WS #7739

The dominant theme remains the escalating Strait of Hormuz crisis, with NATO now discussing a potential mission to protect commercial ships if the waterway remains closed into early July (cross-corroborated by Bloomberg and Telegram sources). Citi warns a 1970s-style oil shock would require the strait to stay closed through early 2027, reinforcing the bullish oil narrative. Oil futures are climbing again as markets reprice for a prolonged closure. The US reports 89 commercial vessels 'redirected' amid the Iranian port blockade. New infrastructure projects to bypass Hormuz are being accelerated (UAE pipeline, Iraq-Turkiye exports, India-UAE reserves, Japan/South Korea stockpiling). Separately, the US Justice Department has 'forever' barred the IRS from auditing Trump's past tax returns, an addendum to the widely criticized settlement creating a $1.776B fund. This is corroborated by NYT, Guardian, and multiple social media sources. The San Diego mosque shooting investigation continues: a manifesto has been recovered, and the guns belonged to a parent of one of the suspects. On the tech/AI front, Google I/O continues: Gemini 3.5 Flash is released, and Google unveiled Gemini Omni video model. A large dark pool trade in EWZ (Brazil ETF) of 3M shares ($107.67M) was detected. The consumer discretionary sector hit a fresh 14-year low against the S&P 500 (XLY/SPY). Mortgage rates hit 6.75%. The bond selloff deepens with Goldman seeing a buying opportunity. Chip stocks hit a record overbought level per BofA, historically preceding a 44% drawdown. The Iran/geopolitical risk is ESCALATING, the tech selloff is STABLE, and the Trump IRS settlement is a new development with political but limited direct market impact.