Finance

Nvidia announced a massive $13 billion deal to acquire open-weight AI platform Hugging Face, marking its largest acquisition since purchasing Mellanox in 2020. The announcement pushed Nvidia's stock up nearly 2% during the session, underscoring the semiconductor giant's continued dominance and strategic aggression in the booming artificial intelligence sector.

Crude oil prices continued their upward trajectory as an intensification of the conflict between the United States and Iran disrupted key energy corridors. Brent crude traded above $96 a barrel following reports of retaliatory strikes near the Strait of Hormuz. Though the geopolitical tension initially stoked inflation anxieties, market pressures were somewhat alleviated by optimistic executive comments hinting that the conflict might be short-lived.

Bitcoin experienced a strong resurgence, jumping several percentage points to retake the $80,000 mark. The digital asset benefited directly from a pullback in global bond yields and a weaker U.S. dollar, which renewed investor interest in hard assets. The cryptocurrency's rally also triggered double-digit gains for major crypto-linked equities like Robinhood and Coinbase.