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🛢️ Oil prices are pumping after Israel warned that the conflict with Iran isn't over yet.

🇮🇳 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is urging the public to cut down on fuel consumption, limit international travel, and put a pause on gold purchases due to the severe impact of the Iran war on the economy. India currently imports nearly 85% of its fuel needs and is heavily dependent on the Hormuz Strait.

He mentioned that reducing international travel and gold imports will help safeguard forex reserves amid rising oil prices which are putting significant pressure on India’s import bills.

🇺🇸 The number of homes sold in April fell short of expectations as interest rates remain high, partly due to the fallout from the Iran conflict.

📈 Even though the news regarding US-Iran peace talks is not bullish and oil is up about 1.5% to nearly $97, the market is generally holding steady.

🔹 US Stocks:
• DOW and S&P 500 are slightly up
• NASDAQ is slightly down
🔹 Gold is flat
🔹 Bitcoin is slightly down but still holding above $80K

📌 THIS WEEK HAS A LOT OF IMPORTANT EVENTS:
• TUESDAY: CPI inflation
• WEDNESDAY: PPI inflation
• WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: President Trump meets with Chairman Xi
• WEDNESDAY: Crypto Clarity Bill markup 👀

🇺🇸 President Trump has indicated that he’s considering reviving the "Project Freedom" initiative, potentially scaling it up beyond the original plan to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
This project was announced last week but was quickly put on hold as peace negotiations with Iran started ramping up.

🇺🇸 President Trump says the ceasefire between the US and Iran is currently in a "dying" state after the latest response from Tehran.

President Trump: I'm calling this the weakest ceasefire out there right now. After reading that garbage they sent us... I didn't even bother reading it all... The ceasefire is barely hanging on, like a doctor coming in and saying: 'Sir, your loved one has only about a 1% chance of survival.'

🇺🇸 Jack Dorsey's Block ($XYZ) has ramped up its Bitcoin holdings to 9,032 BTC in Q1 2026, up from 8,883 BTC at the end of 2025.

🇺🇸 Major crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini are pushing U.S. lawmakers to remove a clause in the Clarity Act that mandates listed assets must be "not easily subject to price manipulation".

Exchanges argue that this regulation could make it tougher for smaller tokens to get listed, decreasing liquidity and stifling crypto market activity. This issue is currently sparking a lot of debate during the discussion and revision of the bill.

🇮🇱🇺🇸🇮🇷 Israel’s Channel 12 reports that Israel believes it's unlikely for the US and Iran to strike a peace deal, and Israel is gearing up to prepare a short on Iran's energy infrastructure within 24 hours if hostilities resume.

🇺🇸 The CEO of Robinhood stated that the U.S. is currently "very close" to passing the Crypto Clarity Act.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦 President Trump announced a 3-day ceasefire (May 9, 10, and 11) amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

🇺🇸🇮🇷 Wall Street Journal reports that negotiations between the U.S. and Iran could potentially resume as early as next week in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Kalshi is now valued at $22 billion after a $1 billion funding round

The event prediction exchange #Kalshi has just wrapped up a Series F round worth $1 billion, doubling its valuation to $22 billion in just five months.

The investment round saw participation from Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Morgan Stanley, and Ark Invest. Kalshi's annual revenue has surpassed $1.5 billion, while the entire prediction market industry recorded over $25 billion in trading volume last month. However, Kalshi is still facing at least 19 federal lawsuits and pressure from several U.S. states regarding whether the company's event contracts violate gambling laws.

Iran is reportedly set to send an official response to the peace proposal from the US through the intermediary Pakistan later today.

🛢️ Oil is taking a hit, currently at 91.85 USD (-3.4%)
📈 US Stocks:
🔹 DOW is pretty much flat
🔹 S&P 500 and NASDAQ are continuing to climb, hitting new ATHs
🥇 Gold is up 1.3%
₿ Bitcoin is down 1.75%, still hovering around the 80K USD mark.

BlackRock says that the traditional 60/40 investment model (60% stocks + 40% bonds) may not be as effective as it used to be.

Back in the day, when stocks took a nosedive, bonds typically rose or held their value, helping to protect the portfolio. But since 2020, there have been many periods where stocks and bonds have dropped simultaneously, weakening the risk management capability of bonds.

Therefore, BlackRock believes investors should start looking at alternative assets like Bitcoin and Gold to diversify their portfolios and better withstand high volatility environments.

