WS #7443

The dominant narrative remains the Iran conflict and its escalation, with new developments indicating potential resumption of combat operations against Iran as early as next week, per CNN. This is corroborated by NYT reporting an Iran-backed commander accused of plotting US attacks, and Ukrainian drone strikes on a major Russian oil refinery. The situation is ESCALATING. On the macro front, Berkshire Hathaway sold $8 billion of Chevron shares as prices soared, a significant profit-taking signal in energy. Bill Ackman's Pershing Square disclosed a new stake in Microsoft, a bullish signal for MSFT. ARM Holdings faces a US antitrust probe over chip tech, a bearish signal for ARM. BlackRock's private credit fund valuation practices are under investigation, negative for BLK. Point72's 13F shows new large buys in CVX, tripled BP, boosted RTX and LMT, indicating defense and energy conviction. The Fed transition is confirmed: Powell temporary chair until Warsh sworn in. IPO pipeline activity: EROCK and Forbright file for US IPOs. General Dynamics wins $229.65M Army deal for Stryker vehicles, positive for GD. Northrop Grumman wins $196M Triton support contract, positive for NOC. YPF registers $25B oil project for RIGI incentive program. The MAG7 narrative shows mixed signals: NVDA down 4.4% ahead of earnings, META pullback concern, while MSFT gets a new activist-like stake from Ackman. The overall market saw heavy SPY selling in the last 10 minutes, with someone big getting out.