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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had asked Trump for a two-week delay of his Iran deadline, and for the Strait of Hormuz to open for the same period. View More

President Donald Trump pauses as he finishes speaking about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. Alex Brandon | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he agreed to suspend planned attacks on Iranian infrastructure for two weeks, backing off his shocking threats to imminently order the destruction of Iran's "whole civilization."The move, more than five weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched the war, was "subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz," he wrote on Truth Social.The decision was "based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan," Trump wrote."This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!" he declared.Oil prices plunged as much as 16% following the announcement, while U.S. stock futures shot up.Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a separate statement that ships will be able to safely pass through the strait for the two-week interval "via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations."Trump's announcement came less than two hours before his deadline on Iran to either make a deal that includes opening the strait — a vital artery for global oil transit — or else face major attacks on its civilian infrastructure.The 8 p.m. ET deadline — which Trump set Sunday after demanding in a belligerent social media post that Iran "Open the Fuckin' Strait" — had caused panic in the U.S. and around the world.Trump escalated matters dramatically on Tuesday morning, writing in another post, "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again."Sharif on Tuesday afternoon had asked Trump for a two-week extension of his deadline for Iran. He also asked Iran's leadership to agree to open up the strait for two weeks "as a goodwill gesture." watch nowVIDEO1:0401:04Pakistan seeks 2-week pause after Trump warns 'whole civilization will die' if no deal by deadlineClosing Bell "We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region," Sharif wrote in an X post.Both the U.S. and Iran framed the development as a win.Trump, in his post announcing the two-week delay, claimed the U.S. had agreed to halt its planned attacks because "we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.""We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate," Trump wrote. "Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated," he wrote.Iran's Mehr News Agency later Tuesday posted a statement from the secretariat of the Islamic Republic's Supreme National Security Council declaring that the U.S. "has accepted these principles as the basis for negotiations and has surrendered to the will of the Iranian people.""If the surrender of the enemy in the field becomes a decisive political achievement in the negotiations, we will celebrate this great historical victory together, otherwise we will fight side by side in the field until all the demands of the Iranian nation are achieved," read a translation of the statement.Iran will hold negotiations with the U.S. in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, for two weeks beginning in the coming days, according to the statement.Iran's 10-point proposal includes withdrawing U.S. combat forces from all regional bases, lifting all sanctions, releasing Iranian assets frozen abroad and full payment of Iran's war-related damages. It would also establish a protocol for controlled passage through the Strait of Hormuz.Trump, on Monday, said a ceasefire proposal put forward by Iran was "not good enough." It was not immediately clear what in the intervening hours led him to accept Iran's proposal as a "workable basis" for negotiations. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

CNBC spoke with five U.S. patients who recently started the pill following its launch and have varying initial experiences with the drug. View More

In this articleNVONVOLLYFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO2:5702:57How Novo Nordisk's weight loss pill is drawing in new patients for obesity treatmentDigital Original After years of trying to lose weight "the right way," Jane Zuckerman realized that "putting in the work just wasn't enough." Zuckerman, a 32-year-old data analyst based in Washington, D.C., said she lost 90 pounds in college and spent years cycling through nutritionists, therapy and strict routines — only to find herself at her heaviest after the pandemic, at 270 pounds. Zuckerman said GLP-1 injections were out of the question, because she's afraid of needles. But when the first GLP-1 pill for obesity became available in early January, Zuckerman called her doctor immediately, she said. Almost a month after starting Novo Nordisk's new Wegovy pill shortly after it launched, she said, she had lost around 11 pounds. Zuckerman is among tens of thousands of patients who drove an explosive demand for prescriptions for Novo's pill just three months into its launch. Many of them share a common thread: They had long held off on using GLP-1s due to barriers such as high out-of-pocket costs for injections or a fear of needles.That's one of the earliest takeaways from the rollout: Novo's pill appears to be expanding the obesity treatment market, largely drawing in new patients rather than converting existing ones from injections. CNBC spoke with five U.S. patients who recently started the pill following its launch, all of whom said they have not previously taken branded GLP-1 injections.But it's early days for the pill. Many patients have yet to reach higher doses of the drug, and their experiences vary. It will take more time to determine how effective the pill is in supporting patients' long-term weight loss journeys, whether it helps keep users on GLP-1s for longer than injections do and whether demand for Novo's product will hold in the face of fresh competition from Eli Lilly. Novo has a head start in the pill arena over Lilly, which