| Want the lowdown on what's moving European markets in your inbox every morning? Sign up here. Good morning & Happy Friday. Commodity prices nosedive, the U.S. lifts mask rules for the vaccinated and Israel prepares for a ground assault. Here's what's moving markets. Material DeclineA broad commodity drop is gripping markets, spurred by U.S. data that showed rising inflationary pressure and raised the specter of less accommodative monetary policy. Additionally, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made televised comments that suggested the country could take action to tame the raw material price rally of recent months. Crude oil futures dropped the most in more than a month, contracts for iron ore plunged and copper was also lower. Meanwhile, a cracked bridge over the Mississippi has brought barge traffic — the main conduit of U.S. agricultural exports — to a halt, sending U.S. futures for corn, cotton and soybeans tanking. Masks OffU.S. public health officials said fully vaccinated Americans can ditch their masks in most settings, even indoors or in large groups. The shift in guidance signals a broad return to everyday life, and is also a bet that any surge in spread from relaxed guidelines won't be enough to reverse progress in inoculations. The administration also used it as a further incentive for vaccination. "The rule is very simple: Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do," President Joe Biden said. Also on Thursday, CureVac and GSK released positive early data from laboratory testing of their second-generation Covid-19 vaccine. Gaza OffensiveIsraeli forces launched a blistering assault on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, sweeping aside international appeals for de-escalation. While ground troops haven't entered Gaza, they are preparing for a possible incursion after four days of aerial bombardments failed to quell the heaviest militant rocket fire yet on Israel from the Palestinian enclave. Trouble loomed on another front after three rockets launched from Lebanon crashed into the Mediterranean off Israel's northern coast late Wednesday, highlighting the threat of a second battleground with Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants. Tough WeekBitcoin remains on course for a weekly slump of more than 10% after Tesla's Technoking Elon Musk doubled down on his attack on the token's energy demands. In his latest tweets, Musk said he "strongly" believes in crypto but that "it can't drive a massive increase in fossil fuel use, especially coal." Sceptical voices on Thursday also included Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, who said the popularity of cryptocurrencies represents a search for yield that could be a warning sign. ``Buy it if you want but it has no intrinsic value," he said. Coming Up…After a rough week in the stock market, European futures are pointing to a gain, following similar rallies in Asia and the U.S. With earnings season winding down in many parts of the world it's a quieter day today; watch for Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry's report from Taiwan, which will give insight into the health of the global electronics market. Argenx, Encavis, Merlin Properties and Sage Group are among the earnings in Europe, while in the U.S. following two days of market-moving data the focus will be on April retail sales which could boost volatility further. Finally, it's time to learn about another memecoin, as the value of Shiba Inu coin, a meta joke about Dogecoin (which itself started as a joke), tumbled following a giveaway by Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin. What We've Been ReadingThis is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morningRegular readers will know I often write about semiconductor stocks as they are traditionally a leading indicator for the broader market. Well, someone in the options market is making a big leveraged bet against them. As my colleague Lu Wang noted, call options on the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares exchange-traded fund -- which pays three times the inverse return of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index -- soared to 220,000 contracts as the underlying index fell 4% Wednesday. The 30-member chip gauge has fallen about 7% in May, on course for its worst month since the pandemic began. In the process they have broken below the uptrend in place from March last year. That suggests more downside ahead and options traders are smelling blood in the water.  Cormac Mullen is a cross-asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo. Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. | 
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