Kevin Warsh has been confirmed by the Senate as chair of the Federal Reserve with a 54-45 vote, mostly along party lines. Warsh, who previously served at the Fed from 2006 to 2011, takes over from Jerome Powell. President Donald Trump expects Warsh to lower interest rates, although recent inflation data complicates that expectation.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig has emphasized the agency's stance that prediction markets are derivatives regulated solely by the CFTC, not by state authorities. In a separate interview Selig also asserted prediction markets and sports betting are "two separate things". The CFTC also filed an amicus brief to the Court of Appeals, challenging Ohio's 2025 complaint against Kalshi.

The Financial Conduct Authority is planning to require private credit groups to provide more detailed data amid concerns about the market's transparency and potential risks. While groups such as Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, KKR, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, The Carlyle Group and Oaktree Capital Management have agreed to provide data for a Bank of England stress test, the FCA wants this to be a regular requirement.

JPMorgan Chase has been using blockchain technology in the repo market, processing hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions daily. Other financial institutions, including HSBC and Tradeweb Markets, are also exploring blockchain for repo transactions. This trend reflects a broader acceptance of blockchain as a tool for improving trading and reducing costs.

Treasury yields have risen as oil prices surge amid the US-Iran war, raising concerns around inflation. The 30-year yield has reached 5.02%, close to this year's high, while the two-year yield is around 4%.

CME Group and Silicon Data are launching a futures market tied to graphics processing unit pricing, allowing traders to hedge exposure to rising AI-driven computing costs amid surging semiconductor demand. The contracts will reference standardized GPU price indexes, reflecting the growing financialization of AI infrastructure as chip and memory costs climb amid rapid data center expansion.

Crude and fuel flows through the Strait of Hormuz fell about 30% year over year to 14.6 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2026, according to the US Energy Information Administration, as the Iran conflict disrupted a key global energy chokepoint. The decline has contributed to a surge in Brent crude prices and higher fuel and inflation readings, while trade has partially shifted to alternative routes such as the Panama Canal and Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Societe Generale plans to accelerate the development of blockchain-based financial infrastructure through the Canton Network, focusing on tokenized collateral, on-chain financing, and digital settlement solutions. Societe Generale-FORGE will deploy its stablecoin, CoinVertible, on the network.

Clearing firms are struggling to interpret and explain new value-at-risk-based portfolio margin models introduced by CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange, which have reduced volatility in margin requirements but added significant complexity. While market participants broadly view the shift away from older SPAN models as an improvement in risk sensitivity, firms say the increased opacity is making it harder to trace margin changes back to individual trades and explain requirements to management.