just won U.S. approval of its own GLP-1 drug for obesity last week. Analysts previously told CNBC they still expect that rival pill, called Foundayo, to capture a segment of the market, in part because it lacks the dietary restrictions that come with Novo's oral drug. Still, the Wegovy pill appears to have had the most explosive launch of a GLP-1 product yet. The latest number that Novo disclosed in February is that more than 600,000 prescriptions had been written since its launch, including for more than 3,000 patients in the first week.Analysts at BMO Capital Markets attributed some of the early uptake to an "attractive" entry price of $149 per month and its connection to the well-known Wegovy brand. The pill carries one of the lowest cash prices for a GLP-1 therapy, ranging from $149 to $299 per month, depending on the dose.Even so, the pill's launch has done little to boost Novo's stock price, as the Danish drugmaker is struggling to win back market share from Lilly in the broader obesity space and convince investors that its drug pipeline can help it grow beyond its existing products.Novo is expected to report first-quarter sales, which will include the pill for the first time, in May. But sales of the overall Wegovy portfolio are expected to increase from $13.5 billion in 2026 to $18.9 billion in 2031, with the pill contributing $2.76 billion, according to a March GlobalData report.   Reaching new patients The Wegovy pill is attracting patients with a fear of needles, which is estimated to affect up to 25% of U.S. adults. But the drug is also an alternative for those who have had difficulty accessing branded GLP-1 injections or other medications. "There are a handful of patients that don't want to be stung by the needle in the case of a vial and syringe, or stung by the price," Jamey Millar, Novo's head of U.S. operations, told CNBC in an interview last week. "We're appealing to both." Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, medical director of the UC San Diego Health Center for Advanced Weight Management, said the main reason he's prescribed the Wegovy pill to some patients is cost, since its cash prices are slightly lower than those of injections. But Grunvald said overall, obesity medicine specialists like him will still be inclined to prescribe injections over oral drugs, in part because the shots are more effective.  A box of Wegovy pills arranged at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, US, on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Images Cost was a deciding factor for Amy Sawyers-Williams, who works at a theater company in Raleigh, North Carolina, and had gestational diabetes. In 2023, a few years after her son was born, she said, she began developing prediabetes and met the criteria for obesity. She said she would have started using GLP-1 injections sooner, but her insurance would not cover them for her. That was long before Novo and Lilly slashed the cash prices of their obesity and diabetes injections. The list prices of their shots are roughly $1,000 per month before insurance and other rebates, or discounts for cash-paying patients — a sum that has long prevented many others from starting and staying on treatment. Novo has committed to cutting the monthly list prices of its drugs in the U.S. by up to 50%, but that change won't go into effect until 2027. High prices also shut Sawyers-Williams out from taking the branded weight management treatment Contrave, pushing her to combine two generic medications to mimic the drug's effects, she said. But earlier this year, she said, her endocrinologist recommended the Wegovy pill, in part due to its lower $149 per month pricing for the starting dose. Sawyers-Williams became the first patient at her doctor's practice and local Walgreens to take the pill, starting in mid-January, she said. Some Wegovy pill users are patients who wanted to switch over from injections, said Dr. Heather Hofflich, a physician and endocrinologist at UCSD Health. She said she's prescribed the pill for some people whose insurance stopped covering the injections but who want to continue treatment. Hofflich said she has also prescribed the oral drug to patients who lost weight initially on a shot but are now trying the pill to maintain that progress.  Early progress Jane Zuckerman, a data analyst based in Washington, D.C., started taking the Wegovy pill in January.Courtesy: Jane Zuckerman While it's still early, some patients said they're already benefiting from taking Novo's drug. Zuckerman was initially skeptical of how effective the product would be, because it's an oral medication. But, she said, "I swear I felt the impact on the first day," particularly decreased appetite and disinterest in food. "Things that used to give me enjoyment, or things I used to binge on, they just don't taste as good anymore, and I just don't see the point in eating them, honestly," Zuckerman said, listing coffee, cheese, bread and fries, among other food and beverages. She said she dealt with nausea — a common side effect of the GLP-1 class — but that became more manageable after the first two weeks on the pill. Zuckerman also said what matters more than the weight loss or food urges is how she feels: "My clothes are looser, I have more energy, I genuinely feel better." Cherie Marcus, 72, a retired fabric designer and theater editor based in Brooklyn, said she's also seen gradual progress — even on the lowest 1.5-milligram dose of the drug. She said that over the last 30 years, after her daughter was born, she's gained weight and seen her hemoglobin A1c — a key measure of blood sugar levels — creep up. Marcus said she started the pill on Jan. 24, and has lost about a pound a week while taking the lowest dose for seven weeks. Patients typically increase their dosage after a month, but Marcus said she's still taking the lowest strength as of early April. But her weight has "leveled off" over the past few weeks, she said, so she will likely move to a higher dose if she stops losing weight entirely. Marcus sees herself taking the pill long term, with a goal of losing around 30 pounds. Novo's Millar last week said some patients may start on lower doses and "be perfectly fine with that," hitting their own personal goals for weight loss. But the company is monitoring how many patients increase to higher doses of the drug, particularly the 9-mg and 25-mg versions.  