Global Markets: Global stocks steady; oil climbs on stalled peace talks
27/04/2026 09:35
Updates throughout
Oil futures reach more than three-week peak on Iran worries
Global stocks steady, investors try to look past oil shock
This week 44% of S&P 500 by market cap are due to report
Central banks in Japan, US, UK, euro zone, Canada seen on hold
By Sophie Kiderlin and Tom Westbrook
LONDON/SINGAPORE, April 27 (Reuters) - Oil climbed on Monday as stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks pointed to further disruption in Middle East energy exports, while global stocks held steady at the start of a busy week of tech earnings reports and central bank decisions.
Benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose almost 3% to touch a more than three-week high of $108.5 a barrel at one point in the session, stoking inflation worries and prompting traders to all but price out rate cuts in developed markets this year.
MSCI's All-World index .MIWO00000PUS was a touch higher, while Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX dipped around 0.2%. In Asia, markets in Tokyo .N225 and Seoul .KS11 rose to trade around record highs, riding a fresh wave of AI-fuelled optimism, while Wall Street futures fell.
"It is an incredibly busy week ahead. Not only are we going to have inevitably another round of geopolitical headlines all over the place, we've also got five policy decisions across the G10, we've got five of the 'magnificent 7' (tech giants) reporting, and I think by market cap it's about 45% of the S&P giving us results this week," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
While a ceasefire has frozen most fighting in the war triggered by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran two months ago, markets remain focused on the shuttered Strait of Hormuz, crossed by barely any ships carrying cargoes of oil and gas.
The outlook for peace talks remains uncertain.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran
only had to call
if it wanted to negotiate an end to the war. Iran's foreign minister landed in Russia on Monday to seek support from President Vladimir Putin.
Goldman Sachs analysts lifted year-end Brent oil price forecasts to $90 a barrel from $80, basing the expectation on a June-end return to normal for Gulf exports.
"Non-linear price increases are likely if inventories drop to critically low levels, which we have not seen in the last few decades," they warned in a note.
RATES AND HYPERSCALERS EARNINGS
Equity investors tried to look past the oil shock, with renewed attention on the tech sector and the artificial intelligence trend that some view as unstoppable.
"AI is something that people are very optimistic about and very much considered a winner," said Mike Seidenberg, senior portfolio manager for Allianz Technology Trust.
"It's the top of the portfolio."
Intel's INTC.O forecast last week for second-quarter revenue exceeding Wall Street expectations set off the latest round of buying, pushing the total value of the chipmaker-heavy stock markets in Taiwan and South Korea above that of Germany.
U.S. tech earnings due in the coming week include reports from 44% of the S&P 500 by market cap.
Capital expenditure plans will be in focus for firms such as Microsoft MSFT.O, Alphabet GOOGL.O, Amazon AMZN.O and Meta Platforms META.O, set to report on Wednesday, while Apple AAPL.O will report a day later.
Major central banks are expected to keep policy on hold this week, including the U.S. Federal Reserve - at what will likely be its last meeting with Jerome Powell in the chair.
The European Central Bank and Bank of England are also set to keep policy unchanged, but their tone and outlook could challenge market pricing for rate hikes later this year.
The first central bank to meet, however, will be the Bank of Japan, which
is expected on Tuesday to keep its short-term policy rate steady at 0.75%.
In currencies, the dollar was broadly steady on Monday, with the euro EUR= at $1.1746 and the Japanese yen pinned just below the crucial 160 level.
(Reporting by Sophie Kiderlin in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe in London; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Thomas Derpinghaus and Gareth Jones)
((sophie.kiderlin@thomsonreuters.com))