WS #7945

The dominant theme in this window is the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis, with multiple corroborating signals: Iran's IRGC Navy claims 35 ships passed with permission in the past 24 hours, while 14 Indian vessels are stranded, and oil prices are jumping on the impasse. Goldman Sachs warns of record global oil inventory drawdowns in May, with inventories falling 8.7 million barrels per day. This is a clear ESCALATION of the energy supply crisis. Separately, China is cracking down on cross-border flows, targeting Tiger and Futu brokers, which is bearish for Chinese ADRs and fintech. The ECB is signaling potential rate hikes despite recession risks, which is bearish for European growth stocks. On the positive side, Meta, Broadcom, and others launched a $125M AI chip hub at UCLA, which is bullish for AI/semiconductor names. The Polymarket exploit ($520K) is a minor negative for crypto sentiment but user funds are safe. No new data on US-Iran peace talks, so the prior high-significance development (US-Iran conflict) carries forward as ongoing.