mobile-first financial services that appeal to younger users and underserved consumers. With features such as no-fee accounts, early access to direct deposits and user-friendly apps, they have positioned themselves as accessible alternatives to traditional banks. The fintech earns revenue primarily from interchange fees collected when users swipe their debit cards.
Oracle shares soared 13% on Thursday to a record close, after the database software vendor issued robust earnings and a strong forecast, fuelled by growth in cloud. Revenue climbed 11% year over year during the fiscal fourth quarter to $15.9 billion, topping the $15.59 billion average estimate, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.70 exceeded the average analyst estimate of $1.64. Oracle has been making headway in the cloud infrastructure market to challenge Amazon, Google and Microsoft. It’s still small by comparison, with $3 billion in cloud revenue during the May quarter, compared with over $12 billion for Google, which counts productivity software subscriptions and cloud infrastructure sales when reporting cloud metrics. But Oracle’s business is growing faster.
Advanced Micro Devices showcased a new lineup of artificial intelligence chips designed to compete with Nvidia’s flagship processors during an event called "Advancing AI" on Thursday. CEO Lisa Su presented the MI350 series and MI400 series AI chips, which she positioned as direct competitors to Nvidia’s Blackwell line. AMD shares remained relatively flat in early afternoon trading following the announcement. During the presentation, executives from X.AI, Meta Platforms, and Oracle joined Su on stage to discuss their implementations of AMD processors. Su confirmed AMD’s product roadmap for the coming year, which will align with the annual release schedule Nvidia established with its Blackwell chips. The company has been working to capture market share in the rapidly expanding AI chip sector, where Nvidia currently holds a dominant position. AMD has focused on enhancing its software capabilities and developing chips that can match Nvidia’s performance metrics. The Thursday event centered on AMD’s data centre chips and related hardware offerings.