A merchant ship spotted off the coast of Dubai on April 20, 2026.
– | AFP | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Hui Jie from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
In theory, a ceasefire has one purpose: to stop hostilities. The version being rolled out in the Middle East is testing that definition.
But whether the ceasefire is shaky or not, the market continues to rise, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq setting new records.
Separately, CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE event will enter its second day in Singapore, with key participants including former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and SGX CEO Loh Boon Chee.
enjoy!
What you need to know today
A ceasefire is generally interpreted as a suspension of all military action by the two warring sides.
However, in the case of the Middle East conflict, these assumptions are called into question. Is it really a ceasefire if Iran is firing on and seizing ships in the Strait of Hormuz while the US still maintains a military blockade and targets Iranian ships?
Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, said that “reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible” as long as the U.S. blockade continues.
Some might say this is similar to Schrödinger’s cat. The ceasefire seems both dead and alive.
The move sent oil prices soaring, with international benchmark Brent crude rising more than 3% to close at $101.91 per barrel on Wednesday, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rising more than 3% to settle at $92.96 per barrel. Both were trading slightly higher early Thursday.
The US stock market has shaken off its struggles, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite setting new records amid a flurry of earnings reports. In Asia, benchmark indexes in South Korea and Japan hit record highs in early Thursday trading.
South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix posted record profits and sales for the quarter on Thursday, as product prices continue to soar on the back of strong AI demand.
— Lim Huijie
And finally…
Kevin Warsh listed his preferred method for measuring inflation. It might come back and bite him.
Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, told lawmakers he wants the central bank to change its strategy for measuring inflation.
The Fed has long favored a core price index of personal consumption expenditures, known as core PCE, because it excludes volatile food and energy prices.
But Warsh wants to go a step further by eliminating extreme price shocks when calculating overall inflation.
“My preferred measure is to look at something called the trimmed mean,” Warsh added. “We remove any tail risks, all one-off risks, and ask ourselves whether the general change in prices is having a second-order effect on the economy.”
— Alex Harring