Courtney Kim, a stay-at-home mom based in Pittsburgh, is among the patients taking the Wegovy pill who have yet to experience notable side effects. While she doesn't qualify as obese, Kim said, the "weight would just not come off" after she had her three children. She started the pill around mid-February after struggling to lose weight with the use of other prescription medications and supplements, she said. Kim started at a weight of roughly 158 pounds and has so far lost nearly 7 pounds on the pill, she said. She recently started the 4-mg dose of the drug. "It's actually working, and I'm shocked that the weight is actually like coming off and staying off," Kim said. "So far I've had a positive experience." Some patients wait and see The early experience with the pill hasn't been smooth for everyone. UCSD's Hofflich said she had one patient who could not tolerate the pill due to its gastrointestinal side effects, which is a common issue with the injections, as well. Another patient had to switch to an injection because the pill's dietary restrictions — which involve taking it with a small amount of water and waiting 30 minutes before eating or drinking — did not fit into their lifestyle, Hofflich said. Two patients who haven't seen progress on higher doses of the pill are switching to injections, she said. Hofflich said other patients who haven't seen progress on lower doses are starting to take higher doses to see if that will make a difference. That includes a patient based in New Hampshire named Amy, who said she began taking the Wegovy pill in early February. She asked CNBC not to use her last name, for privacy reasons.Amy said she initially considered a branded GLP-1 treatment two years ago after her weight crept up to 190 pounds, but her doctor said her insurance wouldn't cover it. Amy then turned to cheaper, unapproved compounded versions of GLP-1s for a year and lost 30 pounds before stopping in November. She said the two lowest doses of the Wegovy pill — 1.5 mg and 4 mg — "did absolutely nothing for me" over two months. Novo's cash discounts allowed Amy to pay roughly $300 total for a month's worth of each dose, but she said she feels "frustrated" that she still feels hungry and has noticed no changes apart from side effects including constipation. Amy said her weight is "hovering" around 170 pounds."It just kind of felt like a waste of time," she said. Amy said she plans to start the 9-mg dose of the pill soon, hoping that she'll begin to see the benefits of treatment. She said if that doesn't work, she'll discuss with her doctor whether to try the highest dose, 25 mg, or potentially turn back to compounded GLP-1s.  Amy Sawyers-Williams, who works at a theater company in Raleigh, North Carolina, is an early patient on the Wegovy pill.Courtesy: Amy Sawyers-Williams Meanwhile, Sawyers-Williams is restarting the lowest dose of the pill after pausing the drug due to gastrointestinal side effects. She said she was nervous about starting the pill, because she's always had a sensitive stomach. During her first three weeks on the 1.5-mg dose of the oral drug, she did not notice any weight loss, but experienced nausea if she didn't eat, Sawyers-Williams said. She started to feel less interested in food by her fourth week, she said, but began taking the next dose, 4 mg, shortly after.  On the seventh day of taking that dose, Sawyers-Williams said, she experienced "the worst" nausea, vomiting and dehydration, which caused her to stop treatment. "I wish I had just stayed on the 1.5" dose, she said. "I was really, really sick. Even when I quit the pill, I just couldn't keep down water."Sawyers-Williams started at a weight of 177 pounds and lost five pounds overall after taking the drug, she said. She's been off treatment for a few weeks, but started the lowest dose of the pill as of early April with new habits, including staying hydrated and starting to lift weights, she said."We're going to just have to hope that it's enough to help me," she said, referring to the lowest dose. Dr. Andrea Traina, Novo's obesity medical director, recommended that patients who are struggling with side effects talk to their health-care provider about strategies to mitigate them. For example, she said some people may benefit from staying on a lower dose until they tolerate the drug better before increasing to a higher dosage."Treating obesity, just like most chronic diseases, is kind of a marathon, not a sprint," Traina said in an interview. "So adding an extra month or two to help with tolerability upfront can help with kind of long-term success." Unanswered questions Several questions remain about the long-term use of the pill, especially on higher doses, and it may not be the best obesity treatment for every patient, experts said. Traina said each patient has an individual response, and they may respond well above or well below average in terms of weight loss and side effects. That can be tied to their genetics, environment or dietary habits, and experiences can vary slightly across certain populations and age groups, she said. "It's very tough to know why one patient's responding to something and another isn't," Traina said, adding that it's "one of the many benefits of having multiple treatment options available."Having an oral option at lower cash prices that "can be attainable for a larger population is a very good thing, to help us cure or alleviate this chronic disease state," said UCSD's Hofflich. She said in the coming months, particularly with the rollout of Lilly's new drug, "we'll have many more stories and outcomes" of pills to evaluate, allowing for clearer comparisons between the two pills as well as injections.Patients such as Zuckerman may offer an early glimpse of those who stand to benefit most from the pill — and the cases where it resonates."I was in this boat of seeing the pill as cheating and feeling like I had to lose the weight the hard way," she said. "But that doesn't work for everybody, and eventually I got to the point where I was like, do I want to be stubborn and try to do this the 'right way,' or do I want to die from being obese?""Jumping on the opportunity to [take] the pill at this stage in my life was the right decision," Zuckerman said. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Levi Strauss beat estimates on the top and bottom lines and raised its guidance, which doesn't take into account President Donald Trump's latest tariff rates. View More

