WS #13285

The dominant market-moving development is the US-Iran de-escalation, with President Trump announcing the cancellation of planned strikes on Iran, citing an emerging deal to open the Strait of Hormuz and end Iran's nuclear threat. This is corroborated by multiple sources (AP, AFP, Al Jazeera, Reuters, and various Bluesky posts) and has triggered a sharp 6% drop in oil prices, a rise in US equity futures (S&P +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.6%), and a rally in Treasury futures. However, Iran's foreign ministry has pushed back, stating the Strait will not return to its pre-war status and that talks with Oman are ongoing, introducing uncertainty. This de-escalation is a counter-signal to the previous bearish oil/geopolitical risk narrative, likely pressuring energy stocks (XOM, CVX, OXY) and benefiting airlines (DAL, UAL) and consumer discretionary. Separately, the yen intervention story is confirmed: Japan and the US conducted a coordinated intervention to support the yen, with Trump calling it 'a signal of friendship.' This is a rare joint action (first since 2011) and has implications for USD/JPY and Japanese exporters, though direct US equity impact is limited. The Apple memory shortage narrative is escalating: reports indicate MacBook Air delivery delays of up to four weeks due to memory constraints, and AMD is reportedly raising GPU prices by ~10% due to the same memory crisis. This is bullish for memory makers (MU, SK Hynix) and bearish for Apple's near-term supply, though Apple's MacBook Neo is selling better than expected, partially offsetting. The Microsoft security vulnerability story (Claude Mythos finding numerous flaws) is emerging but lacks direct market impact. Overall, the window is dominated by the US-Iran de-escalation, which is a high-significance, cross-corroborated event with clear market implications.