Morning Bid: Oil spoils tech tonic

By Mike Dolan

Feb 19 -

What matters successful U.S. and planetary markets today

By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets

After a bumpy fewer weeks, Big Tech stocks got thing of a reprieve connected Wednesday aft Nvidia, the world's astir invaluable company, said it had signed a multi-year woody to merchantability to ‌Meta Platforms millions of its existent and aboriginal AI chips.

There was nary dollar fig placed connected the woody and Nvidia's 1.6% stock terms emergence was humble - ‌but it apt starts a drumbeat up of the spot giant's quarterly results adjacent Wednesday.

I’ll get into that and much below.

But first, cheque retired my latest file connected wherefore hawks mightiness prevail amid alteration astatine the ​head of the world's apical 2 cardinal banks.

And perceive to the latest occurrence of the Morning Bid regular podcast. Subscribe to perceive Reuters journalists sermon the biggest quality successful markets and concern 7 days a week.

OIL SPOILS TECH TONIC

The Nvidia-Meta woody is different indicator of the standard of capex already earmarked for 2026 by the alleged hyperscalers, arsenic Meta plans to astir treble its AI-related concern spending. The woody volition besides soothe immoderate caller nerves astir Nvidia's increasing competition.

On the different hand, it besides speaks to the intertwined quality of the AI leaders and ‌just however narrowly concentrated each the frenetic enactment is successful a ⁠handful of stocks. Nvidia's past results showed 61% of its gross leap came from conscionable 4 customers. And successful the inheritance of each this is the creeping indebtedness load successful the sector.

Private superior steadfast Blue Owl Capital, whose shares person halved implicit the past year, said ⁠it was selling $1.4 cardinal successful assets from 3 of its recognition funds truthful it tin instrumentality superior to investors and wage down debt.

And the equities temper seems to person shifted again, with S&P 500 futures backmost successful the reddish up of today's bell.

Elsewhere, crude lipid prices are gathering a caput of steam, coming wrong a whisker of the year's highs aft a much than 4% ​jump ​on Wednesday amid U.S.-Iran tensions and U.S.-mediated talks betwixt Ukraine and Russia.

In Geneva, parallel talks connected some ​fronts person been underway this week. Those betwixt Ukraine and Russia ‌ended connected Wednesday without a factual breakthrough. Meantime, contempt immoderate optimism astir the U.S.-Iran standoff, some sides person since stepped up subject enactment and maneuvers.

Crude was besides lifted by quality that U.S. concern accumulation and manufacturing recorded the biggest monthly emergence successful astir a twelvemonth successful January.

Also irked by rising oil, U.S. Treasury yields crept backmost higher aft the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest gathering showed sizeable absorption to further easing, arsenic good arsenic divided views connected the interaction of the AI roar connected productivity and inflation.