China Hoards Silver as Demand Surges, Tightening Global Supply

Posted on April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

China’s insatiable appetite for silver drove overseas purchases to an eight-year high at the beginning of 2026 as importers fueled a spike in industrial and investment demand.

Silver’s Violent Reset Gives Way to a Pivotal Macro Week

According to Chinese customs data released on Friday, the largest buyer received over 790 tons in the first two months, including nearly 470 tons in February—the highest amount ever for that month. Due to strong demand, local prices have risen significantly above global benchmarks, reducing already low exchange reserves and acquiring metal from overseas.

A wave of speculative buying from China and other countries caused silver prices to soar by roughly 70% at the beginning of the year, but at the end of January, they abruptly gave up their gains. This was the most volatile start to a year for silver prices. The robust import numbers indicate that, despite changes in trade flows, physical consumption in China has continued.

Demand has come from solar manufacturers front-loading production and retail investors hoarding silver bars as an alternative to increasingly expensive gold.

Chinese trade policy is another source of stress for the world silver market. China has approved 44 companies to export silver in 2026 and 2027, according to a late December Reuters report. This demonstrates that exports are now part of a regulated system rather than being free. This is a crucial structural factor for a market that is already experiencing tight inventories.

Goldman Sachs had already noted that China’s new export restrictions might make the silver market even more volatile. Since January 1, 2026, China has required authorization for outgoing shipments of silver.

This raises the possibility that price fluctuations will become more pronounced and liquidity will decrease. Instead of operating as a cohesive worldwide system, the market would then become more divided into local submarkets. Inventory and physical availability become crucial, especially in such a setting.

Crude Oil Bounces Back Sharply After Worst Crash Since April 2020

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

Oil recovered from its largest one-day decline since April 2020, with the Strait of Hormuz still mostly blocked and Israeli attacks on Lebanon threatening to sabotage the precarious Middle East ceasefire. After falling 13% on Wednesday, Brent increased toward $97 per barrel. Additionally, West Texas Intermediate was close to $97.

Tanker traffic through the strait was reportedly stopped following Israeli strikes, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency. US Vice President JD Vance refuted this claim, stating that “we are seeing signs that the straits are starting to reopen.”

Two fully loaded Chinese oil tankers in the Persian Gulf were headed toward the strait on Thursday, possibly making them the first of their kind to cross since the ceasefire was declared. There is no guarantee of a successful passage, and traffic hasn’t changed much in the last day.

De-escalation negotiations between the US and Iran served as the impetus for the demonstration. Citing what he called a “workable” proposal from Tehran to resume talks, Trump declared late on Tuesday that Washington would halt strikes on Iran.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial international oil shipping route that has been closed for weeks due to the fighting, is a crucial requirement for the tentative ceasefire.

Iranian officials first indicated that they would be open to temporarily reopening the passage if hostilities stopped. However, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Israel has already violated the ceasefire by attacking Lebanon, which is why the waterway is still closed.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased by 2.5 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, following the news of the strait’s blockage. This comes after oil fell below $100 per barrel on Wednesday, resulting in drops of more than 13%.

Meta Turns Hot Buy as Muse Spark Debut Ignites 7-8% Stock Surge

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

Meta unveiled its AI model, the first since CEO Mark Zuckerberg started a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the company’s AI division to stay competitive. Under the direction of Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, Meta Superintelligence Labs, a new group of costly AI researchers, developed the eagerly awaited model known as Muse Spark.

Unlike the company’s prior open-source strategy, the Meta AI chatbot will be powered by Muse Spark, a closed model that means its design and code won’t be made public. Meta stock rose by 6% in New York following the announcement.

The model is the first significant test for MSL, Zuckerberg’s new AI lab. The founder of Facebook hired Wang as part of a $14 billion investment in Scale AI last year after the company failed to keep up with rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic PBC, and Alphabet Inc. due to a string of setbacks. is Google

Meta has made an effort to maintain its AI division’s agility by granting researchers autonomy and reducing its usual management-heavy organizational structure. According to the executive, who wished to remain anonymous when discussing internal issues, Wang has about 100 direct reports. Although it was early in the company’s implementation, the executive admitted that Muse Spark lacked some of the capabilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, or Google’s Gemini.

According to a blog post from Meta, the model is “an early data point on our trajectory,” with multiple larger models under development. Executives view Muse Spark—known internally as Avocado during development—as a revitalization of Meta’s AI strategy, which was previously centered on its open-source Llama models.

The project took nine months to complete. Although Meta still intends to develop open-source models in the future, Wang is an advocate of closed models, and the company is also thinking about offering API access to Muse Spark.

