US equity futures jumped and global stocks rose to record highs as crude oil fell after officials signaled - once again - that the US was nearing a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore oil flows. The dollar weakened while precious metals and crypto bounced from Friday's drop. While the US and Iran closed in on a deal, Trump said he won’t “rush” into an agreement. The deal is still a work in progress and the US is going to give diplomacy every chance to succeed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. S&P 500 futures squeezed higher by 0.9%, in line with Goldman expectations, while Nasdaq futs were up 1.3%, both printing in record territory as the market just can't get enough of news that "a deal is imminent." US cash markets are shut Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. The dollar retreated against all of its Group-of-10 peers. Crude oil slumps more than 5%: WTI crude futures fall to around $91 and Brent contracts drop below $98 a barrel. Aussie tops G-10 leaderboard; euro and pound both add about 0.3%. Nikkei surges more than 3% as Japanese equities hit record highs, and Taiex also jumps about 3%. Mainland China indexes are all in the green. Hong Kong and South Korea are closed for holidays. T-note futures jump 20/32 to near 109-28. Australian curve bull flattens with 10-year yield down 5 bps. JGB futures rally as Japan’s long-end yields slide. Gold rises more than $50 to near $4,560 and silver surges 3%.In short: global euphoria.
Consistent The MSCI All Country World Index, the broadest measure of global equities, rose 0.4% to an all-time high closing level. Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 gained for a sixth straight session to the highest intraday level since the outbreak of the Iran war. Trading volumes were light, with a number of markets including the UK, Norway and Denmark closed for holidays.
Brent tumbled almost 6% to below $100 a barrel amid optimism a deal will help restore the flow of oil through the vital Middle East artery.
Senior US officials said Sunday that the US and Iran were nearing an agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though final approval from both sides could still take several days. Iran said a deal isn’t imminent, though there is consensus on a number of issues. While the US and Iran closed in on a deal, President Donald Trump said he won’t “rush” into an agreement. The deal is still a work in progress and the US is going to give diplomacy every chance to succeed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Similarly, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson says they have reached a framework with the US but nobody can say that an agreement between the two sides is imminent, Reuters reports. he adds that Iran will not collect tolls on the Strait of Hormuz but it's normal that services provided would require a price.
In other words, we don't have a deal as the key sticking points remain unresolved (and unresolcable) but the market is acting as if there is a deal, as has been the case since April.
“After today’s market moves, the most likely scenario already appears to be largely priced in,” said Roberto Scholtes Ruiz, head of strategy at Singular Bank. “Therefore, I would expect some ‘sell the news’ dynamics once a deal is finally reached, and I would refrain from adding exposure to equities until yield curves move lower.”
The improvement in risk sentiment follows weeks of stalemate between the US and Iran after several previous efforts to strike a deal. Global equities have since surged on optimism that Middle East tensions may ease and on renewed enthusiasm for the artificial intelligence trade, while elevated oil prices and higher inflation pushed bond yields to multi-year highs.
“A clear FOMO factor contributes to unexpectedly strong global risk appetite: investors don’t want to be left out if the Iran war comes to an end while the AI theme continues to lift the stock market,” said Dana Malas, a strategist at SEB.
Traders also remain focused on inflation. They have fully priced in a Federal Reserve rate hike by year-end, underscoring expectations that the US central bank chair Kevin Warsh will need to act swiftly. Later this week, US Personal Consumption Expenditures data and inflation readings across Europe will offer clues on price pressures and the direction of interest rates.
Warsh, who has promised the biggest shakeup in decades at the US central bank, was sworn into office Friday. Trump stressed that he wants Warsh to independently lead the Fed, as he looked to downplay investor concern that he would pressure the new central bank chief on policy decisions. The Fed may have enough reason to justify an interest rate cut rather than a hike under new chairman Warsh, according to BlackRock Inc.
Europe is picking up where it left off last week after Trump talked up the prospects of a peace deal over the weekend. SocGen’s strategists reckon “muscle memory” built in previous crises is encouraging investors to buy dips and BofA’s say London’s buyside is “long and paranoid.”
