Throughout July, as Europe battled heatwaves and wildfires, markets showed growing concern for those invested in AI's future. The primary driver of markets in recent years has been AI. Specifically, the enormous spending from hyperscalers Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle, who plan to spend just shy of $725bn on AI infrastructure this year alone. That colossal figure is having a visible impact on US and global GDP.

1. Semiconductor stock supernova The dominant positive trend in equity markets since the recovery began in early April has been strength in AI infrastructure-related stocks. This has been influenced primarily by growing evidence that large language models (LLMs) are beginning to generate meaningful revenue and are becoming increasingly embedded within enterprise workflows. At the beginning of April, Anthropic - the company behind Claude - announced a 300% increase in annualised revenue to...

It is impossible to second guess the next move in markets given the underlying complexity of the war in Iran. Particularly given the impact that President Trump’s comments are having on markets. What is becoming increasingly apparent is that even with a swift resolution to the conflict, the disruption from the war will result in inflated energy costs for some time.