WS #12469

The US-Iran conflict continues to escalate, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut and Brent crude briefly breaking $90/barrel. The US identified two more soldiers killed, bringing the total to 17. However, a key counter-signal emerged: Reuters reports that Iran is keeping talks alive despite hostilities, and US indices rose on this de-escalation signal. Oil prices eased slightly on the news. The narrative is ESCALATING but with a potential de-escalation catalyst. Separately, UK political transition: Andy Burnham became PM, pledging to end rough sleeping and scrapping the digital ID scheme. This is a domestic UK story with limited direct US market impact. In corporate news, Tempus AI to acquire Personalis for $1.5B, expanding MRD cancer testing. Domino's Pizza shares jumped ~7% pre-market on revenue beat. AMD and Microsoft expanded their partnership, with Microsoft deploying AMD Instinct chips on Azure, a positive for AMD and MSFT, competitive for NVDA. Google's 'Frozen v2' chip report boosted GOOGL 1% pre-market. Semiconductor ETFs saw record inflows despite recent selloff. Goldman Sachs seeks to issue preferred shares, raising questions about market confidence. Hedge funds sold US tech stocks at a record pace per Goldman. Short bets on US stocks hit a record high. The macro picture shows a tug-of-war between geopolitical risk and dip-buying in tech.