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

Want to receive the Morning Bid in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for the newsletter here. You can find ROI on the Reuters website, and you can follow us on LinkedIn and X.

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.