BP $BP fell as much as 9% in London trading after the board removed Chair Albert Manifold with immediate effect. The company cited governance, oversight and conduct concerns, adding a leadership shock to a still-unsettled oil major turnaround.
Brent crude fell $4.86 to $98.68 and U.S. crude dropped more than 4% to $91.83 after reports of progress toward a U.S.-Iran deal. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.9% to 65,158.19, its first close above 65,000.
Delivery Hero confirmed Uber $UBER made an indicative €33/share takeover approach on 23 May. Reuters market data showed $DHER.DE up about 10% on 25 May, with reports pointing to a bid value above €11.5B.
Jardine Matheson agreed to buy 100% of I-MED Radiology Network at an AUD3.4B ($2.4B) enterprise value. The price equals roughly 11.5x projected adjusted EBITDA for the year ending June 2026, with cash and debt funding and 2026 EPS guidance unchanged.
The University of Michigan final May sentiment index fell to 44.8, below April’s 49.8 and the 48.2 preliminary reading. One-year inflation expectations rose to 4.8% and long-run expectations climbed to 3.9%, keeping the release in the Fed-relevant macro category.
Intuit posted Q3 FY2026 revenue of $8.56 billion (+10% YoY) and non-GAAP EPS of $12.80, raising full-year guidance to $21.34–$21.37 billion (13–14% growth). TurboTax Online units are forecast to decline ~2% as AI-native tax entrants gain share, though TurboTax Live surged 36% to partially offset the pressure.
Supertanker Idemitsu Maru, carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude, is set to arrive in Nagoya on May 25 — the first successful Strait of Hormuz passage since Iran's war began February 28, 2026. Japan's Middle East crude imports had collapsed 67.2% year-over-year in April as the strait was blocked.
The U.S. Commerce Department awarded IBM a $1 billion CHIPS Act grant to build 'Anderon,' America's first dedicated 300mm quantum chip manufacturing foundry in Albany, New York. IBM matched the grant with $1 billion of its own capital, totaling $2 billion. Shares surged 11%, adding roughly $26 billion in market capitalization.
Kevin Warsh was sworn in as Federal Reserve chair on May 22, 2026, in a White House ceremony hosted by President Trump — the first time a Fed chair has taken the oath at the White House in approximately 40 years. Warsh, who served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011 and dissented against QE programs, is regarded as a hawkish voice; markets are watching for signals of a shift in the Fed independence framework and rate trajectory.
KOSDAQ surged 4.99% to 1,161.13 on May 22, triggering a program-trading buying sidecar for the second consecutive session just 33 minutes after the open. The South Korean government's National Participation Growth Fund, channeling capital into advanced-tech KOSDAQ names, drove KRW 593.3 billion in foreign net buying on the day and pushed cumulative foreign inflows to approximately KRW 2.7 trillion over six consecutive sessions this month.
Nvidia's board approved an $80 billion stock repurchase program on May 21 and raised the quarterly dividend 25-fold to $0.25 per share from $0.01. With $39 billion remaining under a prior authorization, Nvidia commands roughly $119 billion in total buyback capacity — one of the largest capital-return commitments in technology sector history. The announcement followed Q1 FY2027 results that beat analyst consensus on AI data-center GPU demand.
South Korea's KOSPI closed at 7,812.49 on May 21, rising 8.37% in a session steep enough to trigger a buy-side circuit breaker. Samsung Electronics' resolution of a months-long performance-bonus dispute and Nvidia's better-than-expected Q1 FY2027 results catalyzed the rally simultaneously, reversing five consecutive sessions of losses that began with a sell-circuit near the 8,000 level on May 15.