Bitget UEX Daily Report | US-Iran second round of negotiations prepares for oil price decline; storage and lithium mining sectors lead the rise (April 14, 2026)

# 1. Hot News

Federal Reserve Dynamics

US-Iran ceasefire negotiations continue, second round face-to-face talks may be held on the 16th

• The Trump administration is preparing Geneva or Islamabad as the location for the second round of direct negotiations; US Vice President Pence stated that substantial progress has been made in the negotiations, but final authorization requires approval from Iran's Supreme Leader, with the core focus on the full opening of the Strait of Hormuz; the Iranian President emphasized the sincerity of the negotiations in a call with the French President, but Hezbollah refuses to disarm, leaving the situation uncertain.
• Market Impact: Progress in negotiations boosts risk appetite, driving energy prices down in the short term while easing expectations of global supply chain tensions.

International Commodities

London aluminum prices soar to a four-year high, Middle East conflict doubles impact on supply

• The Middle East accounts for about 9% of global aluminum production, and the UAE's global aluminum company's smelter has been attacked, triggering force majeure clauses; the ongoing risk of shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz continues to push up regional premiums, with inventories remaining low.
• Market Impact: The rise in aluminum prices highlights the amplifying effect of geopolitical conflicts on industrial metal supply, expected to support related commodity premiums in the short term and transmit to downstream manufacturing costs.

Macroeconomic Policy

BlackRock resumes overweight rating on US stocks, emphasizing controllable conflicts and AI-driven profits

• BlackRock's strategy team noted that shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has partially resumed, the impact of the conflict on the global economy is limited, and corporate profit expectations remain upward (the semiconductor sector is expected to grow by 80% this year); previously neutral due to the Middle East situation, now back to overweight.
• Market Impact: Institutional risk appetite is warming, resonating with the rebound in US stocks, expected to further support the performance of technology and growth sectors.

# 2. Market Review

Commodity & Forex Performance

• Spot Gold: Down about 0.57%, latest at $4,767/ounce.
• Spot Silver: Down about 0.48%, at $75.63/ounce.
• WTI Crude Oil: Down 2.69%, at $96.22/barrel, with optimistic sentiment from Middle East negotiations significantly easing supply concerns.
• Brent Crude Oil: Down 2.68%, at $96.70/barrel, driven by expectations of a recovery in the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.
• US Dollar Index: Slightly retreated to around 98.352, with safe-haven demand decreasing in the short term as risk assets rebound.

Cryptocurrency Performance

• BTC: Up about 4.7% in 24H, reaching $74,894, driven by optimistic sentiment from Middle East negotiations leading to a significant rebound in risk assets, successfully breaking through key resistance levels.
• ETH: Up about 7.08% in 24H, reaching $2,394.
• Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap: Up about 3.8% in 24H, total market cap around $2.6 trillion.
• Market Liquidation Situation: Total liquidation in 24H about $531 million, with short positions liquidated at $426 million.
• Bitget BTC/USDT Liquidation Map: Current price around $74,157 has entered the edge of the upper liquidation concentration area, with significant short liquidation accumulation in the $74,000-$76,000 range, indicating potential passive short squeeze momentum. The $72,000-$73,500 range shows relatively weak long liquidation, and if it falls below $73,500, there may be accelerated retracement.

• Spot ETF Net Inflow/Outflow: BTC spot ETF saw a net outflow of about $326 million yesterday; ETH spot ETF saw a net inflow of $7.8 million.
• BTC Spot Inflow/Outflow: Overall inflow yesterday was $2.887 billion, with a net outflow of about $2.917 billion, net inflow of -$29.47 million.

US Stock Index Performance

• Dow Jones: Up 0.63% at 48,218.25 points, continuing the rebound trend.
• S&P 500: Up 1.02% at 6,886.24 points, recovering all losses since the conflict began and reaching a new high since the end of February.
• Nasdaq: Up 1.23% at 23,183.74 points, driven by high-speed internet and storage sectors leading the gains.

