(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a

columnist for Reuters)

By Mike Dolan

May 7 (Reuters) -

What matters in U.S. and global markets today

By Mike Dolan, Editor-at-Large, Finance and Markets

The chip boom goes on, with Asia seeing rolling catchups to this

week's tech surge as markets there return from holidays.

Wednesday was South Korea's turn, today was Japan's.

Led by a near 20% leap in tech-focused SoftBank's shares, the

benchmark Nikkei index jumped almost 6% as Japan returned from

the Golden Week holiday.

I'll get into that and more below.

But first, check out my latest column on why a U.S.-Iran peace

deal could knock the dollar further - and what could put a floor

on that.

And listen to the latest episode of the Morning Bid daily

podcast. Subscribe to hear Reuters journalists discuss the

biggest news in markets and finance seven days a week.

CHIP FRENZY GOES GLOBAL

The Nikkei's rise puts year-to-date gains in Tokyo at 25%.

That's a snip of the 75% boom in Seoul this year, but it still

dwarfs the S&P 500's 8% gain and even the Nasdaq's 11% advance,

showing that the biggest scramble for chips and tech equipment

is overseas.

Wall Street continued its climb to new records, however, with

the S&P 500 up another 1% on Wednesday as hopes of an Iran peace

deal resulted in a nearly 8% retreat in crude oil prices.

Oil prices slid further heading into Thursday, with Brent and

WTI crude now trading at around $99 and $93 per barrel,

respectively. Bond yields fell as oil prices ebbed.

Europe's STOXX 600 gained 2% on Wednesday, leaving it some 2%

away from pre-Iran war levels, though the index paused in early

trading on Thursday.

Iran is currently reviewing the latest U.S. proposal to end the

war, which would reportedly kick off 30 days of detailed

negotiations to reach a full agreement. Despite the renewed

peace hopes, however, military activity in the Gulf and Lebanon

continued sporadically.

Back in the macroeconomic world, the build-up to Friday's U.S.

payrolls release has shown little damage to hiring so far from

the two-month energy shock. ADP's private sector jobs readout

for April came in ahead of expectations.

Elsewhere, eyes are drifting to the upcoming Trump-Xi summit

slated for next week, while Thursday brings local elections in

the UK that promise to have a major bearing on Prime Minister

Keir Starmer's position as leader of the ruling Labour Party.

Chart of the day

The AI boom is not just on Wall Street - it's arguably

bigger around the world as chip and tech equipment makers soar

across Asia, driving up its benchmark indexes.

Today's events to watch

* U.S. weekly jobless claims (8:30 a.m. EDT), March consumer

credit (3 p.m. EDT)

* New York Fed's John Williams, Minneapolis Fed's Neel

Kashkari and Cleveland Fed's Beth Hammack all speak

* U.S. corporate earnings: Airbnb, CoreWeave, McDonald's

* UK local elections

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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect

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committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.