The key point is that BlackRock no longer views Bitcoin merely as a speculative asset. They are starting to place BTC in the alternative asset category alongside gold.

Additionally, BlackRock emphasizes:

🔹 BTC has a low correlation with stocks (Bitcoin and S&P 500 from 2022 to Q1/2026 is 0.53)

🔹 BTC hardly moves with gold (Bitcoin and gold is only 0.10)

This means that BTC can sometimes rise or hold its value when other assets face issues, helping to reduce overall portfolio risk.

BTC remains highly volatile, so even a small allocation can significantly impact the portfolio.

🇯🇵Japan's Nikkei 225 index just hit a new all-time high, surpassing the 61,000 mark.

🇯🇵Tokyo's Topix index is up by 1.91%.

🇰🇷South Korea's Kospi index has gained an additional 1.17%.

🇮🇷 The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament just posted on X:
"Operation Trust Me Bro failed. Now back to routine with Operation Fauxios."
His posts sound more like something from the internet crowd rather than a politician... full of American slang and internet memes 😁
Basically, he's hinting that the U.S. is negotiating in bad faith with a "trust me bro" attitude, while accusing Western media of spreading misinformation when negotiations flop.

🇺🇸 ADP Report
Private companies in the U.S. added 109K jobs last month | Previous: 61K | Dow Jones forecast: 84K

Job growth is still mainly concentrated in a few key sectors:
- Education and healthcare continue to lead with an additional 61K jobs
- Trade, transportation, and utilities added another 25K
- The construction sector, which has been surging in recent months, added 10K jobs

By business size:
- Companies with fewer than 50 employees created 65K jobs
- Companies with 500 or more employees added 42K jobs

"Strategy Ready to Short Bitcoin"

2462 - WAR RISK STILL LOOMS, BUT BTC HITS $82K AS AI STOCKS SKYROCKET PARABOLICALLY AND OIL DROPS 7%

👉Youtube: https://youtu.be/CtPXxgUQ_LY

Solana and Google Cloud just dropped Pay.sh, an epic payment gateway that lets AI agents automatically access and pay for API services using stablecoins on Solana without needing to create an account, sign up for a subscription, or go through manual identity verification.

The Solana wallet of the agent acts as their identity, with each payment request settled individually at the actual market price.

Pay.sh lets you tap into Google Cloud services like Gemini, BigQuery, and Vertex AI, along with over 50 third-party APIs including Claude Code, Codex, and blockchain analytics tools. The system runs on the x402 protocol developed by Coinbase and is compatible with Stripe's Machine Payments Protocol.

UAE takes business licensing to the blockchain, gearing up for the AI era

Innovation City, the free economic zone in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, just launched a business identity issuance system on the blockchain, using OPN Chain developed by IOPn. Over 1,000 companies registered here will no longer use PDF business licenses; instead, each company will have a digital identity on the blockchain, allowing partners to verify instantly without any intermediaries.

This move is part of a bigger vision from the UAE government, aiming to transition 50% of public services to operate via AI agents within two years. For AI agents to function autonomously, a reliable identification infrastructure is essential. However, to date, no banks or regulatory bodies outside this economic zone have recognized the on-chain identities, so the real-world effectiveness still hinges on future acceptance.

🟢 Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock just skyrocketed by 15% after their data center segment blew past expectations, fueled by a surge in AI demand. Their revenue and outlook both exceeded market forecasts, and AMD's stock has more than tripled over the past year.

🟢 Super Micro Computer's stock also jumped 18% in after-hours trading after the company released a very strong business outlook, again driven by AI demand, even though their Q3 revenue fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

🇰🇷 The KOSPI index in South Korea has surged past the 7,000 mark, hitting a new all-time high.

🇺🇸 The NASDAQ index has also reached new heights.

Market Logic: Two days ago, President Trump announced "Project Freedom" to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, and the market reacted positively. Afterward, Iran attacked vessels trying to pass through, prompting a U.S. response that escalated tensions.

Now, with President Trump announcing a temporary halt to "Project Freedom", the market continues to rally as traders speculate that the conflict is cooling down... even though the current situation has merely reverted to the state before "Project Freedom".

🇺🇸 The CEO of Strategy, Phong Le, stated that the company is open to the idea of shorting Bitcoin in the future if it boosts the value of Bitcoin per share, including liquidating BTC for USD or restructuring debt if it benefits shareholders.

This comes amid Chairman Michael Saylor recently hinting at the possibility of selling BTC to fund dividends, leading many to question whether the famous saying "never sell" still holds true.