U.S. reportedly carries out new airstrikes on Iran

Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to today’s edition of the Daily Open newsletter.

The ebb and flow of U.S.-Iran talks continued to steer markets on Wednesday, sending oil prices sharply lower and equities surging after officials signaled diplomatic efforts were ongoing.

That rally could be short-lived, however, with reports of new U.S. airstrikes on Iran adding to the uncertainty. Meanwhile, investors will turn their attention to a key inflation reading for clues on the Fed’s next rate moves. 

Oil prices plunged more than 5% on Wednesday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington was giving Iran talks “every chance to succeed.”

Speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rubio also said talks with Iran have made some progress, though he warned that President Donald Trump still had options available if diplomacy failed, an apparent reference to renewed military strikes.

However, a U.S. official told MS NOW on Wednesday that the military had carried out new strikes overnight in Iran targeting a military site that was believed to pose a threat to U.S. forces and commercial maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Shortly after the news broke, oil prices began to rise, with markets in the Asia-Pacific opening lower on Thursday morning. 

Trump also said Wednesday that he opposed Russia or China taking control of Iran’s highly enriched uranium as part of any potential deal, adding a new hard line and layer of complexity to the fragile negotiations. 

Still, the earlier slide in crude prices helped ease pressure across energy markets and provided a tailwind for equities, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising about 200 points to notch another record close. 

Investors are now turning their attention to a key April inflation reading due out at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, which could shape expectations for future rate cuts. Any signs of cooling price pressures would likely be welcomed by markets.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari told CNBC Thursday that bringing down inflation remained his top priority, warning that consumer prices are still “much too high.”

“I am focusing heavily on inflation. I’m not ignoring at all the labor market. We need to pay attention to both sides, but the labor market is in decent shape right now, while inflation is simply much too high,” he said.

Meanwhile, another wave of tech earnings continued to give markets an extra boost.

Shares of cloud-based AI and data platform company Snowflake rocketed as much as 36% after the company reported a strong earnings beat and announced plans to spend $6 billion on Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure, signaling aggressive investment to meet surging AI-driven demand. 

Salesforce also posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations, though its full-year guidance came in slightly below forecasts.

In other tech news, Dell Technologies secured a massive $9.7 billion Pentagon software deal, underscoring its growing ties with the Trump administration. 

— Dylan Butts

Low-income households face ‘remarkable’ rise in food insecurity in K-shaped economy: New York Fed

The so-called K-shaped economy is now linked to “a remarkable increase in food insecurity,” according to a new blog post by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Large segments of the population are facing high levels of financial strain, according to a post published on Wednesday, based on data from the Survey of Consumer Expectations.

Among this group, lower- and middle-income households have been hardest hit by prolonged inflation. A greater share of their spending is allocated to goods that have seen prices soar since the pandemic, such as housing, food and utilities, causing them to cut back on groceries, the researchers found.

— Jessica Dickler