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US President Donald Trump is set to meet leaders of major AI companies this week to discuss the US government investing and becoming a stakeholder. Former Democrat leadership candidate, Bernie Sanders, has been on the road in the last few weeks proposing a government run wealth fund which would take a 50% stake in major AI companies, and Trump didn’t completely dismiss Sanders’ plan when asked, “Where economics are concerned, we have things that aren’t that far apart.” Trump’s comments come as Elon Musk’s SpaceX kick off the AI-IPOs on Friday. SpaceX has set a valuation target of $1.75tn. The company is trying to raise $75bn, nearly three times the amount raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019…

Reports that the US and Iran were progressing towards another ceasefire extension pushed oil prices lower and buoyed US markets last week. If signed off by President Trump, the tentative agreement will extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start talks over Iran’s nuclear programme.

However, peace deal optimism took some blows over the weekend following US strikes on radar sites in Iran and Iranian missile attacks on Kuwait. Israel also stepped up their activities in Lebanon, capturing the Beaufort Castle…

Major US markets closed last week at an all-time high thanks to optimism around a peace deal between the US and Iran and more AI enthusiasm. Markets once again seemed immune from broader concerns about the US economy as 30-year Treasury bond yields climbed to their highest level in 19 years, and the minutes from the last Fed meeting highlighted growing concerns around inflation.

The world’s most valuable company, Nvidia, posted stronger than expected earnings on Wednesday. Data centre revenue nearly doubled for the period and revenue beat expectations…

Having just passed her seven-year anniversary with Copia, we asked our Head of Operations, Marina Contato to take some time out of her busy day to reflect on her time with us!

The Japanese Cabinet Office is due to release Japan’s Q1 GDP data on Tuesday. Analysts are expecting to see a moderate rise largely thanks to AI sector driven growth. The impact of the energy shock caused by the war in Iran is more likely to be visible in Japan’s inflation numbers when published on Friday. Higher energy costs are expected to push up the overall inflation number although energy subsidies and the release of oil reserves should mean the impact is less significant than in other parts of Asia…

The conflict in Iran continued to dominate global financial markets in April. Right after Easter, President Trump threatened “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz couldn’t be reached. Thankfully he backed down and started the ceasefire that is still going on today, kicking off a reasonable month for markets…