Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with registration letters VT-ANB flies over Tokyo, Japan, April 27, 2025 in this picture obtained from social media.
Koki Takagi | Via Reuters
Israel launched a series of airstrikes in Iran early Friday local time, escalating the simmering conflict between the two nations. Israel said that it was targeting locations related to Iran’s nuclear program. Shortly after the strikes began, the country’s Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency. Iran’s state-run media has reported multiple fatalities in the capital city, Tehran, including the death of the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami.
The strikes caused oil prices to jump more than 10% amid fears of a broader regional war. U.S. stock futures fell for the same reason, with Dow futures down more than 600 points. Asian stocks also fell.
Meanwhile, tragedy struck Thursday when a London-bound Air India flight crashed soon after takeoff after departing from Ahmedabad, in western India. The accident involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers killed all but one person on board the plane. The crash had killed several people on the ground, Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, told Reuters, pushing the death toll higher.
Following the accident, Boeing stocks tumbled 13%. Stocks of Boeing suppliers GE Aerospace and Spirit AeroSystems also took a hit, shedding 4% and 3%, respectively.
Whether the jet crash is going to impact Boeing in the long run will depend on the investigation outcome. In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” aviation expert and Boyd Group International President Mike Boyd said that investors shouldn’t make the assumption this is “another Max situation.” Boeing’s 737 MAX was grounded for more than a year after two fatal accidents involving the aircraft.
What you need to know today
S&P 500 creeps closer to all-time high while Asian stocks fall
Major averages in the U.S. rose overnight, thanks to a cooler-than-expected May producer price index. The S&P 500 added 0.38%, ending at 6,045.26. The advance brings the broad market index less than 2% off from its February record high. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.24% to close at 19,662.48. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 101.85 points, or 0.24%, settling at 42,967.62. Asia-Pacific markets were down Friday after Israel conducted a military strike on Iran, targeting its nuclear program, while Iran vowed to retaliate.
India’s rocky path as an alternative to China
Amid the U.S.-China trade war, companies are increasingly pivoting toward India for their manufacturing needs as an alternative to China considering its large, young labor force, and manufacturing incentives like the production-linked incentive scheme. But many problems plague the path to India’s manufacturing boom, such as logistical bottlenecks, regulatory red tape, and patchy infrastructure in many regions.
U.S. May producer price index cooler than expected
The May producer price index, a measure of final demand prices in the U.S. economy, rose just 0.1% for the month after decreasing 0.2% in April. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting a 0.2% increase. The softer reading helped boost major stock indexes, while bond yields eased, indicating improving investor sentiment. Earlier this week, the U.S. May consumer inflation report also came in cooler than anticipated.
Oracle shares soar after earnings beat
Shares of Oracle surged 13% after the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that beat on the top and bottom lines and indicated more cloud growth ahead. CEO Safra Catz said on a conference call that thanks to AI demand, cloud infrastructure revenue should increase more than 70% in the 2026 fiscal year, up from growth of 52% in the quarter. Oracle’s rally lifted the tech sector, boosting the S&P 500.
[PRO] Oracle could rally another 70%: investor Victoria Greene
Oracle shares may be rallying on its latest earnings beat, but it still has much higher to go, according to Victoria Greene, chief investment officer at G Squared Private Wealth. Although the stock is already up 20% year to date, Greene thinks it isn’t too late for investors to get in on the action. “The train is leaving the station, but you’ve got to jump on the stock,” she said. “I see this as a $300 stock in the next 12 months.”
Read more here.
And finally…
Indian Rare Earths extracts rare earth elements from beach sands in Kerala, India.
Pallava Bagla | Corbis News | Getty Images
India moves to tap its rare earth reserves. Experts say it could become an alternative to China
India, like many countries, is facing China’s restrictions on rare earth exports — and it wants to develop its own domestic supplies. Experts say it could become an important alternative to China for partners such as the U.S., but will require much more public and private investment in the sector.
Given its considerable reserves, India is “poised to play a key role in building a more diversified global rare earths supply chain,” Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNBC.
Indian officials are evaluating how India Rare Earths, a government-owned company, can be leveraged to increase rare earth magnet production, sources told CNBC-TV18.