Intel Jumps 11%+ on Terafab Deal: Bull Case Builds for $100 Stock

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

Intel (INTC) stock closed at $58.95, up a strong 11.42% (or about $6) on the day, with heavy volume. It briefly hit a new 52-week high near $59.17 before pulling back slightly in after-hours trading.

The announcement by Intel that it would be joining Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI in Elon Musk’s Terafab project served as the impetus. Intel described its role as contributing expertise in designing, fabricating, and packaging ultra-high-performance chips at scale to help the project reach its ambitious goal of 1 terawatt (TW) of annual compute capacity for AI, robotics, and related applications.

Intel announced on Tuesday that it will assist the so-called Terafab project in “refactoring” the technology in a chip factory.

This phase of the development process contributes to chips being more robust or dependable. The chipmaker’s shares increased by 4.2 percent to $53 in New York trading on Tuesday.

Musk’s ambitious plan to eventually produce his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence, and space data centers is known as the Terafab project. The project intends to generate an enormous amount of computing power annually, roughly one terawatt of capacity.

Although Musk’s businesses have never produced chips, Tesla already designs its own. He now envisions doing that on a scale to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan stated, “Terafab represents a step change in how silicon logic, memory, and packaging will be built in the future.”

Intel is honored to collaborate closely with Elon on this extremely important project. “Terafab’s goal of producing 1 TW/year of compute to power future advances in AI and robotics will be accelerated by our ability to design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale,” Intel added in its post. Musk stated in March.

The CEO spent a large portion of the previous year eliminating positions and other expenses. However, he also drew significant investments from Nvidia Corp. and the US government. and SoftBank Group Corp., which gave it a stronger foundation. Intel agreed last week to repurchase half of an Irish plant it had previously sold to Apollo Global Management for $14.2 billion. The action was interpreted as an indication of trust in the chipmaker’s operations.

Bitcoin Hits $72.7K on Trump’s Iran Ceasefire Announcement, Marking 3-Week High

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

Bitcoin reached $72.7K, its highest level since March 18..The action came after US President Trump announced a two-week cease-fire with Iran, contingent on the Strait of Hormuz being reopened. Latest price action showed gains are probably only temporary, though, as it hasn’t yet broken out of a two-month-long rangebound channel.

Iran accepted the proposal, and Mojtaba Khamenei, the nation’s new Supreme Leader, approved it. While oil prices have plummeted, with WTI and Brent crude falling about 15% to $96 per barrel, Asian stock markets, cryptocurrency, and precious metals have all surged, somewhat reducing inflationary pressures.

The high-stakes 48-hour deadline that US President Donald Trump imposed on Iran turned into a two-week ceasefire with the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under military control, giving the larger cryptocurrency market an overnight boost. On Friday, more talks to complete the peace agreement will start in Islamabad, Pakistan. As previously reported by FXStreet, an Iranian official claims that the 10-point plan includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian military supervision.

However, talks with the US do not signify the end of the war, and the final details of the plan will determine its outcome. The market’s bearish wipeout is reflected in the $596 million total market liquidations over the past 24 hours, which were led by $430 million in short liquidations, according to CoinGlass.

Cryptocurrency prices may rise if inflation declines sufficiently and the Fed chooses to reduce interest rates. Crypto markets may rise even if the Fed doesn’t lower interest rates and employment and growth continue to show signs of a robust economy. According to Santiment’s social sentiment data, “the crowd is optimistic that this news is the catalyst for this conflict reaching its conclusion.

Ripple: XRP Bounces Like a Ball as Inflows Keep Pouring In

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

XRP experienced notable price movement recently, currently trading around $1.35–$1.39 with a 24-hour gain of roughly 3–5 percent and trading volume exceeding $2.7–3.8 billion in the past day.

XRP-focused digital asset investment products posted high weekly movement among digital assets with $120 million in inflows. This is the highest amount since December 2025, when it reached a year-to-date total of $159 million, or 7% of all assets under management.

The altcoin reached highs above $1.50 in mid-March 2026 (up almost 8% in a single day ) before declining. In recent weeks, it has been consolidating in the $1.30–$1.45 range; some analysts have noted that if it decisively clears $1.45, it could be a breakout setup.

Although performance has been inconsistent thus far in 2026 (down about 20–25 percent at times due to broader macro pressures), still far below its all-time high from 2025, which was around $3.60–$3.65. Correlation with the broader cryptocurrency market:

XRP frequently moves in tandem with Bitcoin and the market as a whole. BTC’s use as a “hedge” during periods of global uncertainty has coincided with spikes (geopolitical tensions or energy prices). Inflows into XRP-related investment products, such as early-launch ETFs, are indicators of institutional and adoption.

SK Hynix Gains Momentum After Samsung Earnings Beat Forecast

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix surged after competitor Samsung Electronics’ quarterly earnings were predicted to beat the market.

