Gold fell 13% to $4,022.90 a troy ounce over the past three months, marking its biggest quarterly decline since 2013. Silver dropped 20% to $59.48, its worst quarter since 2020.

The S&P 500 is up 14% and the Nasdaq has jumped 20%—the biggest quarterly rallies for both since the second quarter of 2020.

The dominance of the U.S. dollar, currently used in roughly 80% of international trade finance, has historically given Washington a big advantage in policing global business. Most international transactions denominated in U.S. dollars must be settled by American banks, giving Washington the ability to monitor them—and cut off users’ dollars if necessary, crippling their operations. But when U.S. adversaries use yuan to run their businesses, the transactions don’t enter the U.S.-led banking system, neutering Washington’s powers.

For 2026, the combined free cash flow at the five hyperscalers is expected to drop 91% to about $16 billion, while net income is projected to rise 25% to $506 billion. Current forecasts have free cash flow rebounding sharply to $185 billion in 2028 and then soaring to $387 billion in 2029. The consensus view for now is that capex growth will taper off after next year while revenue keeps surging, allowing free cash flow to rebound in a V-shaped recovery.

Citigroup established a blockchain-based venture for its wealthy and institutional clients to trade private-company shares.The venture uses authorized, tokenized depositary receipts issued by Citi, initially for foreign investors, with U.S. access planned.The infrastructure, operated by Switzerland-based SIX, aims to broaden access to private firms and can be adopted by other banks.

Earnings growth is expected to remain robust. Analysts expect companies to see a 22% surge in profits for the second quarter. For the full year, they expect a 23% jump.

SpaceX set a specific price of $135 per share for its initial public offering, bucking traditional IPO pricing methods. The company plans to sell 555,555,555 shares to raise nearly $75 billion, targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation. SpaceX was unprofitable in 2025, losing $4.9 billion on $18.7 billion in revenue.

Blackstone, Blue Owl and Cliffwater reverted to a 5% redemption cap after allowing bigger payouts in the first quarter.

The Trump administration is awarding $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing companies, including U.S. government equity stakes. IBM will receive $1 billion of the package. The funding comes from the 2022 Chips and Science Act, with the government taking minority equity stakes in each company.

The number of jobs held by women has increased by 421,000 since the end of 2024. The number of jobs held by men has slipped by 1,000. It is a figure that comes with caveats: More women hold multiple jobs, for example, while more men are self-employed—meaning they have work but they aren’t included in the payrolls jobs count.