Oil Rockets Past $100 as Iran Threatens to Shut Hormuz — and Wall Street is Somehow Still Partying
US-Iran conflict sends crude through the roof, but AI earnings are keeping bulls in a very good mood
Ticker Ratings
Let's set the scene: WTI crude tops $102/barrel, Brent crosses $110, Iran's Revolutionary Guards are threatening to slam shut the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Aramco's CEO is ghosting a major energy conference, and Treasury Secretary Bessent is out here telling reporters the US has 'plenty of funds' for a war. Normal Monday stuff. And yet — the S&P 500 gained 58 points to a fresh all-time high, the Nasdaq added 258, and the Dow climbed 356. The market has the emotional range of a golden retriever.
What's propping up the bulls? AI earnings, baby. $SMCI exploded ~20% after hours on improved margins and an upbeat profit forecast. $AMD ripped ~7.6% after smashing Q1 estimates and guiding higher on AI chip demand. $INTC jumped 14% on reports Apple held early-stage manufacturing talks. BlackRock's Rick Rieder — the man managing $2.7 trillion — is publicly flagging a scary disconnect between euphoric equities and a bond market drowning under $520B in weekly Treasury supply. Jim Cramer is calling AI the 'fourth industrial revolution' and predicting it hits 25% of US GDP. Bold. Possibly correct. Definitely loud.
The energy sector is quietly printing money while everyone's distracted by chips — and if Hormuz actually closes, that $110 Brent print is going to look quaint in retrospect.