WS #9381

The dominant narrative remains the US-Iran peace deal and Strait of Hormuz blockade, with Trump claiming to be in the 'final throes' of a deal that could be signed in 2-3 days. However, this is contradicted by continued Israeli airstrikes on Tyre, Lebanon killing at least 8, and a warning that even if a deal is signed, normalizing Hormuz traffic would take at least 3 months, with oil price estimates of $150/barrel considered conservative. The situation is ESCALATING in terms of violence on the ground despite diplomatic progress claims. Meanwhile, US existing home sales for May beat expectations at 4.17M SAAR (+3.2% m/m vs 4.05M est), providing a positive economic data point. The S&P 500 is extending gains led by chipmakers, with NVDA leading a broad advance. A Reuters exclusive reports that payments firm Nuvei is in advanced talks to buy Payoneer Global for about $2.3B including debt. Anthropic's Claude Mythos model successfully exploited 18 of 21 Windows kernel vulnerabilities, creating working exploits in ~31 minutes, which is a significant cybersecurity development for MSFT. The EU proposes first-ever entry ban on anyone who has served in the Russian military since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Taiwan is reportedly eyeing an AI export ban to China, which could impact NVDA. A US AH-64 Apache helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz, unclear if brought down by Iranian fire.