Financial Market Preview - Thursday 28-May

Why It Matters

The Gulf escalation reverses nascent oil-price relief and reinforces a higher-for-longer rates backdrop, raising market volatility and reshuffling sector winners and losers—energy and defense may benefit near term while rate-sensitive sectors and global supply-chain exposed semiconductors face pressure. Continued central-bank hawkishness and key US macro prints will determine whether risk assets stabilize or face further downside.

Summary

Global markets opened cautiously on Thursday, May 28, after a sharp geopolitical escalation in the Gulf: the US struck Iranian military targets and Iran responded with missile and drone attacks, prompting crude to retrace recent declines, a return of the bond selloff, and a spike in dollar volatility. Asian and European equities were broadly lower, led by semiconductors and memory names, while mainland China posted modest gains; Treasury yields and oil were firmer, gold softened. Central banks signaled lingering hawkishness—Bank of Korea held rates but projected further hikes—and regional data were mixed (Australia household spending down, private capex buoyed by data-center investment). Corporate developments included major Pentagon and tech contracts for Dell and SoftBank-led plans to build a massive AI data center in Osaka, while several large firms report earnings and US macro prints due Friday.

Original Description

S&P futures are pointing to a slightly lower open. Asian markets were mostly lower on Thursday, but most benchmarks closed well off their day's lows. The Nikkei, Kospi and Taiex were all under pressure from weakness in semis and memory. Mainland China advanced modestly. European stocks also opened lower.

Companies Mentioned: Perella Weinberg Partners, Dell, Eli Lily