As much as headline-grabbing earnings and the chip stock roller coaster want to hog the spotlight, oil prices are in focus again. Investors on the verge of panic should relax, because we’ve been here before.

Front-month contracts for Brent, the global oil-price benchmark, breached $100 a barrel on Thursday and settled above it. Crude is trading at its highest level since May, with a near-20% rise in five days marking the fastest ascent since early March.

Renewed U.S. strikes on Iran, and Iran’s retaliation, are to blame as crude shipments through the critical Strait of Hormuz come under pressure.

There are signs that the market is paying attention, even if it’s difficult for investors to take their eyes off the likes of Alphabet, Tesla, and Micron.

Stocks slumped on Thursday as the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note jumped above 4.7% for the first time since early 2025.

Rising oil prices amp up inflationary pressures, making it more likely that the Federal Reserve, which meets to discuss rates on Tuesday, could take action with higher interest rates. 

Bets on Fed action are growing: traders see almost 40% odds of a quarter-point rate-hike next week, up from less than 12% a week ago.

Higher interest rates could take some air out of stocks, but worrying about oil prices alone may not be warranted just yet. 

While $100 a barrel is a significant milestone for crude, it wasn’t until Brent prices crossed $110 earlier this year that significant weaknesses emerged in stocks and bonds. That $110 level—adjusted for today’s prices—being the real marker for panic was also true in the 2022 energy shock, as well.

What the Fed says next week will be important for investors, as will the back-and-forth of hostilities in the Middle East. But it doesn’t look like oil prices are reason for panic—at least not yet.

—Jack Denton

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Intel seems confident in where it’s heading next after reporting stronger than expected earnings on the back of surging demand for artificial intelligence. It plans on “meaningfully increasing” investments in equipment, clean room space, and substrates, to support expected growth this year and next.

• Intel’s adjusted profit of 42 cents and revenue of $16.1 billion in the second quarter got a boost from a 59% jump in data center and AI revenue. And Intel Foundry revenue climbed 31% from a year ago to $5.8 billion. CEO Lip-Bu Tan cited unprecedented demand for compute.

• Intel also said it expects third-quarter earnings to be 38 cents a share on revenue between $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion. That’s higher than Wall Street’s consensus estimate for earnings of 27 cents a share on revenue of $15.1 billion.

• Intel—a 2026 Barron’s stock pick—has soared 172% this year as investors bet that the company will continue to benefit from the strong demand for chips that power AI. Intel has specifically seen a surge in demand for its CPUs, or the chips that help power agentic AI, as that technology becomes increasingly popular.

• The company highlighted momentum in a number of businesses, including its next-generation data center CPU, Xeon 6+, and the expansion of its physical AI and robotics activities with 130 customers adopting or testing Intel processors.

What’s Next: CFO David Zinsner told analysts they expect capital expenditures to be more than $20 billion this year, significantly higher than what it expected when it started the year. Further, it’s forecasting 2027 capital spending to be significantly above 2026 levels, mostly spent on the U.S. network.

—Angela Palumbo and Liz Moyer

Alphabet isn’t dealing only with its own stock decline, it’s feeling the sting of SpaceX’s drop, too. The Google parent disclosed a $94.1 billion stake in Elon Musk’s rocket and AI company, which has become a small headwind as SpaceX stock tumbles to new lows.

• SpaceX shares closed out the second quarter at $170.86, up 27% from its $135 IPO price in June. It seems Alphabet owns roughly 550 million shares of the space company, or around 4% of the shares outstanding. Alphabet didn’t respond to Barron’s request for comment about its stake.

• SpaceX stock, however, is now trading closer to $118, where it closed on Thursday after a painful drop on Wednesday. The shares are down 31% since the end of the second quarter. Alphabet’s stake is now valued at about $65 billion, meaning it lost $29 billion in the blink of an eye. 

• The silver lining is that it amounts to only about 1% of Alphabet’s market value, a very small headwind for Alphabet stock. (The other positive is that Alphabet made incredible returns on its capital allocation decision.) 

• Alphabet’s own shares dropped 7.1% on Thursday, the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, despite beating earnings expectations a day earlier. Alphabet’s capital spending is ballooning to $200 billion to build out its AI business this year, and it has gone cash flow negative because of it.

What’s Next: Investors are increasingly nervous about AI. That is also weighing on SpaceX, which owns AI data centers. The majority of SpaceX’s stock will be available to trade soon, and investors fear that selling by early investors will continue to drive down its price.

—Al Root, Kit Norton, and Janet H. Cho

One of the biggest risks to the artificial intelligence boom is Americans’ opposition to building the data centers needed to power it. A pledge dozens of data center developers and utilities made with President Donald Trump isn’t likely to stop the backlash.

• Executives from nearly 200 entities are promising that AI data centers’ power consumption won’t drive up consumers’ electric bills. Among those that signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge are NextEra Energy and Duke Energy, governors from places like Georgia and Texas.

• Tech companies OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, and xAI signed the pledge earlier this year. It’s all meant to stem an anti-data center backlash. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in June showed 57% of Americans oppose data centers in their communities.

• The opposition has led dozens of local governments to propose moratoriums on the data center construction. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week signed an executive order implementing the first statewide data center ban, which will last up to a year.

• The White House says that with the new signatories the pledge now covers 80% of power delivered to American homes and businesses. It requires companies to build, bring, or buy all of the energy needed for building and operating data centers.

What’s Next: In reality, the pledge is nonbinding and would be difficult to enforce even if it were. Plus, electricity costs are just one of many problems that Americans cite. Opponents have argued that the facilities are unsightly and loud, hurt the environment, and use up water and other resources.

—Joe Light

Mortgages have notched their highest interest rate in nearly a year and are expected to keep climbing as the 10-Year Treasury yield climbs. Inflation fears are rising with an escalation in the Iran war pressuring oil prices higher, and the spillover effect could be higher borrowing costs for consumers. 

• The 30-year mortgage rate averaged 6.58%, the highest since the week of Aug. 21, 2025, and up from last week’s 6.55%, according to data from Freddie Mac. Mortgage News Daily, which surveys mortgage lenders, said rates jumped to an average of 6.85% on Thursday.  

• Thursday’s average doesn’t yet reflect the jump in 10-year Treasury yield, a barometer for mortgage rate movements, which hit a new intraday high of 4.710% on Thursday, the highest since January 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Brent crude, meanwhile, settled over $100 a barrel.

• It isn’t just higher home financing costs that have people worried. Credit card borrowing costs and auto loans could rise, while some savings accounts could offer higher savings rates. The median price for a previously owned home hit a record $440,600 in June, according to the National Association of Realtors. 

• Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage website HSH.com, told Barron’s that spiked 30-year fixed-mortgage rates “could push folks to the sidelines” as they hope for rates to decline again. High borrowing costs are eroding buyer confidence, making it difficult for first-time buyers to enter the market.

What’s Next: As for whether mortgage rates could hit 7% again, “it’s hard to rule anything out,” Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy told MarketWatch. “If the pressure on oil prices remains,” mortgage rates could rise above last year’s levels, but that would depress housing activity, Divounguy said.

—Molly Bordoff, Shaina Mishkin, and Janet H. Cho

—Newsletter edited by Liz Moyer and Rupert Steiner