Euro Stoxx 600 futures are 1.1% higher amid lower trade volume as markets including London are closed for a holiday, with Denmark, Norway and Switzerland, among others, also shut. Cash trading in the US will also be closed for Memorial Day. Among individual stock moves in Europe, Delivery Hero SE jumped more than 10% after it received a take-over offer from Uber Technologies Inc. in a deal that would value the German delivery company at about €10 billion ($11.6 billion). Here are the biggest movers Monday:
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks rose for a third straight session as expectations over AI-driven revenue bolstered tech shares, while signs of a potential US-Iran deal buoyed risk appetite. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed as much as 1.5%, with TSMC, MediaTek and Delta Electronics providing the biggest support. A sub-gauge of information technology jumped to a record high. Taiwan and Japan led gains, though markets in Hong Kong and South Korea are closed for Buddha’s Birthday.
Sustained optimism around artificial intelligence and semiconductor demand continued to underpin sentiment across the region after upbeat earnings. Japan’s component makers including Taiyo Yuden surged, while Chinese semiconductor stocks also gained after Huawei Technologies touted a potential breakthrough in making advanced chips.
“The kind of near-term obsession with AI has really focused people much more heavily on Taiwan and South Korea,” Alison Shimada, senior portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, said on Bloomberg TV. At some point investors may take profit and rotate into markets like China and India selectively, she added.
China’s CSI 300 Index rose 1.6% amid expectations Beijing’s crackdown on cross-border trading would direct flows into domestic equities. Citic Securities said the move may hit as much as $32 billion of assets in Hong Kong, but said the impact is likely to be manageable. Chinese coal mining stocks rose after a deadly accident in Shanxi province raised concerns about possible supply disruptions.
Elsewhere, as reported last week, China launched an unprecedented campaign against illegal cross-border trading to stem capital outflows, threatening severe penalties against popular brokers and ordering non-compliant accounts to be liquidated within two years.
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Tyler Durden Mon, 05/25/2026 - 09:33In their first direct contact since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron telephoned Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to warn him against increasing his country's engagement in the war, according to sources who spoke to AFP.
"[Macron] highlighted the risks Belarus will face if dragged into the war in Ukraine. He also called on Lukashenko to take necessary measures to improve relations between Belarus and Europe," a source told AFP. Lukashenko let Russia use Belarus as a staging area for the 2022 invasion, and has continued to let Russia launch missile and drone strikes from Belarus over the more than three years of war.
Belarus let Russia use its territory as a staging ground for the 2022 invasion of UkraineLast week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia might be preparing to open a new front in the war, striking northern Ukraine and Kiev with heightened involvement of the Belarusian military. Zelensky's warning came after Belarus announced its participation in three days of massive nuclear drills with Russia. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercise involved 64,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, more than 140 aircraft, 73 surface warships and 13 submarines, including eight armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. The drills focused on the “preparation and use of nuclear forces under the threat of aggression,” it said.
Ukraine's Border Guard Service, however, said they haven't observed signs of Russian or Belarusian troops massing on the frontier -- yet. "If we talk about the line of our border, then, fortunately, as of this moment, we do not record any movement of equipment, weapons, or personnel in the immediate vicinity of our border or such accumulation," said a spokesman. He did claim that intelligence shows Putin has been increasing pressure on Lukashenko to join the war.
Amid the mounting tension, Lukashenko last week offered his availability for a meeting with Zelensky. "If (Zelensky) wants to discuss something, seek advice, or anything else, please do. We are open to it," Lukashenka said. "I am ready to meet with him anywhere - in Ukraine, in Belarus - and discuss the problems of Belarusian-Ukrainian relations." Lukashenko also dismissed the idea that Belarus would directly join Russia's war, saying that wouldn't happen unless "aggression is committed against (Belarusian) territory."
🇺🇦🇷🇺 FIRST TIME RECORDED: Up-close sounds of Russian Oreshnik IRBM warheads falling down … eerie pic.twitter.com/ZfEblDeqy1
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) May 24, 2026Russia's Belarus-based arsenal includes the Oreshnik -- Russia's nuclear-capable, hypersonic, intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM). Over Saturday night, Russia made rare use of the cutting-edge Oreshnik missiles in a spectacular assault on Kiev and nearby territory. The attack made good on Putin's vow to avenge a Ukrainian strike that hit a secondary-school dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk oblast, killing at least 18 people. Belarus announced the deployment of Oreshniks on its territory in late December.
