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

columnist for Reuters.)

By Mike Dolan

April 23 (Reuters) -

What matters in U.S. and global markets today

By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large for Finance and Markets

While stock markets have impressively filtered out much of the

blow-by-blow news from the Iran conflict this week, they're

struggling to ignore a renewed surge in global crude oil prices

back above $100 per barrel.

Even though Washington says there's no new deadline to its

unilaterally extended ceasefire, it's not clear whether there is

a ceasefire at all, with the U.S. continuing to blockade Iran's

ports and seize its ships, and Iran continuing to attack

shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

I'll get into that and more below.

But first, check out my latest column on what could be at stake

if a Warsh-led Fed shifts the inflation goalposts.

And listen to the latest episode of the Morning Bid daily

podcast, where I discuss tech earnings and the latest oil jump.

Finally, don't forget to join me later today, when I'll discuss

safe-haven assets in uncertain times in a live webinar with my

ROI colleague Jamie McGeever. Sign up here.

TECH CHECKED AS OIL BOILS

Peace talks tentatively scheduled for this week have stalled

as neither side showed up, and Iranian officials continue to

regard the ongoing U.S. blockade as a breach of any existing

ceasefire.

The ongoing tension between the two sides is being reflected in

the latest rise in oil prices, with Brent crude topping $103/bbl

and WTI trading at over $94/bbl early on Thursday. Both

benchmarks rose more than 3% on Wednesday, with Brent closing

above $100/bbl for the first time in more than two weeks.

Stocks pulled back on Thursday as a result, despite a sweep of

earnings from top tech and industrial firms that helped propel

the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new records yesterday.

Major Asian indexes closed lower on Thursday, despite also

hitting fresh highs earlier in the session. U.S. stock futures

also dialled back before Thursday's bell, while European shares

opened lower.

Tesla topped the earnings slate after the bell on Wednesday. Its

share price initially jumped on news of positive free cash flow,

but this was more than reversed as investors digested a sharp

increase in estimated capex for 2026 to more than $25 billion.

IBM also disappointed on Wednesday, reporting slowing revenue

growth in the first quarter on sluggishness in its software

business. That news sent its shares down some 6.5% after hours

as the fears of AI disruption that triggered late February's

software selloff appeared to resurface.

Boeing, on the other hand, saw its shares rise by 5% after

reporting a much smaller first-quarter net loss than analysts

had expected.

Chipmaker Intel, a big winner so far this month, will report

later today. Its supercharged share price - up over 75% in 2026

so far - got an additional lift from news that Tesla would use

its 14A chip technology for its Terafab chip complex project.

Elsewhere, April business surveys across Asia, particularly in

Japan, showed eye-catching resilience in the face of the energy

squeeze. On the other hand, business activity in the euro zone

saw a surprise contraction in April as demand for services fell

at the sharpest rate since October 2023.

Chart of the day

South Korea's SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory

chipmaker after Samsung Electronics, set a record for quarterly

profit with a five-fold jump in earnings and forecast that AI

chip demand would exceed manufacturing capacity.

The outlook by the Nvidia supplier signals still-strong

momentum for high bandwidth memory chips used in AI chipsets,

keeping supplies constrained and prices high. SK Hynix stock has

jumped nearly 90% so far this year, with market value climbing

to almost $600 billion, surpassing that of Europe's most

valuable company, ASML.

Today's events to watch

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

* U.S. April S&P Global flash PMIs (9:45 a.m. EDT)

* U.S. 5-year TIPS auction (1 p.m. EDT)

* U.S. corporate earnings: Intel, Lockheed Martin,

Blackstone

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

the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is

committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.