WS #13375

The dominant narrative remains the US-Iran standoff, which is now ESCALATING with a new shipping incident in the Strait of Hormuz and conflicting signals on talks. A cargo ship was struck by an unknown projectile off Oman, while Iran and Oman are reportedly nearing a deal to manage Hormuz traffic—a potential counter-signal to the bearish oil thesis. Oil prices rebounded ~1% after Monday's sharp drop, with WTI at $81.20 and Brent at $84.39, as uncertainty persists. Energy earnings are a major theme: BP profits more than doubled to $5.73B, Saudi Aramco net profit jumped 44% to $32.69B, and HSBC reported strong H1 results with a $1B buyback. Trump's criticism of Chevron and Exxon for 'making too much money' introduces political risk to the sector. Separately, 25 US states sued to block Trump's new Section 301 tariffs on 60 countries, a legal challenge that could impact trade-sensitive sectors. In tech, Amazon crossed $3 trillion market cap, and Palantir surged 15%+ on strong earnings, while Telegram's brief removal from the App Store over CSAM content is a minor negative for crypto sentiment. The macro backdrop is strong: S&P 500 earnings growth at 47.4% YoY, with 86% of companies beating estimates, supporting a bullish equity outlook.