Morning Bid: Chipflation

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee

Just as investors were settling into the idea that the AI rally still had legs, Apple delivered a reality check that someone has to foot the bill.

While iPhone prices will hold, iPads and MacBooks are set to rise as Apple says it can no longer absorb surging memory and storage costs driven by the AI data centre boom. Micron's blowout results this week underscored the shift, with customers locking in $22 billion of supply of its memory chips in a sign of tightening markets and rising pricing power.

And what does it say when Apple, the world's most valuable consumer electronics company with supply chain relationships that are the envy of the industry, is not immune to a memory price surge?

What's next? Hiking prices of Xbox? Oh.

Asian markets sank on Friday as reports that OpenAI is considering holding off on its public debut until next year also soured sentiment.

South Korea's KOSPI, a bellwether of the AI trade, tumbled 8% on the day and 9% for the week - its sharpest drop since early March when the Iran war first erupted.

Oil, meanwhile, is easing but not out of the picture.

More stranded oil tankers are exiting the Strait of Hormuz, although a cargo vessel was hit near Oman, leaving sentiment fragile.

Brent and WTI crude have erased almost all the gains sparked by the late February hostilities in the Middle East, but a rebound in demand and gradual normalisation could tighten markets again next year.

That easing has offered some relief, but not enough. U.S. inflation broke above 4% for the first time in three years in May, keeping an interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve firmly on the table.

As a result, the U.S. dollar is left standing tall, with the Japanese yen struggling near a 40-year low amid mounting intervention jitters. The dollar index is set for a 2.6% rise this month, its strongest monthly gain in a year.

And we end with the deadly early summer heatwave that has gripped Western Europe, a predicament that's leading to a boom in sales for Asian makers of air conditioners.

Here's an explainer on health risks from extreme heat as temperatures in Britain and Switzerland hit record highs for June.

Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:

Economic events: French unemployment for May

(By Ankur BanerjeeEditing by Shri Navaratnam)