watch nowVIDEO1:0501:05Levi Strauss shares pop on strong Q1 earnings beatClosing Bell: Overtime Levi Strauss saw another quarter of strong sales, helped in part by higher prices, and direct-to-consumer sales made up more than half of its overall revenue — a milestone for a company that has long relied on wholesalers. The denim maker's revenue grew by 14% while DTC sales through Levi's own stores and website jumped 16%, bringing total DTC sales to 52% of overall revenue. In an interview with CNBC, CEO Michelle Gass said she expects DTC revenue to make up more than half of overall sales for the duration of the year, even as its more traditional wholesale channel continues to grow. The growth is not from increased sales volume alone: Levi is benefiting from higher prices and positive foreign exchange headwinds. Finance chief Harmit Singh, who announced plans to retire on Tuesday, said about half of Levi's growth is related to recent price increases and half is tied to actual units sold. Given its first-quarter beat, Levi raised its guidance. It's now expecting full-year adjusted earnings per share to be between $1.42 and $1.48, shy of expectations of $1.47 per share on the low end, according to LSEG.It's expecting sales to rise between 5.5% and 6.5%, largely ahead of estimates of 5.6%, according to LSEG. Here's how the apparel maker did in its first fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:Earnings per share: 42 cents adjusted vs. 37 cents expected Revenue: $1.74 billion vs. $1.65 billion expected The company's reported net income for the three-month period that ended March 1 was $175.8 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with $135 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales rose to $1.74 billion, up about 14% from $1.53 billion a year earlier. Levi's DTC-first strategy comes with bigger margins but also higher costs in the short term as it changes its distribution system, which has weighed on earnings. However, Singh said its sales are becoming more profitable as DTC scales. He also noted that Levi's guidance could rise later in the year. Currently, it's assuming a 20% global tariff, though President Donald Trump has for now set a 10% duty on U.S. imports after the Supreme Court rolled back so-called reciprocal tariffs earlier this year. If that 10% tariff remains in effect, it could boost full-year earnings by $35 million, or 7 cents per share. The company could also be refunded as much as $80 million after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's previous global tariff policy, Singh said. While that could boost earnings, Levi could face weaker sales in the coming months as consumers digest higher gas prices and consider pulling back on nice-to-haves like new clothes. Gass told CNBC she has not seen a pullback in spending so far, and the business is segmented in a way that it's reaching a wide array of consumer demographics. For example, Levi's value brand Signature saw sales rise 16% during the quarter and its middle market Red Cap was up 9%, while its premium line Blue Tab is also growing, said Gass. "We talked about over the last couple years, we made big, bold moves like selling Dockers and other brands and businesses. Now we're really focused on segmentation around the Levi's umbrella," said Gass. "We feel like we're really covered to serve the consumer across really every demographic and psychographic cohort and I think the other piece is, when we think about our business globally, 60% of our business is outside the U.S., which also gives us some really nice diversification. So we're watching it closely, but overall, we're feeling good about the consumer." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have exploded in popularity recently, raising questions about how to properly regulate the platforms. View More

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) speaks to the media following a closed door meeting with members of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill on Dec. 16, 2025 in Washington, DC.Heather Diehl | Getty Images A group of House Democrats pressed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a letter sent late Monday on why the agency has not cracked down on bets placed on war and other government actions via offshore prediction markets.The letter to CFTC Chair Michael Selig, obtained first by CNBC, questions the agency's role in regulating prediction markets, which have surged in popularity of late and drawn the ire of a growing number of lawmakers."Recent high-profile instances of alleged insider trading on prediction market platforms relating to U.S. government actions — including the military's intervention in Venezuela and our recent attack on Iran —have fueled concern that the CFTC does not have adequate control over these fast-growing markets," wrote the group, led by Reps. Seth Moulton and Jim McGovern, both Massachusetts Democrats. Read more CNBC politics coverageTrump praises Hungary PM Viktor Orbán after Vance calls him at Budapest rallyBill Gates interview about Jeffrey Epstein by House Oversight set for June 10House Democrats call on federal regulator to crack down on offshore prediction market war bets Well-timed bets on the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran have raised concerns about the possibility of insider trading. On popular prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, users