Tech Giants Dynamics

As of yesterday's close:

• Microsoft (MSFT): +3.64% at $384.37
• NVIDIA (NVDA): +0.36% at $189.31
• Google (GOOGL): +1.28% at $321.31
• Apple (AAPL): -0.49% at $259.20
• Amazon (AMZN): +0.63% at $239.89
• Meta (META): +0.74% at $634.53
• Tesla (TSLA): +0.99% at $352.42 Overall, most stocks rose, with the AI and software sectors rebounding as the core driver.

Sector Movement Observation

High-Speed Internet/Storage Sector rose over 5%

• Representative stocks: SanDisk (SNDK) +11.83% (included in Nasdaq 100 + high-bandwidth flash memory development), Micron (MU), Western Digital (WDC) also strengthened.
• Driving Factors: Explosive demand for AI data centers combined with index adjustments as a catalyst.

Lithium Mining Concept rose over 6%

• Representative stocks: Albemarle (ALB) +6.79%, Sigma Lithium (SGML) +17.10%.
• Driving Factors: Rising expectations for recovery in the new energy industry chain.

Software/AI Sector rebounded significantly

• Representative stocks: Oracle (ORCL) +12.69%, Salesforce (CRM) +4.76%.
• Driving Factors: Capital replenishment after previous overselling, AI agent technology advancements boosting confidence.

# 3. In-Depth Stock Analysis

1. Microsoft - Copilot Team Introduces OpenClaw Open Source AI Agent Technology

Event Overview: A new team led by Microsoft Corporate Vice President Omar Shahine is exploring the integration of open-source AI agent technology OpenClaw into 365 Copilot, aiming to create an AI agent capable of autonomous operation around the clock, handling complex tasks without requiring user instructions. CEO Nadella has prioritized the restructuring of Copilot and has elevated multiple executive reporting lines directly to the CEO level. Market Interpretation: Institutions believe this move marks a strategic acceleration for Microsoft in the AI agent field, significantly enhancing Copilot's commercial competitiveness. Investment Insight: The pace of AI application layer technology implementation is accelerating, focusing on Microsoft's long-term growth potential and the related AI software ecosystem.

2. Credo Technology - Acquires Israeli Silicon Photonics Company DustPhotonics

Event Overview: Credo Technology is acquiring DustPhotonics for $750 million in cash plus approximately 920,000 shares of common stock, with DustPhotonics focusing on next-generation data center, AI, and high-performance computing high-speed optical connectivity solutions. Jefferies initiated coverage with a "Buy" rating. Market Interpretation: The market views this as a strategic layout in the high-speed internet field, strengthening AI infrastructure competitiveness. Investment Insight: The wave of mergers and acquisitions in silicon photonics technology may accelerate, and related optical communication targets are worth tracking.

3. Bloom Energy - Expands Fuel Cell Strategic Cooperation with Oracle

Event Overview: Bloom Energy announced a master service agreement with Oracle, which plans to purchase up to 2.8 gigawatts of fuel cell systems, with the first batch of 1.2 gigawatts already contracted for powering AI and cloud computing infrastructure. Market Interpretation: Institutions are optimistic about the role of fuel cells in the green energy transition of data centers, with the scale of cooperation exceeding expectations. Investment Insight: The trend of integrating clean energy with AI infrastructure is clear, and related technology suppliers may see a surge in orders.

4. Circle - Crypto Legislation Reignites Attention, Stock Price Soars 12.09%

Event Overview: After the US Senate resumed its agenda, crypto regulatory bills such as the CLARITY Act have once again become the focus, with a stablecoin framework expected to become clearer, leading to a more than 12% rise in the stock price of USDC issuer Circle on Monday. Market Interpretation: The market believes that legislative progress will resolve jurisdictional disputes between the SEC and CFTC, providing long-term certainty for the industry. Investment Insight: Crypto infrastructure companies may benefit first, focusing on the pace of stablecoin-related policy implementation.

