Finance

U.S. and Iran have engaged in military exchanges for a second day, leading to heightened rhetoric and threats against Iranian oil infrastructure. These developments have caused periodic spikes in Brent crude prices and maintained an elevated VIX, as the conflict enters its fourth month.

Chipmakers including Intel and Arm Holdings are seeing a recovery today after recent profit-taking in the AI semiconductor space. Market sentiment is also being shaped by the highly anticipated initial public offering of SpaceX, which is expected to price later today and has prompted some institutional selling for capital allocation.

Oracle's stock experienced a significant decline after reporting its fourth-quarter results, primarily due to a substantial $5 billion increase in capital expenditures for AI data centers. While the company exceeded revenue expectations with 47% growth in its cloud business, the high costs associated with scaling its infrastructure have weighed on investor confidence.