can buy event contracts on things like who will win the NCAA men's basketball national championship or how long the Department of Homeland Security shutdown will last.Kalshi is based in the U.S. and says it bans controversial bets on topics like war and is regulated by the CFTC. Polymarket is an offshore company — though it is available in the U.S. on a limited basis — and has been the venue for some headline-grabbing event contracts. Both companies recently announced self-imposed guardrails to curb insider trading on their platforms.But the House Democrats say more could be done to regulate even those offshore trades. The CFTC's internal rules, as well as the Commodity Exchange Act allow the agency to regulate when "swap activities outside the United States have a direct and significant connection with activities in, or effect on, commerce of the United States," the lawmakers wrote."These provisions make it clear that the CFTC has the authority to police insider trading in swaps markets and should apply its existing rule prohibiting bets relating to terrorism, assassinations, and war," the group wrote.The CFTC and Polymarket did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.Democratic Reps. Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, Greg Casar of Texas, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Dina Titus of Nevada and Yassamin Ansari of Arizona also signed. They questioned why the agency had not so far taken any public action against such bets, and whether it feels it has the authority to regulate insider trading on prediction markets. And they asked if the CFTC had been made aware of "any conflicts of interest between major market participants and family members of Executive Branch officials, including the President of the United States?" Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in and an unpaid advisor to Polymarket, as well as a strategic advisor to Kalshi. The Trump family's social media company last year announced it would start its own prediction market platform, called Truth Predict.The lawmakers requested a response from Selig by April 15."Such corrupt trades deserve swift and decisive oversight. Allowing these contracts to persist raises troubling concerns about the Commission's desire and capacity to fulfill a global regulatory role," they wrote.Lawmakers are wrestling with how to rein in prediction market platforms, introducing a flurry of bills in recent weeks and months. Some are specifically designed to address the threat of insider trading, while others take a broader approach and seek to ban certain kinds of event contracts, including on sports, government actions and war. Moulton last month announced an officewide policy banning his staff from using prediction markets altogether. A group of Democratic senators in February sent Selig a separate letter expressing their concern about event contracts "that incentivize physical injury or death."Selig, meanwhile, has gone after states that have tried to regulate prediction markets, arguing that authority belongs to the federal government. The CFTC last week sued three states — Arizona, Illinois and Connecticut — that had issued cease and desist orders to prediction markets they said violated gambling laws. On Monday, a federal appeals court in New Jersey ruled that gaming regulators cannot bar the use of Kalshi to place bets on sporting events."What we're seeing is an attempt by the state gaming commissions to effectively nullify federal law," Selig said Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Box," before the New Jersey decision was released.Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes a CNBC minority investment.Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the Commodity Exchange Act. Dina Titus is a Democratic representative from Nevada. An earlier version misspelled her name. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Treasury yields declined on Tuesday as the rally in oil prices lost momentum. View More

In this articleUS10YUS2YUS30Y@LCO.1@CL.1Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT A screen displays U.S. President Donald Trump giving an interview with with CNBC at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, as a trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Jan. 21, 2026. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Treasury yields declined on Tuesday as the rally in oil prices lost momentum when Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested that President Donald Trump delay his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.The 10-year Treasury yield — the benchmark for everything from mortgages to auto loans to credit cards — was almost 3 basis points lower at 4.309%.The yield on the 2-year Treasury note, even more sensitive to short-term Federal Reserve rate decisions, was down by more than 4 basis points at 3.806%.One basis point equals 0.01%, or 1/100th of 1%, and yields and prices move inversely to one another. Trump had said for days that the U.S. would bomb Iranian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, if the Islamic Republic didn't reopen the Strait to global shipping by 8 p.m. ET. But, Sharif, the Pakistani leader, late in the day Tuesday asked Trump to delay the deadline by two weeks and asked Iran to reopen the Strait "as a goodwill gesture."White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump "has been made aware of the proposal, and a response will come."Oil prices finished the session relatively unchanged after climbing earlier. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, ended 15 cents lower, at $109.62 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures, the domestic standard, rose 54 cents to settle at $112.95 per barrel.Crude oil prices had risen earlier after Trump said on Truth Social Tuesday morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," adding that "maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World."On Monday, Trump had said it was "highly unlikely" he would extend the deadline beyond Tuesday. Iranian officials have so far rejected plans for a temporary ceasefire and instead called for a permanent end to the war. "Markets and investors do not appear to have fully priced in, or fully considered the repercussions of such a scenario," Kambiz Kazemi, CIO of Validus Risk Management, said about the deadline passing and the war escalating. "As a result, unprepared portfolios and positioning could lead to an abrupt repricing across a wide range of risk assets."Separately, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday that durable goods orders fell 1.4% in February, more than the 0.5% decline seen in January and worse than the 1.1% decline that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square said Universal Music's stock price has "languished" due to a range of issues that can be addressed with the merger. View More