# 4. Cryptocurrency Project Dynamics

1. The perpetual preferred stock STRC issued by Strategy saw a daily trading volume of $1.1 billion, setting a historical high, up 46.5% from the previous peak.

2. Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Digital Assets Presidential Advisory Committee, stated that a compromise has been reached regarding stablecoin yield disputes during the advancement of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, with other obstacles gradually being cleared. Witt pointed out that resolving the stablecoin yield issue is a prerequisite for advancing the bill, and the current compromise plan is expected to remain stable.

3. Solana co-founder toly suggested building an underlying stablecoin structure that can only be frozen by the courts. Toly stated that if stablecoins can be frozen by entities other than judges approved by the US Senate, they cannot be considered true "dollars," and this presents an opportunity for other teams to build stablecoins that respond more quickly for DeFi.

4. Ondo Finance has submitted a no-action letter request to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), seeking confirmation that it can record and manage Ondo Global Markets (OGM) related securities rights in tokenized form on the Ethereum mainnet without changing the existing securities law framework.

5. Arkham data shows that World Liberty Financial minted 25 million USD1 through BitGo Custody and destroyed 3 million through the TokenGovernor contract, resulting in a net increase of 22 million USD1 in circulation.

6. Strategy purchased 13,927 Bitcoins for about $1 billion between April 6 and 12, with an average price of about $71,902. Year-to-date BTC returns are 5.6%. As of April 12, the company holds a total of 780,897 BTC, with a total cost of about $59.02 billion and an average cost of about $75,577.

# 5. Today's Market Calendar

Data Release Schedule

Important Event Forecast

• Event: Preparation for the second round of US-Iran negotiations - focus on the impact of developments in the Strait of Hormuz on oil prices and risk sentiment.

Tuesday (April 14)

1. JPMorgan (JPM) will announce Q1 results before the market opens.
2. IEA will release the monthly oil market report, contrasting with the OPEC report, affecting sentiment in the energy sector.
3. Rumors within OpenAI suggest that GPT-6 may be released on the same day, potentially providing short-term stimulus to AI concept stocks.

Wednesday (April 15)

1. ASML will announce Q1 results before the market opens.
2. The price increase wave in the global semiconductor industry chain is accelerating from the cost side to the entire chain, focusing on the gross margin performance of related companies.

Thursday (April 16)

1. TSMC will announce Q1 results before the market opens, and Netflix will announce Q1 results after the market closes; ★★★★★
2. Data on initial jobless claims for the week ending April 11 will be released.
3. Federal Reserve officials will speak intensively, and the Federal Reserve will release the Beige Book on economic conditions; any "hawkish" signals may suppress risk appetite. ★★★★★

Friday (April 17)

• Earnings season continues, and other regional banks or small tech companies may disclose results; the overall market may enter a wait-and-see mode over the weekend.

Overall Operational Suggestion for This Week: Earnings performance and "hawkish" signals from the Federal Reserve will dominate market sentiment, continue to focus on the situation in Iran, follow up on US-Iran negotiations, and pay attention to structural opportunities in the banking, technology, energy, and semiconductor sectors.

Institutional Views:

The latest statement from BlackRock's strategy team is the most representative: although the Middle East conflict brings short-term disturbances, shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has partially resumed, and the overall economic impact is controllable, with corporate profit expectations still on the rise (especially the 80% growth potential driven by AI in the semiconductor sector), thus restoring the overweight rating on US stocks. Analysts from multiple investment banks unanimously believe that progress in negotiations will further ease energy price pressures, driving a rebound in risk assets; at the same time, rising regulatory scrutiny on private credit reminds investors to pay attention to potential vulnerabilities in the financial system. Overall, the current market balances between optimistic negotiations and geopolitical uncertainties, with institutions inclined to maintain growth stock allocations, focusing on structural opportunities in AI and new energy themes. Short-term volatility is expected to converge with negotiation results, but long-term vigilance against inflation and supply chain risks is still necessary.

Disclaimer: The above content is organized by AI search, with human verification for publication only, and does not constitute any investment advice.