U.S.-based equities appear to be pausing today after several weeks of significant growth in response to increasing hostilities between the United States and Iran. The S&P 500 shares are now retracing their gains following nine consecutive days of positive advance as result of rising tensions in Iran. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has continued to rise, hitting upwards of $96/bbl, which raises the concerns that inflation related to energy will take longer to subside. The continued positive performance of the labour market report, combined with rising prices for WTI crude, have caused the Treasury yield curve (as represented by the 10-year note) to increase and decreased expectations for a reduction in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Given the current environment where $Btc price remains lower due to trader reduction in risk asset exposure, it appears as though the artificial intelligence investment boom is continuing unabated. Google has stated that they will expand their planned capital raise to $84.75 billion to build out their artificial intelligence infrastructure, and Meta has introduced new artificial intelligence tools for business with the hopes of monetising its investment into artificial intelligence. As it currently stands, the market is at a crossroads defined by two distinct drivers; 1) Corporate spending and growth driven by artificial intelligence, and 2) Rising crude Oil prices/inflation related to energy and geopolitical uncertainty. The winner of either trend/narrative will most likely dictate the next significant directional move across equities, digital assets and commodities. #SPX $QQQ $BTC $WTI $GOOGL $META $NVDA