In this articleUMG-NLBOL-FRFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO2:2002:20Universal Music stock rises after Pershing Square’s $64 billion takeover proposalSquawk on the Street Activist investor Pershing Square said Tuesday it is planning to buy Universal Music Group in a cash and stock deal worth about 55.8 billion euros ($64.4 billion).Under the terms of the proposal, shareholders would receive a total of 9.4 billion euros ($10.85 billion) in cash and 0.77 shares of new stock for each share of UMG held. That amounts to a total deal value of 30.4 euros per share, a 78% premium to UMG's closing share price on April 2, Pershing said in a Tuesday statement. UMG shares gained about 11% Tuesday and have now fallen roughly 14% so far this year. Stock Chart IconStock chart iconUniversal Music shares year to date. "Since UMG's listing, Sir Lucian Grainge and the company's management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance," said Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman in the Tuesday statement."However, UMG's stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction."He highlighted several factors behind UMG's underperformance, including uncertainty surrounding Bollore Group's 18% stake in the company, the postponement of its U.S. listing, and "suboptimal" shareholder communications and engagement.UMG will form a newly merged company with Pershing Square and list on the New York Stock Exchange, according to the terms of the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the year. watch nowVIDEO3:2003:20Going for a Song? Pershing Square courts Universal MusicSquawk Box Europe Pershing proposed a board refresh, calling for Michael Ovitz, "one of the most recognized global entertainment executives," to be named as UMG chairman. The proposals would see an additional two Pershing Square affiliates join UMG's board.The deal is also subject to a new employment contract and compensation arrangement for UMG CEO Lucian Grainge.UMG was spun out of French media group Vivendi, with controlling shareholder Vincent Bollore retaining a stake worth around 5.9 billion euros at that time. The company behind platinum-selling artists, including Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, was listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange in 2021 with an initial valuation of 46 billion euros. Vivendi and Bollore's stock traded up 9% and almost 4%, respectively, on Tuesday.Billionaire Ackman has advocated for UMG, the world's largest music company, to shift its primary listing to the U.S., arguing that the stock trades at a large discount to its intrinsic value with limited liquidity.CNBC has already reached out to Bollore and UMG for comment. Vivendi declined to comment on the news. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

The Iran war has hit Amazon data centers in the region, and the company is working around the clock on availability, cloud chief Matt Garman said. View More

In this articleAMZNFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO3:4603:46AWS CEO Matt Garman on Amazon’s AI investments: There isn’t just one winnerMoney Movers The Iran war poses ongoing challenges for cloud provider Amazon Web Services, its chief, Matt Garman, said Tuesday. The Amazon division said in early March that drone strikes had damaged its data centers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates."It's a really difficult situation, and we're working incredibly hard," Garman told CNBC's Kate Rooney at the HumanX conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. "In fact, we have teams, 24/7, working to make sure that we can keep our infrastructure up for our customers in that region."Dozens of AWS services in Bahrain and United Arab Emirates continue to be unavailable, according to the company's status page.Last week, Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy announced it had targeted Amazon data center infrastructure in Bahrain.AWS declined to comment on the latest incident. A spokesperson pointed to a previous statement in which it said: "AWS Bahrain Region has been disrupted as a result of the ongoing conflict."Data centers, particularly those housing chips that can handle generative artificial intelligence models, consume large amounts of energy, which has become more expensive since the conflict began in February. Read more CNBC tech newsSamsung shares rise after profit seen jumping 8-fold on AI chip boomBroadcom shares climb as chipmaker agrees Google and Anthropic dealsOpenAI asks California, Delaware to probe Musk's 'anti-competitive behavior' ahead of April trialAI data center boom 'stress tests' insurers as private capital floods in On Monday, oil prices shot higher as President Donald Trump threatened attacks on civilian infrastructure if the Islamic Republic does not commit to reopening the Strait of Hormuz."It's obviously hugely disruptive for the global economy, as we're all very dependent on energy, and also just distracting for industry, for us," Garman said. "You know, there's not short-term, immediate things, but it really is just the drag on the global economy that we have to think about."Amazon Web Services is the world's top supplier of cloud infrastructure that companies can rely on to run