Snow covers the Charging Bull sculpture in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., December 17, 2020.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Hot markets U.S. markets continued their winning streak Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average scaled a new peak, while the S&P 500’s just 0.6% away from surpassing its record close in January 2022. Asia-Pacific stocks rose Wednesday. But mainland China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.46% as the country’s central bank left its one- and five-year loan prime rates unchanged for the fourth straight month.
More Alibaba shakeup Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu will be assuming the role of CEO of the company’s Taobao and Tmall e-commerce business, the company announced Wednesday. Wu will be replacing Trudy Dai, who’s one of the 18 cofounders of Alibaba and will be helping to establish an asset management company, according to an internal letter seen by CNBC.
Failed delivery FedEx shares sank more than 9% in extended trading after the company said it expects its revenue for the fiscal year to decline by a low single digit. That’s below FedEx’s initial forecast for sales to remain flat year over year, and likely worse than analysts’ expectation of less than a 1% drop in revenue. The company’s adjusted earnings per share for the current quarter also disappointed.
VC funding’s returning This year has been rather barren in terms of venture capital funding in Asia-Pacific, according to a report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. Funding in the region dropped to $20.3 billion in the third quarter, the lowest since the first quarter of 2017. But venture capital firms expect fundraising to pick up next year — for tech firms that demonstrate “clear” paths to profitability, the report said.
[PRO] Energy boost Energy stocks are the only sector left out of November’s stock market rally. And the International Energy Agency expects oil demand to slow down in 2024, suggesting that the outlook for the energy sector isn’t that bright. But one portfolio strategist’s bucking the trend, and is bullish on energy stocks’ long-term prospects.
The bottom line
You can almost hear the bulls charging in. In June, the S&P 500 rose 20% from its lows, causing many to claim the start of a new bull market. But the ostensible bull market then was still missing a crucial ingredient: Setting a new high.
Six months later, that’s where the markets are headed. The S&P rose 0.59% Tuesday to close at 4,768.37, putting it just 0.6% away from its record close in January 2022.
Investors appear to be anticipating all-time highs. Or perhaps “anticipating” is too mild a word — they seem to be clamoring to be part of that historical event. The SPDR S&P 500 Trust, an ETF that tracks the broad-based index, reported inflows of more than $20 billion on Monday.
“While we can’t say there is a clear correlation between significant inflows and performance, that size is notable and perhaps speaks to a ‘get me in’ mentality?” wrote BTIG technical strategist Jonathan Krinsky.
And if the S&P does indeed notch a new high in the upcoming days (and it seems more likely than not), there’s a good chance the index could rally even further, according to Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
“Essentially, we have seen every move above that prior bear market level to be positive,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “It’s not as if we then just turned right around immediately and ended up selling off.”
The other major indexes had a good day as well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.68%, continuing its streak of setting fresh highs, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.66% to close above the 15,000 level for the first time since January 2022.
“This bias of buying stocks is taking hold,” said Kim Forrest, founder at Bokeh Capital Partners. “And unless news changes it, we’re probably going to drift higher every single day because of it.”
It seems the metaphorical bulls (and a literal one!) are, indeed, taking the street by storm.
A series of images of landscapes and wildlife from the Brigalow Belt region of Queensland near the town of St. George.
Colin Baker | Moment | Getty Images
Shares of Santos surged as much as 15.23% Monday, after it received a non-binding takeover offer of $18.72 billion by an Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company-led group.
The move marks the biggest intraday jump in the Australian oil and gas producer’s shares since April 2020, LSEG data shows.
Prices of gold, the stalwart shelter in times of crises, rose. Investors flock to the precious metal amid uncertainty because it serves as a stable store of value that is mostly resistant against exogenous shocks, such as inflation or geopolitical conflicts.
And the dollar strengthened, as it is wont to do when the world looks ugly. Recall the dollar smile: The greenback will appreciate when things are really good because investors want in on U.S. risk assets, or when they are really bad because investors want in on the perceived safety of U.S. government bonds.
Stocks, the financial risk asset epitomized, fell across markets globally.
Despite the markets giving multiple indications we are entering a period of ugliness — or, at least, volatility — U.S. stocks still appear resilient, and the surge in oil prices only brings us back to where they were about three months ago as prices have been low since, CNBC’s Michael Santoli wrote.
The markets have, indeed, mostly shrugged off Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, both of which are still brewing. But with the conflict between Israel and Iran still in its early days, it might pay to be extra cautious in the coming weeks.
Safe haven assets in demand Investors piled into safe-haven assets after Israel’s attack on Iran. After weeks of declining, the dollar index, a measurement of the strength of the U.S. dollar against other major currencies, rallied 0.3%on Friday and was up 0.1% as of7:30 a.m. Singapore time Monday. Spot gold rose 0.38% and gold futures for August delivery were up 0.41% Monday, adding to Friday’s gains of 1.4% and 1.5% respectively.
Prices of oil jump Oil prices surged as investors feared a disruption to oil supply from Iran, which produced 3.305 million barrels per day in April, according to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report of May. As of Monday morning Singapore time, U.S. crude oil rose 2.22% to $74.62 a barrel, adding to its 7.26% jump on Friday. The global benchmark Brent climbed 2.22% to $75.88 a barrel, following Friday’s 7.02% surge.
[PRO]U.S. stocks still look resilient Even though stocks fell on the eruption of conflict between Israel and Iran, the market appeared resilient, wrote CNBC’s Michael Santoli. This week, while hostilities between the two Middle East countries will continue weighing on investors’ minds, they should not lose sight of the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting meeting, which concludes Wednesday.
And finally…
The Boeing 787-9 civil jet airplane of Vietnam Airlines performs its flight display at the 51st Paris International Airshow in Le Bourget near Paris, France. (Photo by: aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
aviation-images.com | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Fire and smoke rise into the sky after an Israeli attack on the Shahran oil depot on June 15, 2025 in Tehran, Iran.
Getty Images | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Crude oil futures jumped more than 3% Sunday after Israel struck two natural gas facilities in Iran, raising fears that the war will expand to energy infrastructure and disrupt supplies in the region.
U.S. crude oil rose $2.72, or 3.7%, to $75.67 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent was up $3.67, or 4.94%, at $77.90 per barrel.
Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles struck the South Pars gas field in southern Iran on Saturday, according to Iranian state media reports. The strikes hit two natural gas processing facilities, according to state media.
It is unclear how much damage was done to the facilities. South Pars is one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. Israel also hit a major oil depot near Tehran, sources told The Jerusalem Post.
Iranian missiles, meanwhile, damaged a major oil refinery in Haifa, according to The Times of Israel.
Oil prices closed more than 7% higher Friday, after Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs as well as its senior military leadership.
It was the biggest single-day move for the oil market since March 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. U.S. crude oil jumped 13% in total last week.
The war has entered its third day with little sign that Israel or Iran will back down, as they exchanged barrages of missile fire throughout the weekend.
Iran is considering shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a senior commander said on Saturday. About one-fifth of the world’s oil is transported through the strait on its way to global markets, according to Goldman Sachs. A closure of the strait could push oil prices above $100 per barrel, according to Goldman.
However, some analysts are skeptical Iran has the capability to close the strait.
“I’ve heard assessments that it would be very difficult for the Iranians to close the Strait of Hormuz, given the presence of the U.S Fifth Fleet in Bahrain,” Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday.
“But they could target tankers there, they could mine the straits,” Croft said.
