North American Morning Briefing: Tech Rally Rolls On as Markets Look Past Fresh U.S.-Iran Strikes

OPENING CALL

Stock futures were up and oil climbed after a weekend exchange of fire between the U.S. and Iran.

The two sides are discussing a memorandum of understanding that would remove blockages in the Strait of Hormuz and establish an extendable 60-day framework to address disputes over Iran's nuclear program and sanctions relief.

Hargreaves Lansdown said oil continues to concern investors as hopes for a breakthrough in talks between the U.S. and Iran run into fresh uncertainty. Brent crude futures were up about 3% at nearly $94 a barrel, after registering their biggest drop in years over the month of May.

Meanwhile, investors continued to pile into tech stocks , as the industry's rally continues to pick up steam. Nvidia's shares were up 2% premarket after it unveiled the first personal laptop computers designed for running artificial-intelligence "agents," using a newly designed version of the company's signature AI chips.

"Traders have been taking profits in some of the more crowded memory and semiconductor positions and reallocating capital towards adjacent beneficiaries," Pepperstone said. "Despite these shifts, the overarching AI theme remains exceptionally powerful and continues to attract substantial inflows."

Looking ahead, investors will also be watching a string of jobs data during the week, culminating in Friday's key nonfarm payrolls report for May, which will provide the highlight of the week in terms of economic data.

Money markets price a 59% chance of an interest rate increase by the end of the year, LSEG data showed.

Stocks to Watch

Berkshire Hathaway agreed yesterday to buy Taylor Morrison Home for $6.8 billion in cash. Shares surged 22% premarket. Berkshire's shares ticked down slightly.

Dell Technologies, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo Group, Asustek Computer, Micro-Star International: Shares in the six companies that Nvidia will be working with to build laptops using its new chip jumped in premarket and overseas trading. Asustek, typically known to consumers as Asus, led the way, surging 10% in Taiwan.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is due to report earnings today.

Nvidia unveiled its new superchip at the Computex conference in Taipei, which it described as "the most efficient PC chip ever built." The chips will be used to power computers designed for running AI agents. Nvidia's shares ticked up nearly 2% premarket.

Qualcomm's shares sank 6% premarket after Nvidia's announcement. Qualcomm has been making a push into the PC market for the last couple of years. Other companies that dominate that market, including Intel and Advanced Micro Devices also slid.

Watch For:

ISM Report on Business Manufacturing PMI for May

Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:

- Trump Wants Arab States to Recognize Israel. The War Has Made That Harder.

- Why It Matters if OpenAI or Anthropic Wins the IPO Race

- Nvidia Introduces First PCs Designed for AI Agents

MARKET WRAPS

Forex:

The dollar rose after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fresh blows over the weekend, lifting oil prices and supporting safe-haven assets.

The euro traded flat.

Sterling traded flat. The removal of expectations for aggressive rises in U.K. interest rates has failed to materially weaken sterling, ING said.

Bonds:

Treasury yields rose with more increases in the short and intermediate segments than in the long end as near-term uncertainty over the Middle East conflict continued to fuel inflationary expectations.

Markets have priced in a lot of good news and bond yields therefore have limited scope to move lower, ING said.

Energy:

Oil climbed to $93.95 a barrel after closing at its lowest level since mid-April last week. The market is once again factoring in heightened military tensions and growing uncertainty surrounding efforts to secure a deal, though gains have remained relatively contained.

Metals:

Gold prices fell more than 1% on a firmer dollar and rising crude futures.

Aluminum

Aluminum reaching $4,000/metric ton in the near term doesn't seem unreasonable given disruptions to Middle East supply, Jefferies said. Still, the bull case for aluminum depends on production not rising elsewhere in the world.

Copper

Copper rose in early trade amid tight global supplies. The world's top copper producer, Chile, posted its lowest production for the month of April in 23 years, reinforcing expectations of tight global supplies, ANZ Research said.

Goldman Sachs raised its year-end copper price forecast to $13,735 a metric ton from $12,465 previously, citing a worsening supply outlook and tighter market balances outside the U.S.

Iron

Iron ore was lower in early trading. Prices are facing some pressure from ample supply, according to Nanhua Futures.

   TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES 

Castlelake Values Potential easyJet Offer at Minimum of $4.12 Billion

Investment firm Castlelake said any offer for easyJet would value the airline at least at $4.12 billion, slightly above the last closing price for an airline whose valuation has slumped during the Iran conflict.

Castlelake said Monday that any proposal to buy easyJet wouldn't be valued at less than 403.23 pence a share, having said Friday that it was considering an offer for the U.K. budget carrier. The price would value easyJet as a whole at 3.06 billion pounds ($4.12 billion) and represent a 1.3% premium to its closing price of 398 pence on Friday.

Why It Matters if OpenAI or Anthropic Wins the IPO Race

In the bitter rivalry between AI heavyweights OpenAI and Anthropic, it will mostly be who has the best technology that determines the ultimate victor. But which one of them gets to its public offering first matters a great deal, too.

The window for initial public offerings is decidedly open, with a receptive market. Cerebras, an AI-chip company, rose 68% on its first day of trading last month. Only digital-design platform Figma's absurd 250% rise last year was bigger for a company valued at more than $10 billion at listing in the past five years, according to FactSet data.

Nvidia Introduces First PCs Designed for AI Agents

Nvidia unveiled the first personal laptop computers designed for running artificial-intelligence "agents," using a newly designed version of the company's signature AI chips.

The new PCs will be as slim as 14 millimeters thick, and the lightest will weigh less than 3 pounds. To start, Nvidia will work with six manufacturers-Dell Technologies, Lenovo Group, Microsoft, HP, Asus and MSI-to build the laptops.

GLP Eyes Up to US$3.0 Billion Hong Kong IPO, Sources Say

Global infrastructure and logistics provider GLP is planning to raise as much as US$3.0 billion via an initial public offering in Hong Kong, aiming to join the host companies that have tapped one of the world's most active capital markets.

The company is aiming to list by the fourth quarter of the year after raising between US$2 billion and US$3 billion, though the final size of the offering is still being determined, people familiar with the matter said.

Oil Prices Rises After U.S. and Iran Strikes Threaten Trump Peace Deal

Oil prices were rising early Monday following exchanges of fire between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend, undermining hopes of a peace deal.

Brent crude futures, the international standard, were up 3.0% at $93.86 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures were rising 3.3% to $90.22 a barrel. The move comes after a 19% fall in Brent prices in May, the biggest decline since March 2020.

Eurozone Unemployment Held Steady in April

The eurozone's unemployment rate remained unchanged in April, demonstrating resilience despite heightened economic uncertainty stemming from the war in Iran.

According to Eurostat, the jobless rate across the 21-member currency bloc held steady at 6.3%, with the number of unemployed people falling by 84,000 compared with March.

U.S. Strikes Iranian Air Defenses, Drone Site in New Hormuz Skirmish

DUBAI-The U.S. and Iran exchanged fresh blows over the weekend, with the U.S. striking what it said were air-defense radar and drone sites and Kuwait coming under attack after Iran said it was retaliating.

The exchange of fire came as the two foes were working to hammer out a deal to wind down the fighting. President Trump indicated a deal was close ahead of the weekend, but mediators have said issues like nuclear commitments and the timing and scale of any financial relief remained unresolved.

OECD Says 60% of Chinese Gains in Market Share Driven by Subsidies

Government subsidies have driven most of the increase in the global market share of Chinese businesses over the past two decades as they have received three to eight times more support than their competitors, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday.

The Paris-based research body's analysis of the subsidies received by large businesses in 15 industrial sectors between 2005 and 2024 comes as tensions between the European Union and China mount following a widening of the former's trade deficit with the latter.

Israel Captures Crusader Castle as It Expands Invasion of Lebanon

Israel expanded its military invasion of Lebanon, moving deeper into the country and capturing the strategic high ground of a historic Crusader castle it hadn't held for a quarter of a century, as it hit back at Hezbollah following drone attacks that have killed its soldiers and sent Israeli residents running to shelters.

The escalation is piling more pressure on Lebanon's fragile government and complicating negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, which has made an end to fighting on that front one of its conditions for a deal. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under heavy pressure from critics who say he has allowed the U.S. to tie his hands in fighting the militant group.

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June 01, 2026 06:19 ET (10:19 GMT)