US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, April 24, 2026.
Roberto Schmidt getty images
Hello, I’m Leonie Kidd writing to you from London, adjusting to mild jetlag after a week in Singapore.
This morning, it seems like two things may be true at the same time.
Investors in a glass-half-empty view kept oil prices higher on concerns over stalled talks between the US and Iran.
The glass-half-full view is prompting investors to push stocks higher in Asia, with Europe and the US set to follow suit. on relief That despite the delay in talks, tension has not increased.
With the biggest reporting weeks coming in the States and here in Europe, markets will turn their attention to earnings this week, while central banks will also demand attention amid a number of policy meetings later this week.
What you need to know today
But, it is rare to see a simultaneous rise in both oil prices and stocks. Investors pushed both asset classes in the green in early trade due to uncertainty over the future of talks between the US and Iran.
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher on Monday as investors weighed in on Japan’s Nikkei and Iran amid diplomatic setbacks between the US and Iran. KOPSI of South Korea At new record high.
But oil prices also remain high due to rising tensions in the Middle East. brent And US crude are both trading higher.
President Donald Trump on Saturday canceled plans to send US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, Pakistan for talks with Iran.
“Too much time wasted traveling, too much work! Plus, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership,'” Trump wrote in a post. true social.
“No one, including him, knows who is in charge,” the president said. “Too, we have all the cards; They don’t have any! If they want to talk, they just have to call!!!”
But on Monday morning, axios reported this Iran has provided a new proposal to the US administration to open the Strait of HormuzBut said nuclear talks would have to be postponed to a later stage.
Meanwhile, Washington is still reeling from the shooting at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night. An armed man entered the security post and exchanged fire with law enforcement officers. Learn more about the event here.
In economic news, profits at China’s industrial companies rose at the fastest pace in six months in March, while the Middle East war upended global oil markets and sent raw material costs rising. Industrial profits in March rose 15.8% from a year earlier, the fastest rise since September last year. National Bureau of Statistics data That’s accelerating from a 15.2% rise in the first two months of this year, data showed on Monday.
There will be more economic indicators this week with policy meetings for the Federal Reserve (Jerome Powell’s last!), the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England.
– Leonie Kidd
And finally…
Earnings Book: Five of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ set to report on busiest week of the season
This is the busiest week of the earnings season, with the five “Magnificent Seven” members set to set the tone for the rest of the market.
Meta Platform, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are among more than 160 S&P 500 companies posting results this week. Some non-Big Tech companies to release results include General Motors and Robinhood.
So far, the corporate reporting period has been strong. Of the roughly 140 S&P 500 members that have released results, 82% topped expectations, according to FactSet data.
– Fred Imbert
