Markets rallied and oil prices dropped as U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “great settlement” to end the Iran war. Investors are also keenly awaiting the historic market debut of SpaceX, anticipated to be valued at $1.8 trillion. Meanwhile, the 2026 World Cup has kicked off, presenting potential opportunities for the gambling industry, with DraftKings identified as a key beneficiary.
Hello, this is Hui Jie writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open.
U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed a "great settlement" to end the Iran war — reportedly his 39th such promise.
Carl Recine | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
That still drove oil lower, while Wall Street rallied. Investors, meanwhile, have their eyes peeled for SpaceX's historic market debut, set for Friday stateside.
The football World Cup has started and so has the betting. May the best team win!
What you need to know today
The 2026 World Cup is underway, so if your colleague comes into office with a larger cup of coffee than usual, they might have watched that early morning match between Mexico and South Africa.
But while football's largest tournament kicks off, investors are unlikely to take their eyes off a more geopolitically and economically relevant story playing out: the possibility that the Iran war might finally come to an end.
On Thursday stateside, Trump announced the U.S. had "just made a great settlement of the war with Iran," subject to the "finalization of documents."
Trump said at the Oval Office that he expects a signing to occur "over the next few days," repeating similar claims he has made numerous times over the course of the war. In fact, this would reportedly be the 39th time he has made the claim.
The Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil-shipping route that has become a major chokepoint during the war, will be reopened as soon as a deal is signed, Trump said.
Should the two sides reach a "stable" agreement, Frontline CEO Lars Barstad said oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz should materially increase above the trickle of 5 to 10 ships currently transiting the strait daily.
Overnight, oil prices plunged about 4% and U.S. markets rallied, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining more than 900 points.
Another ball that markets are not taking their eyes off is the anticipated historic debut of Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is set to go public on Friday stateside. The company is expected to be valued at about $1.8 trillion.
However, SpaceX is allocating a smaller-than-expected portion of its blockbuster initial public offering to retail investors, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The company plans to direct a percentage in the low 20s of the offering to retail buyers, below earlier expectations of roughly 30%. But the allocation decisions could still change, the person said.
In Asia, markets surged at the open, with the Nikkei 225 gaining 4% and South Korea's Kospi soaring 7%.
Korea Exchange CEO Jeong Eun-bo told CNBC Lisa Kim that the recent sell-off by foreign investors was not due to any loss of confidence in the country, but just a portfolio rebalancing due to the large gains the Korean market has seen.
— Lim Hui Jie
And finally...
Wall Street sees one clear winner from the World Cup gambling boom
The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins and is expected to be the largest betting event ever. Wall Street thinks there's one big winner.
In a report issued Thursday, Bernstein said DraftKings appears to be the clearest gambling beneficiary from the tournament.
"Its edge is in its marketing rails: the multi-year NBCUniversal tie-in and Telemundo's exclusive Spanish-language rights hand DraftKings' Spanish-language app a privileged funnel into the highest-intent, most soccer-avid betting demographic in the country," analyst Ian Moore wrote.
— Davis Giangiulio
Correction: This newsletter has been updated to reflect the match on Friday morning was between Mexico and South Africa.