websites and applications. Google, Microsoft and Oracle are also working to build more data centers to provide cloud services worldwide.Technology isn't the only industry seeing implications, Garman said."You just have to go further down the supply chain to find something, and so we're not different than that," he said.The restriction of movement through the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up the price of helium, a key ingredient in semiconductor manufacturing. Qatar, which sits west of the strait, produced more than one-third of helium globally, according to one estimate.Garman struck an optimistic tone about the Middle East."There's a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit," he said. "There's a willingness to invest. And so our and my excitement about investing long term in that region is just as strong as it's ever been." VIDEO9:4509:45Watch CNBC's full interview with Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

That's the question investors have been asking since the relief rally on the final trading day of March. View More

Has tech bottomed? That's the question investors have been asking since the relief rally on the final trading day of March, which marked the end of the first quarter. Before Tuesday's decline, driven by concern about President Donald Trump 's Iran deadline, the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed higher in each of the past four sessions. It certainly would be nice to think that nearly a week into the second quarter, tech can retake its leadership in the market. However, given the possibility of a massive ramp-up in the Iran war in a matter of hours — and, with it, a material increase in the risk that things spiral out of control and oil prices stay higher for longer — it's hard to say for sure whether tech is out of the woods. That said, the sector has certainly gotten more attractive from a valuation perspective. And, if timing the market isn't your game — and to be sure, we don't think it should be — it may be time to start thinking about whether your tech exposure is where it should be if the market starts to reclaim some of its lost ground. The Nasdaq closed at a record high of 23,958 on Oct. 29, 2025. After a meandering start to the new year, the index came within a whisker of that high in late January. Since then, it's been downhill, with a brief dip into correction territory — a decline of 10% or more from a recent high — in late March. Sure, we could see new lows ahead; that's always a possibility, especially if things start to get out of hand with Iran. However, based on several analyst notes, it's clear that the Street is starting to get a bit more positive on the tech sector. Time to buy tech? Goldman Sachs on Tuesday identified three factors — fears of hyperscaler overspending; AI disruption of enterprise software; and a rotation into heavy asset, low obsolescence (HALO) stocks — that contributed to the tech sector having "one of the worst periods of relative underperformance" since the early 1970s. As a result, the analysts noted that tech valuations are now low — and for U.S. hyperscalers, valuations are near the rest of the market. Put another way, hyperscale players are currently being valued the same as the average U.S. large-cap company, despite a superior growth outlook. That has happened because while the price action has been negative, the estimate revisions have been positive. In fact, the analysts said that earnings revisions in tech have actually been better than in any other sector of the market, creating a "record gap between performance and underlying earnings growth." Perhaps most interesting, the analysts concluded that while tech is already attractive on its own fundamental merits, the sector could also be viewed as a place to hide out should the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz go on longer than expected. "[Tech] might prove to be more defensive over the next few months," Goldman said. That's because big tech companies are not that dependent on the health of the economy to be able to grow. The Wells Fargo Investment Institute (WFII) upgraded the tech sector to favorable from neutral, saying that secular AI tailwinds should continue to drive above-market growth for sector sales and earnings through the rest of the year. "The gradual drawdown over the past few months has brought valuations to more attractive levels, and we believe pessimistic sentiment around the sector is overdone," the WFII noted. The strategists also called out the defensive nature of the sector, highlighting that information technology has "outperformed the S & P 500 index since the war broke out due to its secular growth and quality characteristics." Driving the fundamental resiliency argument home, UBS analysts said that year-over-year revenue growth for what they call the tech+ cohort, which includes information technology stocks and info tech adjacent names like Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms, is expected to accelerate to 23% in the first quarter. They expect tech+ earnings to grow 30.4% in Q1 versus just 5.1% for the rest of the S & P 500. More attractive valuations are not always enough to turn investors bullish. But as positive updates trickle in, they should be for those of us in the market for the long haul. Broadcom mojo back? That's especially true when the news is about the expansion of a material, long-term partnership, as was the case Monday evening when Broadcom announced that it had entered an agreement with Alphabet 's Google to develop and supply future generations of TPUs, the custom silicon that the two have co-developed for years, through 2031. Broadcom will also supply networking and other components for use in Google data centers. Separately, Broadcom, Google, and Anthropic announced an expansion of their collaboration efforts that will see Anthropic have access to 3.5 gigawatts worth of TPU-based AI compute, starting in 2027. The prior terms called for 3GW. The agreement will depend on Anthropic's ability to keep growing, but that doesn't appear to be an