SlavkoSereda/iStock via Getty Images U.S. stocks of crude oil and petroleum products have dropped to their lowest level since 2004 after falling by 10.6M barrels last week, according to new data released Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Crude inventories fell by 8M barrels to 433.7M barrels in the week ended May 29, the EIA reported , 3% below the five-year average and mo...
SlavkoSereda/iStock via Getty Images U.S. stocks of crude oil and petroleum products have dropped to their lowest level since 2004 after falling by 10.6M barrels last week, according to new data released Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Crude inventories fell by 8M barrels to 433.7M barrels in the week ended May 29, the EIA reported , 3% below the five-year average and more than double the draw analysts had forecast. U.S. crude oil production was steady at 13.7M bbl/day, while crude shipments surged from 4.4M bbl/day to 5.9M bbl/day last week, continuing a pattern of sharply higher exports since the start of the Iran war. Oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve plunged by 8M barrels to 357.1M barrels to its lowest since January 2024; the oil is a part of 172M barrels authorized for release from the SPR to keep a lid on spiking crude prices. Oil stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 583K barrels to 22.4M barrels. Overall, crude inventories have declined by 63.9M barrels since the U.S.-Israeli launched strikes on Iran on February 28. Analysts say inventories are now critically low and warn of a sharp increase ahead in oil prices. "SPR barrels continue to be pulled from inventories, dropping a further 8M bbls last week," Kpler's Director of Commodity Research Matt Smith said in a note. "Despite this bumper transfer of barrels to commercial inventories, they still drew by 8 million barrels - that's a total 16 million barrels for crude, folks." Gasoline and distillate in ventories, however, rose last week due to increased refinery processing and weak demand following the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The global oversupply of oil before the war is the main reason for the market's relative calm with front-month Brent still below $100/bbl, Macquarie economists said in a note. If the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon, Macquarie expects prices to fall sharply, but "with stocks drawing rapidly, if the strait remains closed, at so...
NBA finals predictions: our writers give their verdicts Why Wembanyama is unlike anyone basketball has seen Tip-off at 8.30pm ET for opener at Frost Bank Center Email beau.dure@theguardian.com with your thoughts The waiting is the hardest part The last time the Spurs won the NBA championship, Kawhi Leonard was the Finals MVP. The team had veteran leadership in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Gino...
NBA finals predictions: our writers give their verdicts Why Wembanyama is unlike anyone basketball has seen Tip-off at 8.30pm ET for opener at Frost Bank Center Email beau.dure@theguardian.com with your thoughts The waiting is the hardest part The last time the Spurs won the NBA championship, Kawhi Leonard was the Finals MVP. The team had veteran leadership in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The No. 1 song was Happy, by Pharrell Williams. Others in the top 10 included John Legend, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande. Continue reading...
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on June 3, 2026. NYSE S&P 500 futures fell on Wednesday night after the index snapped a nine-day win streak, as geopolitical fears remain elevated. Futures tied to the broad market index fell by 0.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.7%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were trading near the flatline. Shares of Broadcom traded 13% lower on Wednesday n...
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on June 3, 2026. NYSE S&P 500 futures fell on Wednesday night after the index snapped a nine-day win streak, as geopolitical fears remain elevated. Futures tied to the broad market index fell by 0.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.7%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were trading near the flatline. Shares of Broadcom traded 13% lower on Wednesday night after the chipmaker reported a fiscal second-quarter revenue miss . Cybersecurity stock CrowdStrike also fell 10% after guiding for lackluster second-quarter revenue guidance. A pickup in U.S.-Iran tensions, and a subsequent move higher in oil prices and Treasury yields, weighed on stocks. The S&P 500 shed 0.74%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.89%. The blue-chip Dow crumbed 620.72 points, or 1.21%. Oil rose after attacks escalated between the U.S. and Iran. Iran struck Kuwait International Airport early Wednesday, while one day earlier U.S. Central Command said it had defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and carried out "self-defense strikes" on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf. It said that this was in response to "attempted attacks" by Tehran. The S&P 500 notched its ninth straight week of gains on Friday. But Keith Lerner, CIO and chief market strategist at Truist Wealth, noted that a sell-off is normal following such strong runs. "I just think we're due for a rest," he said on CNBC's " Closing Bell ." "We've come a long way. Fundamentals are solid. Bull market still deserves a benefit of the doubt, but often markets are two steps forward, one step back. We've had three steps forward, so maybe at least a mini step back, or at least some sideways chop." Ciena and Brown-Forman are set to report earnings before Thursday's opening bell. Traders will also watch out for the first quarter's unit labor costs and productivity final readings, as well as initial jobless claims for the week ending May 30. — CNBC's Kevin Brueninger contributed to this repo...
champc/iStock via Getty Images It’s May 2026 and once again civilization and financial markets have made it 5-ish months into a new year without self-combusting like a Spinal Tap drummer. It is important to note that dozens of people and stocks spontaneously combust every year, but despite the increasing universality of AI, it’s “just not really widely reported.” We will again adjust for the world...
