In the United States, the war in Iran continued to dominate market sentiment as it entered its second full week. On Monday, severe pressure was placed on equity markets as oil prices surged to their highest level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. However, despite the early-day pullback, markets rebounded later on Monday after President Trump announced that the military operation in Iran was nearing completion. This triggered a sharp fall in oil prices and a surge in equity markets. The rebound proved short-lived, however, with markets trading near the flatline on Tuesday before recording a modest decline on Wednesday. The latest inflation data did little to alleviate investor concerns, as attention quickly shifted to the March inflation figures, which will be crucial for both consumers and the Federal Reserve. After Iran struck Iraqi oil tankers on Wednesday night, markets dropped sharply on Thursday morning as oil prices surged once again. Concerns also grew over whether the war would end swiftly, as bombardments by both sides intensified as the week progressed. For the week, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed lower, falling 1.60% and 1.06%, respectively.
In earnings news, Oracle announced its latest results last week. The cloud provider reported strong quarterly revenues and earnings per share, with revenue rising 22% year-on-year to $17.2 billion. This marked the first time the company has posted revenue growth of more than 20% in 15 years. Crucially, the company’s cloud backlog — which indicates future revenue from bookings for its cloud services — reached $553 billion, increasing by $30 billion quarter-on-quarter.
In corporate developments, while much of the world focused on President Trump’s comments regarding Iran, he also made another announcement on Wednesday, outlining plans to build the first new oil refinery in the United States since 1977. The proposed refinery would be built in Brownsville, Texas, and according to President Trump, the project is backed by Reliance Industries, one of India’s largest energy groups. The project has been developed by America First Refining, a relatively unknown energy group. However, the group’s CEO stated that the company’s name does not relate to a political affiliation and that he is not a major Trump donor. The United States currently has 132 oil refineries, many of which lack the equipment to refine lighter crude from the Middle East and instead rely on oil imports from Venezuela and Canada. Elsewhere, AT&T plans to invest $250 billion over the next five years to expand network infrastructure across the United States as demand for data continues to grow. The investment will include expansion of fibre broadband and 5G networks.
In technology, NVIDIA was involved in three separate deals in the AI sector last week. The company announced a partnership with ABB Robotics aimed at producing a new generation of autonomous industrial robots. Under the agreement, ABB’s robot training software will be integrated with NVIDIA’s Omniverse simulation platform, enabling robots to be trained in virtual environments. Using AI, these robots will also be able to train themselves and improve performance without human input. These robots are currently used by Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone. However, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, has stated that robotics represents a “multi-trillion-dollar opportunity.” In addition, NVIDIA announced a $2 billion investment in AI cloud provider Nebius, enabling the company to build up to 5GW of NVIDIA-based cloud infrastructure by 2030. Finally, the world’s largest company announced a multibillion-dollar agreement with Thinking Machines Lab, a San Francisco-based start-up founded by former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati. Thinking Machines specialises in bespoke AI tools for corporate clients. Its main product, Tinker, enables companies to customise large language models used in AI software to suit their specific business needs without requiring large and complex training infrastructure. The agreement will see the company utilise at least one gigawatt of NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin chips over multiple years.
In Europe, markets continued to be dragged lower by the war in Iran. European shares fell to their lowest level since November 2025 on Monday, as inflation fears and the prospect of ECB rate hikes weighed on sentiment. However, following President Trump’s remarks on Monday night, EU indices rebounded on Tuesday as energy prices declined. The fall in energy prices particularly benefited companies in the industrial sector, with Siemens and Schneider Electric both gaining more than 4% on Tuesday alone. However, as the conflict intensified on Wednesday and Thursday, energy prices began to rise again and key indices once more traded in negative territory. For the week, the Euro Stoxx 50 and STOXX 600 closed lower, falling 0.04% and 0.47%, respectively.
In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 also closed lower, broadly tracking global markets. While higher energy prices supported some of the index’s largest constituents, including Shell and BP, broader concerns about inflation and rising costs weighed on the wider market. The FTSE 100 fell 0.23% for the week.
