WS #10626

The dominant narrative is shifting from oil de-escalation to multiple new signals. Micron Technology (MU) reported a massive earnings beat with Q3 adjusted gross margin of 84.9% vs. est. 81.9%, automotive/embedded revenue of $4.63B vs. est. $3.51B, and Q4 revenue guidance of $49B-$51B vs. est. $43.24B. This is a significant positive for the semiconductor sector and memory stocks. Separately, Qualcomm unveiled its Dragonfly C1000 CPU and AI300 accelerator at Investor Day, with Meta as its first data center customer, marking a direct competitive threat to Intel and AMD in the data center CPU market. On the geopolitical front, the Strait of Hormuz has fully recovered to pre-conflict oil flows (72 ships, 20M barrels in 24 hours), confirming de-escalation. However, the White House signaled a war funding request to Republicans before week's end, and Iran's foreign ministry stated IAEA inspections are contingent on a final agreement, adding uncertainty. Alibaba (BABA) hit a 52-week low amid accusations of an 'industrial-scale' AI model breach at Anthropic, with the stock down 14 of the last 15 days. Bitcoin continues to slide, with Polymarket bets on sub-$60K prices. The AI data center theme faces regulatory headwinds as a top House Democrat calls for a national moratorium on AI data centers, and Pennsylvania House votes to codify strict standards for data center developers.