Macron initiated Sunday's call. Their last phone conversation came on Feb 26, 2022, just two days after the Russian army launched its so-called "special military operation" aimed at cleaving Ukraine's eastern Donbas region from the country.
Tyler Durden Mon, 05/25/2026 - 08:35
Authored by David Manney via PJMedia.com,
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, answered Joy Behar after the longtime co-host of The View warned viewers about President Donald Trump's prescription drug initiative.
Behar said once Trump puts his name on prescriptions, “We're all going to die.”
Joy Behar claims "we're all going to die" because Trump wants to lower drug prices with TrumpRX. pic.twitter.com/uG458SU1AD
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) May 19, 2026She also reached for Trump's past business failures, as if cheaper medicine belongs in the same dusty joke drawer as casino chatter and late-night monologue scraps.
Dr. Oz didn't need a medical chart to spot the problem, saying TrumpRx.gov still has no medication for Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), though they're working on it.
https://t.co/8XMXPxEXtl pic.twitter.com/1brcfTOarK
— DrOzCMS (@DrOzCMS) May 20, 2026His joke landed because Behar's reaction sounded less like analysis and more like a smoke alarm installed over a toaster sitting near a burning pile of pine boughs: loud, frantic, and not especially useful once breakfast remains intact.
President Trump announced on May 18 that TrumpRx would expand with over 600 generic medications. The AP reports:
The beefed-up website is the Trump administration’s answer to criticism from Democrats who have called TrumpRx performative and noted that many of the brand-name drugs it has featured are cheaper with insurance or have lower-cost generic versions sold elsewhere.
It also marks an effort to respond to a top voter concern for November’s midterm elections: affordability. Health costs are a worry for many Americans, an issue compounded by the Republican-led Congress’ recent cuts to Medicaid and the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies this year that sent some people’s premiums skyrocketing.
The expansion is made possible by partnerships with other online pharmacies, including Amazon Pharmacy, GoodRx and billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, Trump said at an event at the White House.
TrumpRx doesn't directly sell drugs, and it won't replace insurance for everyone, but it gives uninsured patients, high-deductible families, and cash-paying customers another place to check before surrendering at the pharmacy counter.
Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs and a regular Trump critic, appeared at the White House event and backed the expansion. Cuban's presence should've slowed the usual reflexive sneering; a Trump critic stood beside Trump because lowering drug prices helps people who don't care which political tribe gets credit when the receipt shrinks.
Behar could've asked fair questions;.
Americans should want details about pharmacy benefit managers, deductibles, manufacturers, and insurance rules. Drug pricing has enough trapdoors to swallow a family budget whole.
Instead, she saw Trump's name, grabbed the nearest panic button, and started whacking it like a carnival game she had no chance of winning.
The token conservative on The View, Alyssa Farah Griffin—I think she's the sacrifice, honestly; I can't keep up with the dissected corpses—pushed back during the segment and pointed out that lower drug prices can help real families. Sunny Hostin, unsurprisingly, also raised concerns, but Behar gave viewers doom theater.
Behar's verbal bullets were blanks, and even the blanks sounded tired. She didn't test the claim against the numbers, or anything for that matter, simply firing first and hoping the smoke would pass for thought.
Dr. Oz held the stronger ground because he kept the focus on access, prices, and practical relief. Prescription bills don't arrive with political footnotes; seniors on fixed incomes don't care whether Joy Behar approves of the label. Parents stretching paychecks want to know whether the medicine costs less, whether the pharmacy has it, and whether they can make rent after filling the bottle.
TrumpRx won't solve every failure in American health care; no website can unwind decades of government bloat, drugmaker games, insurance headaches, and pharmacy middlemen. Yet a price-comparison tool with more than 600 generic medications gives families one more way around a broken system.
Behar mocked the name, while Oz pointed back to the medicine cabinet. One side filled airtime, as the other side at least tried to lower the bill.
Tyler Durden Mon, 05/25/2026 - 08:00