AI is storming through markets, construction and corporate planning. But its imprint on the inflation and jobs data the Federal Reserve watches most closely remains too small and contradictory to move the policy dial — at least for now.

For most financial markets, it's hard to ignore the AI boom. Chip stocks around the world have ​surged and swung wildly this year. Tech earnings growth has exploded, while so-called AI hyperscalers have embarked on a corporate borrowing spree and marshalled hundreds of billions of dollars in ‌financing for the buildout.

(Continue Reading – RTRS)

Just how much crude oil is leaving the Strait of Hormuz?

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright claims almost nine million barrels per day, but the companies that track vessel movements say at best it is about half this volume.

The amount of crude leaving the Middle East via the narrow chokepoint matters, as it's this oil that goes to ​Asia, the top energy-consuming region that has been hardest hit by the fallout since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.

(Continue Reading – RTRS)

European stock markets are booming. But that doesn’t mean Europe is. Traditionally, a bet on European equities is actually a bet on growth everywhere else. The companies that make up the Stoxx Europe 600 — which has risen by about 12% this year — get almost half their revenues outside the continent, according to the index’s owners. America’s S&P 500 brings in less than 30% from elsewhere.

This is partly good news. The European Union is home to world-beating companies in luxury, pharmaceuticals and engineering that produce goods prized everywhere. The downside is that the state of Europe’s stock market has never been a great proxy for the health of its economy, and especially as a gauge of local demand for goods and services.

(Continue Reading – BBG)