WS #14693

Global markets are under severe pressure from a dual shock of surging geopolitical risk and rising real yields. Brent crude has climbed back above $105 as Houthi missile activity against Saudi Arabia and Iranian threats to expand the conflict to the Indian Ocean reignite supply fears. This escalation is dragging down risk assets, with the Indian Sensex crashing 1.67% and US equity futures sliding ahead of the Trump-Xi summit. The macro backdrop is further deteriorated by the US 30-year Treasury yield hitting a 22-year high of 5.44%, which is forcing a repricing of growth assets and pushing Bitcoin below $84K. In corporate news, a clear divergence is emerging between defensive retail and high-growth tech. Starbucks is executing a painful contraction, closing 250 underperforming North American stores and slashing FY26 expansion guidance by nearly 30% to focus on same-store sales. Conversely, BlackBerry is rallying on a strong Q2 beat and raised FY2027 guidance, while TD Synnex reported record Q3 results with massive EPS beats. The AI narrative remains robust, with Meta's Muse AI agent seeing explosive adoption and Google's Gemini 4 potentially launching early, though Apple is reportedly pausing development on a new AI wearable.