WS #13485

The dominant narrative remains the US-Iran-Oman deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is ESCALATING with concrete progress: Iran and Oman have agreed on geographic coordinates for a shipping route, with a joint statement in final drafting, and the US has lifted sanctions on three Iranian airlines and two aircraft. However, counter-signals persist: Iran's president says interaction with the supreme leader is 'very difficult,' a senior Gulf official puts odds at 50:50, and the US military reportedly used up 80% of key missile interceptors (denied by Pentagon). Oil prices are stabilizing around $75-80, with WTI down slightly and Brent up marginally, while gold surged over 4% to $4,242 on inflation concerns. In tech, Alphabet (GOOGL) is down ~4% on the DeepMind leadership reshuffle (Hassabis steps down, Jeff Dean departs), a MAG7 carve-out contradicting the broader tech rally. SpaceX (SPCX) shares fell ~8-13% after its first earnings showed massive AI capex ($28.5B H1, $15.8B Q2), pressuring telecom stocks (T, VZ, TMUS) as SpaceX plans wireless competition. AMD fell ~5-9% despite record revenue on customer concentration concerns. Other earnings: Phillips 66 beat on Iran war refining margins, Disney rose 4.6% on Toy Story, Novo Nordisk fell 6% on guidance, and Eli Lilly's Foundayo showed 'inflection' in oral GLP-1 competition. The Hormuz deal is the key swing factor for oil and equities in the next 1-8 hours.