Stocks on Wall Street continued to rise amid reports of U.S.-Iran deal talks

The UAE left OPEC and OPEC+ on May 1. Will this decision provoke the exodus of other countries from the organizations and who will fight for their preservation? Alexey Golubovich, analyst at Arbat Capital Advisory Services Limited (UK), analyzed the consequences of this decision for the association of oil exporting countries and the oil market.

What will happen to OPEC and oil prices after the UAE leaves the association

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Apple Inc.

Reddit, Inc.

Tesla, Inc.

The July Brent contract rose 0.6% to $111 a barrel. Apple and Reddit reported better than expected and gave strong forecasts, while Tesla disclosed more than $570 million in revenue from deals with other Elon Musk companies. On these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of May 1.

Highlights for the morning: oil rises, Apple beats forecasts, Reddit surges in profits

Alphabet Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Amazon.com, Inc.

Intel Corporation

The dollar, on the other hand, has its worst month since June 2025

The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq ended their best month since 2020 with records

Investors react to possible US special operation against Iran

Brent falls from four-year highs amid possible escalation of war in Iran

SoftBank Corp.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

Alphabet was the winner in the cloud segment out of the four "Magnificent Seven" companies that reported at the same time. The U.S. Federal Reserve did not change its key rate amid steady inflation. The price of Brent crude oil broke through the $126 per barrel mark amid reports that the U.S. military is preparing options for action against Iran. About these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of April 30.

Highlights for the morning: Alphabet in the lead, Samsung's profits up 8x, $100 billion IPO

The market is playing down the risks that the Strait of Hormuz may now remain closed for months rather than days

Oil breaks through $126 after Trump signals Hormuz blockade will drag on

Brent crude oil with delivery in June jumped in trading on April 29 above $118 per barrel and at one point broke through the $119.45 mark. This, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-reports-us-will-extend-iran-blockade-prolonging-mideast-supply-2026-04-29/">Reuters</a> and the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/243b9344-bab3-4129-bbec-825e97d661f4">Financial Times</a> note, is the highest level for Brent in the past month. Also, the average price of gasoline in the United States has increased to the maximum since July 2022, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/article/gas-prices-jump-to-highest-level-since-july-2022-as-oil-hovers-near-110-154947778.html">writes</a> Yahoo Finance. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average price of gasoline rose to nearly $4.23 per gallon, up about $0.12 over the past two days and more than a dollar higher than a year ago.

Brent crude jumped to $119 a barrel, US gasoline at highest since 2022

In trading on April 29, Mark crude oil with delivery in June jumped more than 3% at the moment, reaching a peak of $115.43 per barrel. This is the highest in the last month, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-reports-us-will-extend-iran-blockade-prolonging-mideast-supply-2026-04-29/">points out</a>. At the time of publication, Brent has slowed down a bit - traded at $114.57 per barrel. North American WTI, meanwhile, adds almost 3.5% against the previous close and costs $103.4.

Brent crude oil peaks for the month amid fears of a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

Figma

The events of 2026 have shown that investors should no longer blindly rely on the protective features of traditional instruments 

Why traditional protective assets also carry risk  

NVIDIA Corporation

Broadcom Inc.

Oracle Corporation

CoreWeave, Inc.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices went into negative territory at the end of trading on April 28 - after two trading sessions completed at record highs. Investors were concerned when The Wall Street Journal sources reported that OpenAI failed to meet its own revenue and user growth targets. While OpenAI denied these suspicions, they affected stocks across the AI industry. In addition, oil prices rose again after the UAE decided to withdraw from OPEC.

Concerns about slowing OpenAI growth interrupted a string of S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq records

Shell plc

At the same time, Shell warned of the risks of long oil and gas shortages