On April 30, last night and this morning, against the backdrop of intensifying tensions between the U.S. and Iran, Brent crude oil rose to its highest level since June 2022. WTI crude oil jumped 8.2% to $108.11 per barrel, as markets worried that the stalled situation in the Strait of Hormuz could last longer, rapidly shrinking global supply buffers.

Powell’s comments that he will remain a governor and the Federal Reserve’s internal concerns about inflation led to major disagreements within the Fed over the interest-rate path. As a result, traders believe the likelihood of rate hikes this year is higher than the likelihood of rate cuts.

Impacted by the above news, U.S. stocks moved in both directions, but the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 1.8%. NXP Semiconductors surged 25%. The earnings reports released after the close affected several tech giants: Meta fell after raising its capital expenditure outlook, Microsoft’s cloud business growth failed to dispel investors’ doubts about returns from artificial intelligence, and Alphabet rose due to solid sales data.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin once again showed weakness during U.S. stock trading; it not only gave back the year’s Asian-session gains from yesterday, but also briefly fell below $75,000 in the early hours, and is currently quoted at $75,818.84. Coinbase’s Bitcoin premium index also turned negative today, indicating a selling trend among U.S. investors. #美联储利率不变但内部分歧加剧