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MORNING BID EUROPE - Chipflation

Ankur Banerjee gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets

Apple revealed that a bill must be paid by someone, just as investors were settling in to the idea that AI was still on the rise.

Apple has said that it cannot absorb the rising memory and storage costs due to the AI data center boom. Micron's astronomical results this week highlighted the shift. Customers locked in $22 billion worth of Micron memory chips as a sign that markets are tightening and pricing power is increasing.

What does it say when Apple, with its supply chain relationships envied by the entire industry, isn't immune to the memory price spike?

What's next? Xbox to increase prices? Oh.

Asian markets fell on Friday, as news that OpenAI may delay its public debut to next year also soured sentiment.

South Korea's KOSPI - a bellwether for the AI industry - fell 8% in one day and 9% over the course of a week, its steepest fall since early March, when the Iran War first broke out.

The oil market is still a major player, but it has slowed down.

Oil tankers continue to leave the Strait of Hormuz despite a cargo ship being hit near Oman.

Brent and WTI crude oil have lost almost all of the gains made by the hostilities that erupted in late February in the Middle East. But a gradual normalisation and a return to demand could tighten the markets next year.

This easing was a relief but not enough. In May, U.S. inflation surpassed 4% for the first time in 3 years. This kept an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve on the table.

The U.S. Dollar is now in a strong position, while the Japanese yen struggles to reach a low of 40 years, amid growing intervention fears. The dollar index will rise by?2.6% this month. This is its biggest monthly gain in over a year.

We'll end our report with the early summer heatwave which has ravaged?Western Europe. This predicament is leading to a boom in air conditioner sales from Asian manufacturers.

Health risks of extreme heat are explained as temperatures in Britain, Switzerland and other countries reach record highs. The following are the key developments that may influence Friday's markets:

Economic events: French unemployment in May (by Ankur Banerjee Editing done by Shri Navaranam)

(source: Reuters)