Surges

• India's stock trading value reached a record high as passive funds executed massive trades to align portfolios with revised MSCI index weightings. • The surge was driven by portfolio adjustments, though local equities slumped 1.5% during the final hour of trading on Friday as the changes took effect. • This volatility highlights the significant influence of global benchmark indices on the liquidity and price movements of the Indian stock market.

• Meta Platforms shares surged 3.7% following the launch of a new subscription service, while Arm Holdings tumbled 5.8% due to manufacturing constraints delaying revenue from its AGI CPU. • The broader semiconductor sector felt the impact, with the SOXX index falling 1.1%, and cybersecurity stocks slid after Zscaler provided soft fiscal fourth-quarter guidance. • MongoDB's Atlas cloud database has reached a $2 billion annualized revenue run rate, yet the stock remains down 26.3% year-to-date as investors await a more constructive outlook from management.

• U.S. stocks rose to records on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 climbing 0.6% to 7,519.12 and the Nasdaq gaining 1.2% to 26,656.18, while the Dow slipped 118 points. • Micron Technology jumped 19.3% to above $895.88 and was the strongest force lifting the market, helping push the chip-heavy rally. • The move mattered because it extended a broad tech-led advance and came as traders digested President Donald Trump’s comments that Iran talks were “proceeding nicely.”

• Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged over 2.8% to surpass the 65,000 mark for the first time in history. • The record rally was driven by strong technology sector earnings and growing optimism surrounding U.S.-Iran peace negotiations. • This surge reflects a broader improvement in global risk sentiment, with positive gains also seen in China's Shanghai Composite and Australia's S&P/ASX 200.

More than 20,000 attacks on markets, farmland and food distribution systems have been recorded since 2018Hunger is being increasingly exploited as a weapon of war with more than 20,000 documented incidents of “food-related violence” in the past eight years, new analysis reveals.Attacks include 1,261 strikes on markets used by families for daily groceries and 863 incidents in which food distribution systems were targeted and workers killed. Continue reading...

• Akamai Technologies announced a major cloud infrastructure services contract worth $1.8 billion over seven years with a leading frontier AI model provider, identified by Bloomberg as Anthropic. • The company's stock posted its best weekly performance since April 2013, gaining 42% for the week including a 27% jump on Friday to reach a record high. • Akamai provides cloud computing, cybersecurity, and content delivery services critical for accelerating websites, apps, and AI workloads amid surging demand for compute infrastructure.

• Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.3% on May 7 to 4,941.96, led by Venture Corp's 10.9% rise to $18.28, before dipping 0.4% to 4,921.90 on May 8. • The movement reflects selective strength in tech amid broader Asia market caution. • Venture's gains highlight investor confidence in Singapore electronics manufacturing resilience.