Expectations for SK Hynix’s performance increased. Samsung Electronics predicted a significant increase in its first-quarter operating profit on Tuesday, exceeding analyst expectations. This resulted from the increasing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure, which strained supply and raised chip prices.

Korea Investment and Securities considerably increased its projection of SK Hynix’s operating profit for the year.

The primary reason for this increase was the notable price increases for both DRAM and NAND chips. This increase led to a 28% increase in operating profit, which was greater than estimated

SK Hynix’s share price rose by 15%, surpassing both the market’s 7% increase and Samsung’s 8.7%. SK Hynix is the second-biggest producer of memory, after Samsung Electronics. SK Hynix shares increased by 15% to 1,050,000 won ($712.20) each, outpacing both the market’s 7% increase and Samsung’s 9% gain.

The second-biggest memory chip producer after Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, will release its January–March earnings later this month.

Intel Stock Surges 4% as It Joins Elon Musk’s Massive Terafab AI Chip Project

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

Intel C has joined Elon Musk’s long-term endeavor to create semiconductors for Tesla Inc. (TSLA), SpaceX, and xAI, indicating an unexpected development in the chipmaker’s attempt to make a comeback.

Intel announced on Tuesday that it will assist the so-called Terafab project in “refactoring” the technology in a chip factory.

This phase of the development process contributes to chips being more robust or dependable. The chipmaker’s shares increased by 4.2 percent to $53 in New York trading on Tuesday.

Although Musk’s businesses have never produced chips, Tesla already designs its own. He now envisions doing that on a scale to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan stated, “Terafab represents a step change in how silicon logic, memory, and packaging will be built in the future.”

Crude Oil Plunges Most in Nearly Six Years After US-Iran Ceasefire Deal

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

Crude oil fell the most in nearly six years following the US and Iran’s agreement to a two-week ceasefire, which gave markets a break from the volatility caused by the Middle East conflict.

West Texas Intermediate fell as much as 19% after President Donald Trump decided to halt bombing Iran in an effort to help restore oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran stated that during that time, it would be safe to travel through the waterway.

Brent crude, a global benchmark, fell 13% to $94.50 per barrel. The Asia Pacific equity index of the MSCI surged 5% to its highest level in five weeks as traders wagered that lower oil prices would help curb inflation and spur economic expansion. Wall Street gauge stock index futures increased by over 2.5 percent, while European contracts saw a 5.3 percent increase.

Three Fed officials voiced concerns about inflation and slowing growth on Tuesday, before the ceasefire announcement.

Vice Chair Philip Jefferson stated that interest rates are generally in a range that neither stimulates nor inhibits the economy. In contrast, Fed Bank of New York Governor John Williams stated that his predictions regarding underlying price pressures in the US remained mostly unchanged.

According to Assiri, “gold remains highly sensitive to political developments in the near term.” “The current ceasefire offers a brief period of respite, but it is brittle and contingent. He continued, “Any indication of breakdown, especially near the Strait of Hormuz, would probably reintroduce volatility and downside risk.”

Gold Climbs After Trump Agrees to a Two-Week Ceasefire in Iran

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Olumide Adesina

Gold prices increased after US President Donald Trump and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire to complete negotiations on ending the conflict that has rocked international markets.

Bullion added to a gain of 1.2 percent in the previous session, rising as much as 3.2 percent to above $4,850 per ounce. Less than two hours before a self-imposed deadline to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization,” Trump announced on social media that he had consented to halt bombing, citing the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as a crucial prerequisite.

Iran claimed that safe travel across the strait was “possible.” Gold valued in US dollars was supported when oil fell below $100 per barrel, and the dollar also declined.

The MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index reached a three-week high as stocks surged. Bullion’s traditional haven appeal has been diminished by some investors’ need to cover losses elsewhere in their portfolios, and it has traded mostly in tandem with stocks since the start of the Middle East conflict.

Energy prices have surged, and inflationary risks have increased as the conflict enters its sixth week, increasing the likelihood that central banks will postpone or even raise interest rate reductions.

Bond traders anticipate the Federal Reserve will maintain stable borrowing costs for the remainder of the year, which would be detrimental to non-yielding gold. Since the start of the conflict at the end of February, the price of gold has dropped by roughly 9%. Hopes for a ceasefire and expectations that a slowdown in global economic growth will act as a counter to bets on stable or higher borrowing costs have fueled a modest recovery in recent days.

Three Fed officials voiced concerns about inflation and slowing growth on Tuesday before the ceasefire. Vice Chair Philip Jefferson stated that interest rates are generally in a range that neither stimulates nor inhibits the economy, while Fed Bank of New York Governor John Williams stated that his predictions regarding underlying price pressures in the US remained mostly unchanged.