Morning highlights: oil rises amid war with Iran, Lenovo shares hit record highs

Oil prices jumped after three sessions of declines amid conflicting signals around the US-Iran talks. Chinese startup DeepSeek, which earlier shook up the market with cheap AI models, is negotiating to raise $10 bln at a valuation of about $45 bln. Lenovo shares jumped to the maximum - the company reported a significant increase in profits related to AI. These and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of Ma 22.

Oil prices went up again after three sessions of decline amid contradictory signals around the US-Iran talks, CNBC writes. Brent rose by 2%, almost to $105 per barrel, and WTI - by almost 1.5%, to $97.7 after reports that Tehran does not intend to export abroad enriched uranium, despite the statements of US President Donald Trump about the final stage of negotiations.

Investors fear a prolonged crisis and further supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a fifth of the world's oil and LNG supplies passed before the war. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that the market could soon enter a "red zone" as global oil reserves are depleted amid a summer surge in energy demand, while analysts at MUFG believe that full restoration of supplies from the Middle East could take until 2027.

SoftBank shares have jumped more than 30% over the past two days after strong reporting from Nvidia, which increased optimism around investments in artificial intelligence, CNBC reports. An additional driver was the growth of chipmaker Arm Holdings, the controlling stake of which belongs to the Japanese group: the day before on Nasdaq, Arm securities rose by more than 16%.

Investors are also betting on a possible IPO of OpenAI, one of whose largest investors is SoftBank. The company has invested over $30 billion in the ChatGPT developer, and analysts call SoftBank one of the main ways to get access to the fast-growing market of AI infrastructure and data centers.

Shares of Lenovo, one of the world's leading PC makers, rose nearly 18% in Hong Kong - and are likely to close at their highest level in history on Ma. 22, Bloomberg writes. For Lenovo's most recent quarter and fiscal year, which ends in March, the company reported strong growth in profits related to artificial intelligence, offsetting the challenges posed by rising prices of memory chips and other components facing Lenovo's traditional PC business.

Specifically, Lenovo's AI-related revenue accounted for 38% of the company's total revenue last quarter, and increased year-over-year by 84%. So, despite the shortage of memory chips, Lenovo has managed to create a promising new data center hardware business segment to meet the explosive demand for AI, Bloomberg points out. The company's latest results mean Lenovo appears to be handling the impact of rising memory prices better than, for example, game console maker Nintendo: the company managed to maintain gross margins in the quarter ended in March and grow sales by 27% - the fastest pace in five years.

IMAX shares jumped about 10% in the aftermarket following reports that the premium theater operator is exploring a sale. According to The Wall Street Journal and CNBC, the company has been holding preliminary talks with potential buyers through intermediaries, and IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond has previously said he is open to a deal.

Interest in the company is supported by strong business results: in 2025 IMAX set a record for global box office revenues - $1.28 billion, which is more than 40% higher than in 2024. At the same time, the popularity of premium screens continues to grow: they accounted for more than 16% of all tickets sold in the US.

The management of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has told potential investors that the company intends to focus on developing artificial intelligence and open source models rather than rapid commercialization, Bloomberg has learned. Founder Liang Wenfeng said that the priority remains the creation of AGI - artificial general intelligence - and the advancement of technology, rather than monetization.

The startup is finalizing talks for a 70 billion yuan ($10 billion) funding round that could value DeepSeek at around $45 billion before investment. Potential investors include China's state-owned AI fund, Tencent, IDG Capital and Monolith Capital. DeepSeek's approach contrasts with the course of OpenAI and Anthropic, which are increasingly looking for new sources of revenue and preparing for possible IPOs, the agency said.

- Japan's broad Topix index was up 1.1 percent on May 22, while the Nikkei 225 was up 2.8 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.2 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index rose 0.7 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was up 0.7% and the Kosdaq was up 5.2%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3 percent.

- Futures on S&P 500 grew by 0.4%. Futures on Nasdaq Composite - by 0.5%. Exchange contracts on Dow Jones Industrial Average - by 0.3%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor