Friday opens with a second consecutive reversal of sentiment in global markets. Apple's decision to raise MacBook and iPad prices by up to $300, citing soaring AI chip costs, wiped out Thursday's Micron-led recovery overnight. The Kospi fell 8% before triggering a trading halt, Nasdaq 100 futures are down approximately 1.6%, and European bourses are set to open sharply lower. This is risk-off with a technology cost-inflation character - the AI boom is now visibly passing chip cost increases to consumers, and markets are repricing accordingly.
Gold is retesting $4,000 this morning, down roughly 5% on the week, as the dollar holds firm despite Thursday's in-line PCE providing brief relief. Silver, sitting near $58 and close to its year-low of $57.57, faces the most direct pressure given its extreme 0.87 correlation with the Nasdaq. The pair most likely to trend today is GBP/JPY, where sterling remains under political pressure from the Burnham-Reeves story and the yen is finding modest safe-haven support from the equity selloff - creating a bearish dual-leg setup with 213.50-214.00 as the key intraday resistance to sell.
The University of Michigan final consumer sentiment and inflation expectations print arrives at 15:00 UK time and is capable of moving gold, EUR/USD, and USD/JPY materially in the New York session. The full briefing identifies exact entry levels, the specific Hormuz trigger to watch in oil, and which signals confirm the session tone is shifting before it becomes obvious to everyone else.