issue at the moment. Anthropic said that demand for its Claude AI model has continued to accelerate to start 2026, with the company now operating at a $30 billion run-rate revenue, up from about $9 billion exiting 2025. The news, collectively, certainly serves to alleviate any Broadcom concerns we had following last week's news that Nvidia and Broadcom competitor Marvell Technology teamed up to collaborate on systems that combine Nvidia's ecosystem and hardware with Marvell's custom chip solutions. It should also temper investor concerns that Alphabet could look to expand collaboration beyond Broadcom, or bring the design process in-house, not unlike what we have seen Apple do in recent years. Jim Cramer admitted that his knee-jerk reaction to Tuesday's Broadcom rally was to trim some. But, considering the three-month slide from its all-time highs in December 2025, Jim ultimately concluded that the move was to hold on. "Don't sell it," he said. "This is when it's finally getting out of the problems it's been having." Bottom Line While it is far too uncertain to call the bottom in tech, we tend to agree with the Wall Street analysts that sector valuations have become too cheap to ignore. The stocks may be down on the year, but as Tuesday's news from Broadcom demonstrates, and the upward earnings revisions in the sector clearly indicate, the businesses these stocks represent are as strong as ever. The decline in valuations has made these names attractive — not only in the case that the war resolves and a pathway opens for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, but also in the event that the war intensifies, resulting in growth fears and, in turn, a search for those names that grow regardless of broader economic growth trends. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long NVDA, AVGO, GOOGL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has ordered the renewal of long-pending expired lease deeds, offering legal security to land titles for residents. Special camps will be organized starting April 15 to process these cases, marking a significant step towards responsive governance and stability for affected families. View More

Artemis II is returning home after breaking the record for the farthest distance traveled by humans from Earth and setting the stage for a manned lunar landing. View More

watch nowVIDEO8:5608:56NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on what's next following successful Artemis II flybySquawk Box The crew of Artemis II captured what NASA's chief called an "absolutely stunning" photo of the moon eclipsing the sun, as the spacecraft broke Apollo 13's 56-year-old record for the longest distance traveled by humans from Earth."This is not AI," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday."This is why we do what we do," said Isaacman, as Artemis II continued heading back home to Earth.The White House posted the photo taken Monday by Artemis II, and NASA released other photos from the Orion capsule, which conducted a six-hour flyby of the moon with four astronauts on board. Artemis II view of the moon eclipsing the sun.NASA Isaacman said, "I just looked at the pictures about five minutes before getting on ... this interview, and I would just say they looked absolutely stunning."Artemis' crew "mentioned this last night during the webcast that they don't know if human eyes are ready to see what they've captured," he said. The Artemis II crew captured this view of an Earthset on April 6, 2026, as they flew around the Moon.NASA "I just paused when I saw it," Isaacman said. "This is why we send astronauts farther into space than ever before.""It's why we bring them back home and learn and continue what is, I think, the greatest adventure in human history," he said. Read more CNBC politics coverageTrump praises Hungary PM Viktor Orbán after Vance calls him at Budapest rallyBill Gates interview about Jeffrey Epstein by House Oversight set for June 10House Democrats call on federal regulator to crack down on offshore prediction market war bets Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed Monday from the spacecraft, "It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now.""It is just unbelievable," said Hansen, a Canadian, according to a report by The Associated Press.The three other crew members are Americans, among them the commander, Reid Wiseman, who wept Monday when Hansen asked permission from the crew to name a fresh lunar crater after Wiseman's late wife, who died from cancer in 2020, the AP noted. A view of Earth, partially hidden by the Moon, photographed through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT (22:41 GMT) April 6, 2026, just three minutes before the Orion spacecraft and its crew went behind the Moon and lost contact with Earth for 40 minutes before emerging on the other side during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon.NASA | Reuters Artemis is NASA's first spacecraft to fly by the moon since Apollo 17's landing there in December 1972."You've made history and made all America really proud," President Donald Trump told the crew during a call Monday.NASA plans to launch Artemis III in 2027 to practice docking lunar landers. NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon April 2, 2026. Nasa | Via Reuters The space agency aims to land two astronauts at the South Pole of the moon in 2028 with the Artemis IV mission."In a matter of months, really, by the beginning of 2027, we're going to start landing uncrewed robotic missions on a nearly monthly cadence on the South Pole of the moon, and actually start building the moon base," Isaacman said Tuesday. A view of Earth, partially hidden by the Moon, photographed through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:40 p.m. EDT (22:40 GMT) April 6, 2026, just four minutes before the Orion spacecraft and its crew went behind the Moon and lost contact with Earth for 40 minutes before emerging on the other side during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon.NASA | Reuters Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.