WS #13370

The dominant theme remains the US-Iran de-escalation narrative, which is STABLE but with a critical new escalation risk: Iran's Supreme Leader adviser Mohsen Rezaei explicitly threatened to target US warships attempting to open an alternative Hormuz route, and a cargo vessel was struck by an 'unknown projectile' near Oman. This directly counters the de-escalation thesis and keeps a tail-risk premium on oil, which has partially rebounded to ~$84.39 Brent after Monday's 7% plunge. Cross-source corroboration is strong (Reuters, Euronews, Gulf News, CNA, GDELT). Meanwhile, the 25-state lawsuit against Trump's Section 301 tariffs is confirmed by multiple sources (AP, Xinhua, Hindustan Times) and adds legal uncertainty to trade policy, though it is unlikely to reverse the risk-on tone. In corporate news, Palantir reported a 93% revenue surge ('otherworldly' quarter, US commercial +149%), Amazon crossed $3 trillion market cap for the first time, and Jeff Bezos sold $4.07 billion of AMZN stock (a potential overhang). HSBC announced a $1 billion buyback after Q2 profit beat. Onsemi guided Q3 revenue above expectations on AI data center demand. South Korea's CPI eased to 2.8% in July, breaking an accelerating trend, which may support the Bank of Korea's tightening pause. The yen intervention theme persists with Japan and US vowing further action, pressuring Japanese equities and the dollar.