champc/iStock via Getty Images It’s May 2026 and once again civilization and financial markets have made it 5-ish months into a new year without self-combusting like a Spinal Tap drummer. It is important to note that dozens of people and stocks spontaneously combust every year, but despite the increasing universality of AI, it’s “just not really widely reported.” We will again adjust for the world and its legitimate competition for eyeball time and space, and get right to it, although we will always note the fun and interesting stuff that might or might be financially relevant goes after this part. We have put 15% of capital into a handful of presently maligned software companies. Our present thinking is that having spent 30 years spending hundreds of billions of dollars buying software, forcing it upon tens of millions of its paid minions, and then hundreds of billions more guarding it with security and layers of management systems, the likelihood of corporate America handing over these systems en masse to be run by agents recently vibecoded by a few dudes over mocktails is “lowish.” So yes, the crown of absurd valuations and limitless free funding is being passed on from this world to you know what, but a generally sticky business bought reasonably with 80% gross margins now being forced to drop those dollars to the bottom line in a more sober and efficient manner in the harsh light of the post-hangover world is something that should be under consideration. Who will benefit from AI change and rearchitecting and who will simply lose seats will become apparent. And imagine new shareholder-oriented board members and better governance. It is early days and minor harm, minor foul to date. No, we don’t own huge exposure to something “memory oriented” and thus are not up 131% in the last 90 days. Some things that worked well this year have been the odd couple of “billboards and aerospace.” Billboards are one of those things that are literally seen but rarely talked about...
Oil prices rose in early Asia trade on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions grew amid an escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Bugto | Moment | Getty Images Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower Thursday, tracking Wall Street losses, as tensions between Iran and the U.S. keep oil prices elevated, stoking energy and inflation worries. The Kuwait International Airport ...
Oil prices rose in early Asia trade on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions grew amid an escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Bugto | Moment | Getty Images Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower Thursday, tracking Wall Street losses, as tensions between Iran and the U.S. keep oil prices elevated, stoking energy and inflation worries. The Kuwait International Airport was struck by Iran early Wednesday, just a day after the U.S. Central Command said it had defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, as well as launched "self-defense strikes" on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf. This was in response to "attempted attacks" by Tehran, it said. If necessary, Israel and the U.S. are prepared to strike Iran again, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNBC in an exclusive interview. "Israel is ready and the U.S. forces are ready. I think Iran should take that into account. I think they are taking into account, but they're playing with fire," Netanyahu said. West Texas Intermediate futures gained more than 2% to close at $96.02 on Wednesday, while international benchmark Brent crude advanced nearly 2% to settle at $97.81 per barrel. Japan's Nikkei 225 was poised to decline after hitting a record high on Wednesday, with the Chicago futures contract at 67,555 and its Osaka counterpart last trading at 68,130, compared with the index's previous close of 68,402.13. Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 25,312, lower than the index's last close of 25,633.21. In Australia, futures last traded at 8,734, while the S&P/ASX 200 ′s closed at 8,785.70. Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Futures tied to the S&P 500 futures fell by 0.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were trading marginally higher. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 620.72 points, or 1.21%, to end at 50,687.07 on Wednesday. The broad market S&P 500 fell 0.74% to close at 7,553.68, while the tech-heavy Nasda...
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman says he has no plans to make any financial contributions toward this year’s US elections, even as other Silicon Valley billionaires have already pledged to spend heavily to influence midterm races that will decide control of Congress. On a visit to Washington Wednesday, Altman said that while he doesn’t intend to make political donations himself, he sympat...
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman says he has no plans to make any financial contributions toward this year’s US elections, even as other Silicon Valley billionaires have already pledged to spend heavily to influence midterm races that will decide control of Congress. On a visit to Washington Wednesday, Altman said that while he doesn’t intend to make political donations himself, he sympathizes with those who’ve promised to put money toward campaigns, owing to growing opposition to their industry. “You can’t hold us to a different standard than all of our competitors. If they’re trying to use money to gang up on us, we have to be able to fight back,” Altman said after a meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders , a Vermont independent, on Capitol Hill. “But I would love to see the rules across the board change.” “I would love to see money out of politics in general. I think that’d be a great thing to happen,” he added. Other prominent AI industry figures have thrust themselves into the political fray. Leading the Future, a super political action committee backed by OpenAI President Greg Brockman as well as the co-founders of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is battling to elect AI friendly candidates and contest emerging state-level efforts to restrict the new technology and curb the construction of data centers. At the same time, polls have shown that Americans have become increasingly leery of artificial intelligence, fearing its effects on jobs and the environment. OpenAI has sought to distance itself from Leading the Future, which has received $25 million in donations from Brockman and his wife Anna. OpenAI in a blog post on Tuesday said it was not affiliated with the super PAC, which fights for lighter-touch AI regulation. OpenAI’s top competitor Anthropic PBC gave $20 million to a rival super PAC, Public First Action, which advocates for tougher AI safety regulations. Read More: Trump Takes Hands-Off Approach to AI Cybersecurity in Ne...