WS #8304

The dominant narrative remains the US-Iran conflict, with mixed signals: the US touts peace deal progress while Iran claims new US strikes violate the ceasefire. Oil prices are little changed in early Asian trading, reflecting market uncertainty. BP ousted its chairman Albert Manifold over governance concerns, a corporate governance shock that could pressure BP's stock. FTSE Russell adopted a rule change to speed inclusion of newly listed large-cap companies, directly benefiting SpaceX's upcoming IPO. Trump backed the CFTC as the sole regulator of prediction markets, a regulatory development for the sector. IREN announced a $1.6B Dell deal for Blackwell systems, boosting its AI infrastructure narrative. Micron hit $1T market cap on AI demand, continuing the semiconductor rally. The Iran conflict narrative is STABLE with no escalation or de-escalation, but the BP ouster and FTSE rule change are new high-significance developments.