Iran war causes oil and gold surges, global M&A boom, Block cuts 40% jobs, OpenAI’s $110 billion funding, Warner Bros deal

Following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, energy markets and safe-haven assets like gold have seen massive price surges, while cryptocurrencies faced sharp volatility. The landscape is further defined by a wave of mega-mergers in the media and AI sectors, alongside aggressive corporate restructuring at firms like Block, which cut 4,000 jobs. National interests are increasingly clashing with artificial intelligence development, evidenced by the U.S. government’s ban on Anthropic and OpenAI’s record-breaking valuation milestones. From reinsurance profits in Switzerland to youth unemployment in the UK.