Steve Daghlian

That's right.

So at the moment, the optimism, if you can call it that, seems to be because US President Donald Trump is raising hopes for at least a potential eventual deal with Iran.

Then we also have... Lots of ferocious words there.

That's right.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that China's premier said that Beijing is ready to play a constructive role in promoting peace and stability in the Gulf.

And you're right, though, the start of the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, that kicked off last night and around midnight our time.

There were foul talks in Pakistan as well over the weekend and where the conflict, even though we're midway through a ceasefire, has entered its seventh consecutive week now.

But the good news is that even with a half a percent lift, we've recouped yesterday's declines and we're up roughly almost 6% now since the start of this month alone.

And that's to be expected.

It is a sign still that markets are still on edge because, you know, the story is changing every couple of days at the moment.

But it still is impressive that we've recouped such a healthy chunk of last month's declines in a short period of time, obviously in April.

Are there really just the tech sector and the mining sector that's doing in large part a lot of the heavy lifting or they're the two best performers at least?

But we've got to remember that tech, you know, is still down 25% this year.

It was down 20% the year before that.

And this is after two very strong years back in 2023 and 2024.

A bit of data around today, what caught your eye?

Absolutely.

And even though the consumer discretionary sector is down a touch, it is up around almost 3% this month, but it does follow seven consecutive months of declines on the Australian share market.

So it has been pretty rough going for that whole consumer discretionary space.

We also heard from the Reserve Bank Deputy Governor today, Andrew Hauser, who basically said that the central bank is concerned about how the global energy shock and rising inflation could impact the economy over the next two to three years.