Escalating Geopolitical Tensions in the Middle East Increase Market Volatility
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: May 04 2026
0mins
Escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East, with Iran claiming that two missiles have struck a U.S. naval ship and President Trump refusing to acknowledge that a ceasefire is holding, has re-introduced heightened volatility in risk assets to start the week. All major indices were down in Monday's trade with Energy being the only S&P 500 sector to end the day in positive territory as WTI Crude Oil jumping above $107 a barrel. Materials and Industrials were the worst-performing sectors, with investors also having sold U.S. Treasuries amid ongoing concerns of higher energy costs feeding into elevated inflation - the yield on the 10-year was above 4.4% and that of the 30-year exceeded the 5% mark.Unlike last week, where strong results and constructive earnings call commentary from mega-cap tech revived positive sentiment afterhours, Monday's evening session is more subdued, with S&P E-Mini's flat and Nasdaq 100 contract down a decimal. In precious metals, the second consecutive session of gains in the US Dollar has pressured gold and silver below $4,530 and $74 per ounce respectively. WTI Oil is off the highs but still above $105 per barrel.Check out this evening's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.HIGHER AFTER EARNINGS -Backblazeup 45.3%Sterling Infrastructureup 21.3%EverQuoteup 17.0%Pinterestup 15.2%V2X, Inc.up 12.6%Sonosup 5.5%Grab Holdingsup 2.2%Paramount Skydanceup 1.8%ALSO HIGHER -Fidelity National Informationup 6.0% after announcing Agentic AI partnership with AnthropicDOWN AFTER EARNINGS -GeneDx Holdingsdown 38.6%Ichor Holdingsdown 13.8%Duolingodown 12.7%Fabrinetdown 10.8%Advanced Energy Industriesdown 8.5%On Semidown 4.2%Palantirdown 3.0%Vertex Pharmaceuticalsdown 1.1%ALSO LOWER -Viatrisdown 4.6% after disclosing CFO transition
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Analyst Views on BLZE
Wall Street analysts forecast BLZE stock price to fall
6 Analyst Rating
6 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 15.300
Low
8.00
Averages
9.50
High
11.00
Current: 15.300
Low
8.00
Averages
9.50
High
11.00
About BLZE
Backblaze, Inc. is a cloud storage company. The Company's two cloud services that it offers on its Storage Cloud are: Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage and Backblaze Computer Backup. Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage enables customers to store data, developers to build applications, and partners to expand their use cases. The amount of data stored in this cloud service can scale up and down as needed on a pay-as-you-go basis, or can be paid for on a capacity basis or committed contract for greater predictability. This Infrastructure-as-a-Service enables use cases including backups, multi-cloud, application storage, ransomware protection, and storage for artificial intelligence/machine learning workflows. Backblaze Computer Backup automatically backs up data from laptops and desktops for businesses and individuals. This service is offered as a subscription-based Software-as-a-Service and serves use cases including computer backup, ransomware protection, theft and loss protection, and remote access.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Backblaze Sponsors RAISE Summit and Joins AI Strategy Panel
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- CEO Panel Participation: Backblaze CEO Gleb Budman will join a leadership panel on sovereign cloud strategy, emphasizing the importance of data control and cost predictability under GPU workloads, demonstrating the company's capabilities in high-throughput storage solutions.
- AI Startup Competition Judge: Budman will also serve as a judge for RAISE the STAKES, the world's largest AI startup competition with a prize pool exceeding €10 million and over 1,500 applicants, highlighting Backblaze's commitment to supporting AI innovation.
- Entrepreneur Support Program: Backblaze's James Leaverton will judge the preliminary round and lead the Flamethrower program, offering early-stage AI and data-heavy startups up to $100,000 in storage credits and technical support, further advancing the AI ecosystem.
See More
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- Rating Upgrades: Craig Hallum upgraded Backblaze's rating from 'Hold' to 'Buy' and raised the price target from $6.50 to $16, anticipating that this deal will lead to significant upward revisions in Backblaze's 2027 financial estimates, reflecting market confidence in its growth potential.
- Strong Stock Performance: Following the announcement of the agreement, Backblaze's stock rose 2.9% in premarket trading on Wednesday and gained over 43% in a single session on Tuesday, marking its best performance since March 2024, indicating investor optimism about the company's prospects.
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See More
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See More
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See More
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- CEO Panel Participation: Backblaze CEO Gleb Budman will join a leadership panel on sovereign cloud strategy, emphasizing the importance of data control and cost predictability under GPU workloads, demonstrating the company's capabilities in high-throughput storage solutions.
- AI Startup Competition Judge: Budman will also serve as a judge for RAISE the STAKES, the world's largest AI startup competition with a prize pool exceeding €10 million and over 1,500 applicants, highlighting Backblaze's commitment to supporting AI innovation.
