On Wednesday, all three major US stock indices reached new record highs. The decline in oil prices provided support to the market. Following a report from Iranian state television that the country pledged to restore commercial navigation in the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within a month, US crude oil futures fell over 5% to around $88 per barrel.
【US Stocks】At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182.60 points, or 0.36%, to 50,644.28. The Nasdaq Composite gained 18.55 points, or 0.07%, to 26,674.73. The S&P 500 added 1.24 points, or 0.02%, to 7,520.36. Technology stocks showed mixed performance. Micron Technology (MU.US) rose 3.63%, continuing to set new highs. Tesla (TSLA.US) gained 1.66%, while Qualcomm (QCOM.US) fell over 6% and Intel (INTC.US) declined 1.4%. Snowflake (SNOW.US) surged 36% in after-hours trading after announcing a $6 billion cooperation agreement with Amazon. Nebius (NBIS.US) jumped over 15% after hours following a disclosure by Situational Awareness of holding a 5.6% stake in the company. Dell rose over 4% after securing a defense cooperation order from the US Department of Defense.
【European Stocks】Germany's DAX 30 index fell 33.03 points, or 0.13%, to 25,172.89. The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 9.57 points, or 0.09%, to 10,500.96. France's CAC 40 index gained 34.78 points, or 0.43%, to 8,207.89. The Euro Stoxx 50 index added 5.59 points, or 0.09%, to 6,068.15. Spain's IBEX 35 index rose 71.82 points, or 0.39%, to 18,362.72. Italy's FTSE MIB index fell 347.72 points, or 0.70%, to 49,551.50.
【Asian Stocks】Japan's Nikkei 225 index edged up slightly. South Korea's KOSPI index rose 2.25%. India's Sensex index fell 0.19%.
【US Dollar Index】The US Dollar Index rose on the 27th. The index measuring the dollar against a basket of six major currencies increased 0.04% to settle at 99.206. By the close of New York forex trading, 1 euro traded at $1.1629, largely unchanged from the previous session. 1 British pound traded at $1.3430, down from $1.3445. 1 US dollar traded at 159.51 Japanese yen, up from 159.33 yen; at 0.7868 Swiss francs, up from 0.7857 francs; at 1.3835 Canadian dollars, up from 1.3813 dollars; and at 9.2972 Swedish kronor, down from 9.3198 kronor.
【Cryptocurrencies】Bitcoin fluctuated between $75,000 and $78,000, trading at $75,818.36 after the US market close, down over 1.6%. Ethereum fell over 1.5% to $2,072.
【Crude Oil】July WTI crude oil fell 5.6%, settling at $88.68 per barrel. July Brent crude futures fell 5.3%, settling at $94.29 per barrel.
【Precious Metals】Spot gold fell below the $4,500 mark, settling at $4,459.14. Spot silver traded at $74.647.
【Macro News】Former President Trump issued a warning to ally Oman, stating that if it did not behave properly it would be "blown up." Commenting on reports concerning Iran and Oman jointly controlling the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said Oman "will behave properly" and reject any such mechanism, "otherwise we will have to bomb them." Iranian authorities had proposed cooperating with Omani authorities to manage and regulate maritime traffic in the strait located between Iran and Oman. Concurrently, Iran considered establishing a joint toll mechanism with Oman, a proposal opposed by the US. Addressing this proposal, Trump told reporters after a cabinet meeting, "Nobody is going to be controlling the Strait. The Strait will be open to everybody," and that the US would "watch it very closely." Trump added, "Oman will act like everybody else, otherwise we'll have to bomb them. They understand that, so it'll be fine."
Federal Reserve Governor Cook stated readiness to raise interest rates if inflation persists. In a speech at an event at Stanford University on Wednesday, Fed Governor Lisa Cook indicated that inflation is moving in the wrong direction and she is prepared to raise rates if this trend continues. While Cook noted she currently favors keeping borrowing costs unchanged and expects price growth to cool again in the coming months, her remarks align her with many Fed officials who view accelerating inflation as a greater policy concern than the labor market at present. Cook stated, "I want to be clear about my risk assessment: the risks remain tilted toward higher inflation." She added that five years of inflation above the Fed's 2% target risks embedding price pressures into pricing and wage-setting behavior. "Therefore, I am prepared to raise rates if the expected disinflation process does not materialize in a timely manner," she said.
【Company News】Meta launched a subscription service for its AI chatbot to help offset related expenditures. Meta Platforms (META.US) introduced a consumer subscription service for its Meta AI chatbot for the first time, aiming to help offset the company's multi-trillion dollar AI investments. The new subscription service has two tiers: Meta One Plus at $7.99 per month and Meta One Premium at $19.99 per month. Meta is initially launching the Meta AI subscription service in Singapore, Guatemala, and Bolivia, with plans to expand to more countries later. Users can continue to use Meta's AI chatbot for free for image and video generation, but will eventually encounter usage limits as frequency increases. Meta declined to specify the usage caps for each tier but stated that higher-tier members have significantly more usage than lower-tier ones.
United Airlines (UAL.US) CEO anticipates double-digit profit margin next year. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby expressed growing confidence on Wednesday that the airline is gradually recovering from the impact of high fuel costs as oil prices retreat and demand remains resilient, positioning the company to potentially achieve a double-digit pre-tax profit margin next year. Speaking at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, Kirby noted that before the situation in Iran drove up fuel prices, United had been on track for a double-digit margin this year. He stated that falling oil prices have lowered the threshold for the airline to fully offset fuel cost impacts through revenue, adding that the process to achieve 100% recovery is likely moving forward.