LIVE: Bitcoin surges above $70,000 as US and Israel continue attacks on Iran

Morgan Stanley says investors should start leaning back into Nvidia, arguing the stock now offers what the bank calls an attractive entry point.

The firm kept its overweight rating and its $260 price target on the AI chip giant, which is also the largest public company in the U.S.

Morgan Stanley also bumped Nvidia to its top semiconductor pick, replacing Micron Technology.

The call comes with a lot of math behind it. Nvidia shares are up about 45% over the last year, but they are down roughly 3% so far in 2026. Morgan’s 12-month target of $260 implies about 47% upside from Friday’s close of $177.19.

Analyst Joseph Moore said valuation is a big part of why the setup looks better now. He wrote that Nvidia is trading at around 18 times estimated 2027 earnings, which he described as a “surprisingly good entry point.”

Joseph said the stock’s recent sluggishness has been tied to worries about market share and whether current growth can hold up. But he argued there is no sign that big cloud players are about to pull back on their spending for Nvidia’s chips this year.

Joseph wrote that the spending looks set to stay strong for at least a couple more years, even if he does not buy the most extreme projections that talk about hundreds of gigawatts in 2029.

He also said he does not see a demand peak in 2026, and added that his growth expectations for calendar 2027 keep rising.

On the product side, Joseph said Nvidia’s share could slip this year, but demand should stay firm for Rubin, which he expects to be shipping in the second half of the year.

Morgan Stanley also expects Nvidia to tackle the market-share narrative at its GTC AI conference later this month, and believes the company can lay out a leadership roadmap that keeps it ahead of rivals.

Bitcoin pushed above $70,000, hitting its highest level since February 15, even as markets kept reacting to the weekend’s U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran.

In U.S. trading, the mood improved as the day went on. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 both turned positive after being sharply lower earlier, as traders kept one eye on geopolitics and the other on how quickly risk appetite could come back.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was last up about 0.3%, while the S&P 500 was hovering just above flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average stayed slightly in the red, down about 47 points, or roughly 0.1%.

The rebound was driven by the same place the market usually runs to when it wants to recover fast: big tech. Gains in names like Nvidia and Microsoft helped pull the major averages off their lows.

At one point, the Nasdaq had been down as much as 1.6%, while both the S&P 500 and the Dow were down around 1.2% at their session bottoms.

Safe-haven demand was still there, though. Gold futures were up about 1%, and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street’s main fear gauge based on options pricing, jumped to its highest level of 2026 so far.

Across Europe, moves were mixed rather than one-way.Switzerland’s SMI was higher by 100.57 points, up 0.72% at 14,014.3, while Greece’s HEX added 101.4 points, up 0.78% at 13,118.38.

Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 135.8 points, down 0.73% to 18,360.8, and Germany’s DAX was almost flat, down 4.76 points, or 0.02%, at 25,284.26.In the UK, the FTSE 100 gained 63.85 points, up 0.59% to 10,910.55.

Several benchmarks were unchanged, including the Netherlands’ AEX at 1,027.02, Belgium’s BEL 20 at 5,443.76, France’s CAC 40 at 8,580.75, and Portugal’s PSI20 at 9,276.09.

Sweden’s OMXS30 rose 17.476 points, up 0.55% to 3,222.753, while Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 216.05 points, down 0.46% to 47,209.89. The broader STOXX 600 edged up 0.67 points, up 0.11% to 633.85, and Denmark’s OMXC 25 added 2.44 points, up 0.14% to 1,731.15.

In currencies, the Swiss franc strengthened against the dollar, with USD/CHF at 0.768, down 0.13%.The euro slipped against the dollar too, with EUR/USD at 1.179, down 0.161%, while GBP/USD traded at 1.345, down 0.23%.

Against sterling, EUR/GBP was slightly higher at 0.877, up 0.08%. The euro was also a touch lower versus the franc, with EUR/CHF at 0.905, down 0.297%, and a bit softer against the yen, with EUR/JPY at 184.19, down 0.081%.

In European rates, the UK 10-year yield rose to 4.307, up 0.14%, while the 10-year Bund was listed at 2.644. Italy’s 10-year was at 3.275 and France’s 10-year was at 3.222.

Across Asia, the tone was mostly risk-off.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 546.64 points, down 2.05% to 26,083.9.Japan’s Nikkei fell 899.51 points, down 1.53% to 57,950.76, and South Korea’s KOSPI lost 63.14 points, down 1% to 6,244.13.

Singapore’s STI fell 92.35 points, down 1.85% to 4,902.72, while Thailand’s SETI dropped 33.45 points, down 2.19% to 1,494.81. The SGX-CNBC China Growth index slipped 26.541 points, down 1.5% to 1,744.332. Mainland China was steadier, with Shanghai down 0.13% at 4,157.346, while Shenzhen fell 0.94% to 14,359.286.

Australia’s ASX 200 eased 33 points, down 0.36% to 9,165.6, New Zealand’s NZX 50 fell 100.89 points, down 0.74% to 13,622.08, Malaysia’s benchmark dropped 16.96 points, down 0.99% to 1,699.65, and Taiwan’s market slid 169.57 points, down 0.48% to 35,244.92. India’s Nifty 50 was unchanged at 25,178.65.

In Asia FX, the U.S. dollar was a bit stronger against several currencies. USD/JPY was 156.2, up 0.11%, USD/CNY was 6.868, up 0.15%, USD/SGD was 1.266, up 0.142%, and USD/INR was 91.3, up 0.279%.

AUD/USD was flat at 0.711, NZD/USD was 0.599, down 0.083%, and USD/HKD was unchanged at 7.823. The euro against the yen was 184.22, down 0.065%.

More explosions were reported across the Gulf states, and at least three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates as Iran carried out attacks in retaliation for weekend strikes by the United States and Israel that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials.

Abu Dhabi’s Ministry of Defence said the three people killed were Pakistani, Nepalese, and Bangladeshi nationals.

In markets, overnight stock futures fell after the weekend attacks, with oil prices surging and adding more instability to an already nervous setup for investors.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 571 points (1.2%), S&P 500 futures fell 1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures declined a little more than 1%. Gold futures jumped 2% as investors piled into a traditional safe haven.

President Donald Trump said he will “avenge” the deaths of three U.S. service members and said combat operations in Iran that began Saturday will continue, speaking in a pre-recorded Truth Social post on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump also said U.S. military operations are “ahead of schedule.”

In crypto, Bitcoin (BTC) was at $66,781.8 (-1.06%) with $60.51B volume (-30.93%), $1.33T market cap, $43.60B open interest (+0.80%), funding (-1.82%), and liquidations of $169.53M.

Ether (ETH) traded at $1,973.67 (-2.88%) with $51.66B volume (-21.19%), $237.98B market cap, $24.76B open interest (+1.41%), funding (-2.60%), and liquidations of $82.30M.

Solana (SOL) was $84.87 (-3.62%) with $11.61B volume (-22.81%), $48.15B market cap, $4.91B open interest (+0.80%), funding (-6.01%), and liquidations of $26.90M.

XRP traded at $1.3716 (-3.90%) with $4.34B volume (-36.33%), $83.75B market cap, $2.18B open interest (+0.98%), funding (-6.15%), and liquidations of $5.72M. HYPE rose to $31.843 (+2.71%) with $1.81B volume (-3.81%), $8.21B market cap, $1.33B open interest (-0.25%), funding (+4.71%), and liquidations of $3.42M.

BNB was $625.07 (-0.72%) with $1.13B volume (-17.97%), $85.04B market cap, $948.28M open interest (+0.02%), funding (-0.82%), and liquidations of $590.50K.