A view of destroyed buildings in an area hit by US airstrikes during a US-Israeli military operation in Tehran, Iran, on July 21, 2026, amid renewed conflict between Iran and the US in southern Iran.
Morteza Nicobazul | Nur Photo | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Hui Jie from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
Instead of escalating, fighting in the Middle East paused, resulting in a relatively calm weekend.
But it’s not all smooth sailing. While the Trump administration was dealing with tariff litigation at home, Ukraine rammed Iranian commercial ships in widespread attacks.
Nvidia has raced to secure more memory from SK Hynix in a deal that could reach up to $500 billion, which could be a catalyst for the stock, which has fallen sharply in the last month.
But one European reporter asked what might be the most important question of the day. “Why is chocolate so expensive?”
What you need to know today
Investors enjoyed a quiet weekend on the Middle East front, a welcome respite from the resumption of hostilities between Iran and the United States, after oil prices fell and stock prices rose on a pause in the Iran war.
But this sense of relief also came with a number of caveats. Ukraine rammed an Iranian commercial ship in the Caspian Sea, and President Zelensky said the attack involved an Iranian-linked military cargo shipment.
Iran said one sailor was killed and several others injured in the attack, and Tehran accused Kiev of hostilities.
The Trump administration is also facing outrage elsewhere, with lawsuits from two companies over new Section 301 tariffs imposed last Friday over forced labor allegations. Experts told CNBC the mission could have a hard time surviving legal scrutiny.
Across the Atlantic, Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, said he was ready to summon President Trump if necessary.
“We have to protect our national interests first and foremost, and that’s what we need to do to do this job properly,” Burnham said in an interview with the BBC.
But for investors, the biggest deal today may still be in AI. Nvidia has signed a memory supply deal with SK Hynix worth $500 billion, potentially alleviating concerns as the memory market faces a global shortage.
It’s not just technology that’s getting attention. The S&P 500’s industrial sector trades at a price-to-earnings ratio above 30, a level commonly seen among high-growth companies.
“As advanced as the technology is, this is an area that is really gaining traction,” said Cynthia Murphy, director of research at VettaFi.
In Asia, investors will also be keeping an eye on China’s industrial profits in June, an indicator of the state of the world’s second-largest economy.
And finally…
Cocoa prices are falling. So why is chocolate still expensive?
After record highs, cocoa prices are starting to calm down, but don’t expect cheap candy just yet, as the world’s biggest chocolate makers turn to social media-inspired products and other strategies to win back shoppers.
Prices have reached record highs over the past two years as bad weather and a poor cocoa harvest pushed up chocolate prices and dampened consumer confidence.
Cocoa futures last traded at $5,327 per tonne, down 34% over the past year. This commodity has soared to around $12,000 per tonne by the end of 2024. Cocoa prices have typically hovered around $2,000 to $3,000 for the past 20 years.
—Soda Baymiya
