U.S.-Iran Strikes Return as Oil Tops $90

U.S.-Iran strikes are back after nearly a month of quiet, with American forces hitting an island in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran retaliating against the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, according to the Bloomberg Podcast.

The exchange snaps a stretch of economic pressure and stalled diplomacy.

Why did the fighting resume now?

Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall called it the first kinetic action in nearly a month, after Washington leaned on sanctions and a blockade. Iran's president said diplomacy was not impossible over the weekend, and Pakistan's prime minister met Iran's foreign minister. Those contacts have not held.

The full discussion can be found on Bloomberg Podcast's YouTube channel.

How did markets react?

WTI rose about 2% to $85 a barrel and Brent topped $90. Stocks slid across the board: the S&P 500 fell roughly 0.5%, the Nasdaq dropped 0.4%, the Dow lost 0.6%, and the Russell 2000 gave up 0.8%. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.75%, its highest since January 2025, with the 2-year at 4.33% and the 30-year at 5.25%.

What did Modi and Putin discuss?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressed President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kazakhstan. Putin replied "we are moving in this direction" without elaborating, then sat down with Chinese President Xi Jinping to talk trade and economic cooperation.

What is Nvidia's $3.5 billion bet?

Nvidia shares rose less than 1% on a $3.5 billion investment in MediaTek that deepens work with the Taiwanese chipmaker. CEO Jensen Huang pushed back on suggestions of circular financing, calling MediaTek already incredibly profitable and the world's best SoC maker by volume, and framed the deal as a multi-year partnership.

Treasury Secretary Scott Parson, speaking at the G20 finance ministers meeting in North Carolina, said the blockade will continue. He suggested the pressure could force a shift within weeks or months without requiring economic collapse, though that timeline remains an open question.

Elsewhere, a flash flood Saturday in Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch left a 46-year-old man dead near Crystal Rapids and 15 missing as of Sunday. In Congo, authorities said an Ebola outbreak topped 6,000 cases with nearly 3,000 deaths.