The US on Monday authorized Iranian oil sales through August after what it described as “productive talks” with Iran in Switzerland. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Treasury issued a temporary 60-day general license covering the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil. The authorization expires August 21 unless renewed.

Iran said it has closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping transit, citing Israel’s alleged violation of a ceasefire by attacking Lebanon. The move raises fresh uncertainty over negotiations aimed at ending a conflict that has destabilized the Middle East. The immediate impact on vessel traffic was unclear, even as millions of barrels of oil had been moving through the waterway each day before the latest truce.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and a group of investors have asked EU regulators to approve their $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts. The European Commission has set a July 22 deadline to decide whether to clear the deal, clear it with remedies, or open an in-depth investigation. The investor group includes Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners and private equity firm Silver Lake.

Anthropic said it has shut off customer access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models to comply with a U.S. export-control directive. The company said the order, received at 5:21 pm Friday, bars access by any foreign national worldwide and led it to disable the models for all customers, including those in the U.S. Anthropic said its other models will remain available.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed slightly in April, ending the month at $55.9 billion as exports rose faster than imports. Exports increased 2.6% to $327.1 billion, helped by a $6.4 billion rise in crude oil exports alongside gains in fuel oil and other petroleum products. The Commerce Department release also showed higher overseas sales of computers and civilian aircraft, while import growth was led by semiconductors and telecom equipment.

BlackRock reduced its equity overweight in its $220 billion model-portfolio business, lowering the tilt from 3% to 1% on May 29, 2026 as US equities set record highs after a strong earnings season. The change coincided with large ETF reallocations, including more than $12 billion into iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and about $10 billion leaving several factor and thematic funds. The firm also shifted away from longer-dated US debt toward global fixed income and liquid alternatives while reassessing traditional hedges.

Nokia's stock has risen more than 152% so far in 2026, lifting it to the highest level since 2008 and making it the fourth-best performer in the Stoxx Europe 600. The surge is tied to demand for its optical equipment in data centers, even as AI and cloud exposure represented 8% of group sales in Q1. The rally has also pushed its 12-month forward P/E to about 36 times, up from roughly 17 times at the start of the year.

IBM shares rose more than 14% since Thursday after the US Commerce Department outlined a $2 billion CHIPS and Science Act push to back US quantum computing manufacturers. The rally added about $26 billion to IBM’s market value, taking it to $237.8 billion, while the stock gained a further 2% on Friday. Under the plan, IBM is set to receive a $1 billion federal grant that it will match with $1 billion of its own capital to build a quantum chip foundry in Albany, New York.

On May 10, 2026, Alphabet briefly edged past Nvidia in market value during after-hours trading this week as its stock gained about 160% over the past 12 months. Alphabet ended the week at a $4.8 trillion market cap versus Nvidia's $5.2 trillion, after flipping positions following a Tuesday report tied to Google Cloud demand.