S&P 500 breadth narrows as AI-led rally echoes dotcom-era peak

• South Korea's stock market has overtaken India's to become the world's sixth-largest, fueled by a massive AI boom and the success of its semiconductor giants. • India's market performance is currently hindered by a lack of direct AI exposure and the negative impact of a weakening rupee.

• Sterlite Technologies has emerged as a dominant Indian AI proxy, with its share prices soaring by 450% in 2026. • The company's growth has significantly outperformed global memory giants, including Samsung and SK Hynix, during the same period.

• Over €3.1 billion was invested across more than 60 tech funding deals in Europe during the final week of May. • The UK led investment totals with €2.6 billion, largely driven by the Pure DC round, followed by Germany (€226.5 million) and Ireland (€94.4 million).

• Focused Energy, a German-American fusion energy spin-off from Technical University Darmstadt, raised $240 million in a Series A funding round on May 27, 2026. • The investment was led by RWE, the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND), the European Innovation Council Fund, and Prime Movers Lab.

• SoftBank Group Corp. announced plans to invest up to €75 billion to develop 5 GW of AI data centre capacity in France. • The initiative was unveiled at the Choose France summit, with an initial phase allocating €45 billion to the Hauts-de-France region by 2031.

• South Korea has ascended to become the world's 6th-largest stock market, overtaking India, which has dropped to 7th place. • The shift is driven by an AI-led rally that pushed the Kospi and Taiwan's markets to record highs, while India's Nifty 50 experienced a decline.

• Indian smartphone brand Ai+ issued a public statement asserting that "trust must be earned every single day" following a controversial tech investigation. • The company claimed it is "learning and evolving" and has implemented improvements, though it failed to directly address allegations regarding rebranded hardware and Chinese-linked apps.

• Rising Middle East tensions are pushing oil prices higher, sparking concerns over potential stagflation and economic growth disruptions. • Arnab Das warns that markets may have underestimated the risk of supply chain shocks, particularly regarding potential disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz.

• Asian stocks declined broadly during Tuesday trading, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan falling 0.6 per cent. • The downturn was led by Korean shares, which tumbled as much as 3.3 per cent following an initially higher open.

• The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) presented their strategies for integrating AI technologies into government workflows at the STACKx Data & AI 2023 event. • Key initiatives include the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) for case retrieval and feedback analytics, alongside explorations into Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI.

• Europe is currently failing to meet its goal of increasing its global semiconductor production share to 20% by 2030. • To address this, the bloc is considering new plans to boost domestic demand and a streamlined, centralized subsidy process to better compete with the U.S.