- Entrepreneur Support Program: Backblaze's James Leaverton will judge the preliminary round and lead the Flamethrower program, offering early-stage AI and data-heavy startups up to $100,000 in storage credits and technical support, further advancing the AI ecosystem.
See More
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- Major Deal Secured: Backblaze has signed a five-year, $335 million agreement with CoreWeave to provide multi-exabyte storage capacity, a move that not only validates Backblaze's positioning in AI infrastructure but also lays the groundwork for future market expansion.
- Rating Upgrades: Craig Hallum upgraded Backblaze's rating from 'Hold' to 'Buy' and raised the price target from $6.50 to $16, anticipating that this deal will lead to significant upward revisions in Backblaze's 2027 financial estimates, reflecting market confidence in its growth potential.
- Strong Stock Performance: Following the announcement of the agreement, Backblaze's stock rose 2.9% in premarket trading on Wednesday and gained over 43% in a single session on Tuesday, marking its best performance since March 2024, indicating investor optimism about the company's prospects.
- Retail Sentiment Surge: Retail chatter surrounding Backblaze surged by 18,900% in the past 24 hours, with market sentiment shifting from 'bearish' to 'extremely bullish', suggesting a significant increase in investor confidence that further propelled the stock price upward.
See More
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- Funding Support: The merger includes $230 million in funding from healthcare investors, which is expected to provide essential capital for Boundless Bio's drug development and clinical trials, thereby strengthening its market position in the gene-editing space.
- Backblaze Major Agreement: Backblaze shares climbed to a two-year high of $11.85 after announcing a five-year, approximately $335 million deal with AI cloud provider CoreWeave, positioning Backblaze as a key storage provider for large-scale AI workloads.
- Market Sentiment Shift: As Boundless Bio and Backblaze stocks surged, investor sentiment significantly improved, with Boundless Bio's sentiment shifting from neutral to 'extremely bullish' and Backblaze's sentiment moving from bearish to 'extremely bullish'.
See More
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- U.S. Futures Volatility: Despite a lower close for U.S. stocks on Tuesday, Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7% and S&P 500 futures increased by 0.2% as of 9 p.m. ET, reflecting cautious optimism in the market ahead of upcoming economic data and earnings reports that may influence short-term trading strategies.
- Oil Prices Stabilize: With easing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $73 a barrel while Brent crude remained below $80, indicating a diminishing market reaction to geopolitical risks that could affect investor sentiment in the energy sector.
- Stock Movements: Cerebras Systems saw an 11% drop after its post-IPO earnings report showed strong revenue growth but a wider-than-expected adjusted loss, while Palantir Technologies hit a fresh 52-week low despite announcing a partnership with Zeta Global, suggesting ongoing demand for AI infrastructure but insufficient investor confidence.
See More
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- Market Decline: The S&P 500 fell by 1.4%, the Nasdaq 100 dropped 3.3%, and the Dow Jones slipped 0.1%, indicating a waning investor confidence in tech stocks as doubts about the sustainability of the AI boom emerge.
- Semiconductor ETF Plunge: The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) plummeted 7%, primarily driven by declines in shares of Micron, Broadcom, and Nvidia, reflecting market concerns over the semiconductor sector's outlook and prompting investors to reassess their strategies.
- Investor Sentiment Shift: While retail sentiment for SPY was bearish, QQQ and DIA showed bullish sentiment, indicating a divergence in market perceptions that could influence future capital flows across different sectors.
- Foreign Selling Intensifies: The drop in South Korean equities, coupled with foreign institutional investors offloading approximately $2.5 billion in Kospi shares, exacerbates concerns that the recent boom in tech and AI stocks may be overblown, potentially leading to a decline in global investor confidence in these assets.
See More
NeOnc Technologies Secures Drug Authorization, Market Focuses on Clinical Progress
- Clinical Authorization Breakthrough: NeOnc Technologies has received Investigational New Drug authorization from the Department of Health–Abu Dhabi for its NEO100 program, covering adult Phase 1 to Phase 2 studies and establishing a pathway for pediatric development in high-grade gliomas, significantly expanding its international clinical footprint and potentially accelerating parallel advancement of multiple development stages.
- Investor Focus on Data Release: The company expects to report NEO100-01 Phase 2a clinical data by the end of July 2026, and positive results could support discussions for additional regulatory pathways, enhancing market confidence in its product pipeline.
- Gene Editing Strategic Shift: The merger between Boundless Bio and Serapha Bio will create a company focused on gene-editing therapies for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, backed by approximately $230 million in financing, which is expected to support the completion of Phase 2 and initiation of Phase 3 for SERP-01, addressing a significant unmet medical need.
- Data Storage Agreement Surge: Backblaze has signed a five-year, multi-exabyte data storage agreement valued at approximately $335 million with CoreWeave, positioning itself as a key storage provider to meet the growing demand for AI computing capacity, thereby solidifying its strategic position within the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem.
See More
