Mission Critical: The AI boom is floating on party balloons
Donald Trump cancelled Thursday night's planned attacks on Iran hours after promising them, declared a peace agreement approved by all parties, and the Dow jumped more than 900 points as Brent crude slid towards US$88 per barrel. Not bad for a 24-hour stretch in which the same account had vowed to hit Iran very hard that night and seize Kharg Island, the country's main oil export hub. Here's the wrinkle the relief rally skipped past - the naval blockade remains in full force until the signing, so markets are pricing a peace whose critical chokepoint stays shut. And the asset that matters most isn't crude at all, but a gas most punters associate with kids' birthday parties. When Iranian missiles hammered Qatar's Ras Laffan complex in early March, QatarEnergy halted output and declared force majeure on long-term LNG contracts to buyers across Europe and Asia. Ras Laffan also happens to yield roughly one-third of the world's helium, an element no advanced chip fab runs without, and those volumes vanished along with the LNG. The kicker is the timing, because since hostilities kicked off in late February the S&P 500 has gained more than 7% while the index stripped of AI stocks has gone precisely nowhere. Wall Stree
