Daily Briefing — May 23, 2026 | Warsh Takes the Fed, Nvidia Posts Record $81.6B, and Oil Markets Await the Hormuz Endgame

In this extended briefing, we examine the swearing-in of Kevin Warsh as the seventeenth chair of the Federal Reserve at a moment of rising inflation, hawkish repricing across bond markets, and deep divisions within the FOMC. We assess the Bank of England's active hold, the ECB's stagflationary dilemma, and the Bank of Japan's path toward a June rate hike as wholesale inflation surges. Markets are covered in depth: the Nikkei's record close at 63,339, European equities rallying on ceasefire optimism, and Chinese shares pulling back after an eleven-year high. Nvidia's 81.6billionquarterand81.6billionquarterand58.3 billion profit anchor a technology segment that also includes Alibaba's Zhenwu M890 chip launch and the widening US-China semiconductor rift. Oil markets, European natural gas, gold, copper, and lithium are analyzed alongside the fragile US-Iran negotiations mediated by Pakistan — where the Strait of Hormuz remains the central variable in the global economic outlook. A full legal disclaimer is at the end of the episode.