Finance

Global energy markets experienced sharp relief after the U.S. and Iran paused mutual military strikes to allow diplomatic negotiations to resume. Brent and WTI crude prices plummeted roughly 8% in a single day, retreating well below the $90 per barrel mark. This abrupt drop erased previous supply-side premiums and substantially eased near-term inflation anxieties for investors.

Gold prices pushed past $4,100 per ounce, finding strong upward momentum amid falling U.S. Treasury yields and a softening dollar. The drop in oil prices lessened immediate pressure on the Federal Reserve to aggressively hike interest rates, lowering the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding safe-haven assets. Silver also outperformed during the session, posting strong percentage gains to trade near $59 per ounce.

Tech stocks faced significant headwinds, primarily led by a 5% drop in artificial intelligence frontrunner Nvidia, which pulled its market capitalization back below Apple's. Market sentiment was dampened by reports that a major Chinese competitor completed a multi-billion dollar domestic IPO to mass-manufacture key memory components. Additionally, investors expressed concern over rumors regarding a massive financial backstop for an open-source data center project.