June 16 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and global markets

today

By Anna Szymanski, Editor-in-Charge, Reuters Open Interest

The global stock rally triggered by the preliminary U.S.-Iran

deal seemed to moderate on Tuesday as markets awaited more

details on its terms and looked for signs that it would lead to

a meaningful increase in tanker traffic through the Strait of

Hormuz.

Attention was also fixed on central banks on Tuesday as the

Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of Japan kicked off the

week's busy calendar for monetary policymakers. The BOJ

delivered an expected quarter-point rate hike to 1%, a 31-year

high.

I'll get into that and more below.

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CENTRAL BANKS TAKE THE STAGE

Despite President Donald Trump's comments on Monday that oil

tankers were exiting the Strait of Hormuz, there were no

significant tanker crossings visible in vessel-tracking data on

Monday - although ships continue to move along Oman's coast

under the watch of the U.S. Navy.

Brent crude moved down further on Tuesday, having slid some 5%

on Monday, but held above $80 per barrel. Meanwhile, global

shares extended their gains as major Asian indexes edged up and

European shares opened higher. Wall Street futures were broadly

flat before the bell.

It's still early days, and Trump said on Monday that the text of

the deal would be released after its formal signing on Friday.

Meanwhile, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon

eased on Monday.

Moving to central banks, the BOJ's expected rate hike to 1%

represented another step in the normalization of the country's

monetary policy as it sought to tamp down price pressures that

were exacerbated by the Iran war-driven energy shock. Speaking

on Tuesday, BOJ Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida welcomed the

U.S.-Iran memorandum but noted uncertainty on the "pace of

improvement" regarding oil flows.

The well-telegraphed move had little impact on the yen,

which remained near 160 to the dollar. Any further weakness from

here could trigger another bout of government intervention to

prop up the currency.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept rates unchanged at

4.35%, highlighting the slowing economy, but it also warned that

inflation remained too high, meaning it may yet hike rates.

While the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England are

expected to leave rates unchanged when they meet on Wednesday

and Thursday, respectively, their language will be closely

scrutinized as investors assess how the prospect of a resolution

to the Iran war could influence their rate paths.

On the tech front, Elon Musk's SpaceX continued to shoot upward

after its monster IPO last Friday, having risen more than 19% on

Monday. Its moves in premarket trading put it on track to become

the world's fifth-largest company, eclipsing $2.7 trillion

Amazon.

It's worth considering that more than $1.16 billion of

SpaceX shares had exchanged hands as of early this morning.

That's several times the trading volumes in Nvidia, Microsoft,

Tesla and Apple combined over that period.

Elsewhere, Nvidia on Monday announced a $25 billion U.S. bond

issuance, the first time it's tapped debt markets since 2021.

While the raise makes the chipmaker the latest in a string of

tech heavyweights to raise cash amid the AI bonanza, the

catalyst does not appear to be capex funding needs but instead a

desire to establish a liquid benchmark for its cost of credit.

Finally, the G7 is currently meeting in the French lakeside

resort of Evian-les-Bains to discuss war, global economic

imbalances and the rapid rise of AI.

Chart of the day

Some 24% of Americans currently approve ​of President Trump's

stewardship over the cost of living, up from 22% a week earlier

and 20% a month ago. The share who disapprove has eased to 69%

in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll from 73% a month earlier.

The four-day poll gathered responses before and after Trump

announced on Sunday that he and Iranian leaders had agreed to

end the war that had pushed gasoline prices sharply higher.

Today's events to watch

* U.S. May housing starts (8:30 a.m. EDT), May import prices

(8:30 a.m. EDT)

* U.S. 20-year bond auction (1 p.m. EDT)

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