Author: Errica Jensen

Shanghai’s trading floor no longer roars as it used to. Nowadays, the majority of the action takes place on silent screens in brokerage offices in Beijing and Shenzhen or behind glass towers in Pudong. You can practically feel the heartbeat quicken when the Shanghai Composite Index closes at 4,182.59, which is close to its 52-week high. On paper, the index increased by 0.47% for the day. However, the rally’s texture conveys a more nuanced narrative. PetroChina and Sinopec reached their daily limit-up levels as oil and gas stocks experienced a sharp increase. The “Big Three” oil giants actually closed at…

The price of gold is above $5,400 per ounce, and this rally doesn’t seem typical. The numbers on the trading screens in brokerage offices are nearly always flickering green. Futures contracts have increased by over 80% year over year, and February saw one of the strongest monthly closes in decades with gains of almost 8%. Just across town, traders are speculating about $6,000 as though it were a significant milestone. It’s possible that fear is driving this surge more so than optimism. The Middle East has seen a dramatic increase in geopolitical tensions in recent weeks. Concerns about the oil…

Lucy Hamilton tried to appear calm as she stood a little to one side of the team huddle with her hands clasped behind her back on a warm afternoon in Hobart, just before Australia’s third ODI match against India. The cameras lingered. During her final one-day international match, Alyssa Healy gave her cap number 151. The symbolism—a teenager stepping forward, a legend stepping away—was almost too neat. Hamilton is 19 years old. That figure seems significant. At this age, the majority of cricket players are still learning how to prepare for matches and aren’t getting an international cap in front…

The air feels charged before the first ball is bowled on some cricket afternoons. When Alyssa Healy walked out for her last one-day international, Hobart experienced that emotion. The stands were speckled with yellow shirts, the sky was a vivid blue, and a handcrafted sign that said, “Thanks Midge,” was visible somewhere in the crowd. It’s difficult to ignore how infrequently sports give their greatest players the happy ending they so richly deserve. The 35-year-old Healy didn’t simply retire. She blew up her exit. Two sixes vanishing into a late-summer sky, 27 boundaries flashing across Bellerive Oval, and 108 runs…

Bitcoin has a tendency to appear most vulnerable just before it causes unease for everyone. Screens in London and New York displayed Bitcoin hovering around $66,700 on a gloomy Monday morning, just above a technical shelf close to $65,700. The move felt tense, but it wasn’t dramatic. Headlines about the intensifying conflict in the Middle East over the weekend sent traders into defensive mode, causing them to liquidate leveraged positions and briefly push the price toward $60,000. The subsequent bounce was tentative, almost hesitant. Bitcoin seems to be torn between two opposing viewpoints. Short-term charts appear brittle on the one…

The initial indication of trouble wasn’t very dramatic. There was only a flicker. The E-mini S&P 500 futures contract was trading close to 6,793 at 1:16 a.m. Chicago time, down about 1.4% from the previous close. Long before the coffee carts in Manhattan arrived, the numbers were glowing red on trading dashboards all over Asia. Near 6,820, futures had opened. Almost instantly, sellers leaned in, causing prices to drop toward the session low of 6,783. The texture of overnight markets is different. Liquidity decreases. Price changes seem more abrupt and occasionally inflated. However, people take notice when the S&P 500…

Predicting the price of crude oil has always been risky. Long after sunset, traders say that with a half-smile, usually as they gaze at screens that glow red and green in dimly lit offices. Nevertheless, the same question remains: where will oil go next? Futures markets reopened with a bang on Sunday night. WTI crude briefly approached $72 per barrel after rising more than 8%. Not far behind, flirting with $80, was Brent. Rising tensions in the Middle East and growing concerns about possible disruptions to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz were the obvious catalyst. However, fear alone rarely…

Was Tel Aviv struck? That question had gone farther than the missiles themselves by Sunday morning. It traveled through WhatsApp groups in London, illuminated television panels in Washington, and reverberated in whispered discussions in coffee shops that had been crowded with people arguing about soccer or politics only hours before. Yes, to put it succinctly. They hit Tel Aviv. The longer response, however, is more difficult and unnerving. In retaliation for joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Iranian ballistic missiles streaked toward central Israel late Saturday night. The coastal city was filled with the rising mechanical cry that Tel Aviv residents…

When the question first appears on a phone screen, it almost seems theatrical: was the Strait of Hormuz closed? There’s nothing theatrical about it, though, out on the water. Tankers are idling in loose formations off the coast at dawn, instead of gliding in steady formation toward the Gulf of Oman. Dozens of ships can be seen hardly moving on satellite maps, their digital markers remaining stationary. The ocean appears to be serene. It’s not tense. Iran has not formally announced that the waterway will be sealed. According to reports, however, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has radio-warned ships that “no ship…

The words “Iran hit Burj Khalifa” flashing across a phone screen has a surreal quality. The tower has always seemed inaccessible, more of a symbol than a structure, rising 828 meters into the Gulf sky. Gleaming like a silver needle at night and shimmering in desert light during the day, it anchors Dubai’s skyline with an almost theatrical confidence. Rumors spread more quickly than the interceptors when missiles and drones started flying over the United Arab Emirates this past weekend. The Burj Khalifa itself was not hit, according to official statements from Dubai authorities. However, debris from Iranian drones that…