With the Iran war in its seventh month, commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is shrinking even as Gulf oil export demand remains pressing. Baltic Exchange data this week show the daily charter rate for a very large crude carrier hauling oil from the Persian Gulf to China rose to $1.035 million, versus about $208,000 per day for a comparable route. Higher insurance costs and industry consolidation have helped push freight rates higher as supply constraints lift oil back above $100 per barrel and diesel prices top $6 for the first time, up 60% from before the war.

OpenAI is in talks with investors about a new funding round that would value the company at $1.2 trillion. CEO Sam Altman has said safety concerns make this a poor moment to go public and that the company does not feel pressure to do so. OpenAI raised $122 billion in March at a valuation of $852 billion.

Williams Sonoma and TJX are using portions of their tariff refunds to bolster employee compensation and benefits. Williams Sonoma said it will set aside $10 million for one-time payments into eligible employees’ 401(k) accounts. TJX said it accrued incremental expenses of $112 million for year-end incentive compensation and discretionary bonuses after receiving $331 million in refunds.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield climbed above 5% on Monday for the first time since 2023 as the Iran war kept lifting oil prices, with Brent crude jumping as much as 4% to nearly $110 a barrel. With inflation running above the Federal Reserve’s target for more than five years, policymakers are seen as less willing to wait for price pressures to fade. The 5% yield threshold also weighed on tech shares, with chipmakers leading losses, and higher yields are making equity financing more difficult for companies.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will not go public in 2026, arguing that an IPO would be poorly timed and that safety and compliance work must take priority. Markets had previously speculated that OpenAI could be valued at $1 trillion in a listing. He made the comments as global markets remain volatile, after the SpaceX IPO’s sharp post-listing swings and as renewed fighting involving Iran has pushed oil prices higher and lifted inflation forecasts.

De Nederlandsche Bank has reallocated part of its gold reserves from the U.S. to Europe to improve liquidity. Of the 612 tons it holds in total, 18.5% remains stored in New York and Ottawa. The move follows a similar step by the Banque de France, which in March 2025 said it sold 129 tons of gold held in New York and bought gold in Europe, without citing geopolitical factors.

Bitcoin rose nearly 25% over the past week, and when it traded around $64,000 on Tuesday, a single day saw $1.3 billion in short liquidations. Another $1 billion in shorts were liquidated over the following 48 hours, bringing the week’s total to $4.5 billion. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid posted more than $633 billion in combined spot and perpetuals volume in the first quarter, more than six times its total in the second quarter of 2024.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell below 300 million barrels last week for the first time since the 1980s. The U.S. plans to release 172 million barrels to address severe supply disruptions and rising energy costs tied to the Iran war, which is expected to push inventories down to 243 million barrels. Experts warn that running the SPR too low could damage the underground salt caverns used to store crude, with repairs already costing more than $100 million.

Iran says the Strait of Hormuz has been shut down, but U.S. President Donald Trump says 9 million barrels of oil a day are still getting out. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a post on X on Tuesday that the seven-day average for oil leaving the strait was almost 9 million barrels per day. Axios reported on Sunday, citing U.S. officials, that about 8 million barrels are leaving each night via a southern lane with U.S. help, while pipeline exports run about 4 million barrels per day, putting total flows at about 15 million barrels per day versus 20 million barrels per day before the conflict.