WS #11101

The dominant theme in this window is the continued de-escalation of US-Iran tensions following the peace deal, with oil prices falling to pre-war levels and the Strait of Hormuz reopening. This is a major counter-signal to the previous war-driven bearish macro narrative. The Bank of England held rates at 3.75%, citing caution on energy prices despite the peace deal. In tech, Micron reported a blowout quarter with gross margins surging to 84.9%, confirming the memory shortage thesis, but Oracle and Cerebras fell on capital raise and margin concerns respectively. The US Supreme Court ruled to strengthen presidential firing power but carved out protections for the Fed, a mixed signal for regulatory independence. Chinese tech stocks continued to sell off, with Alibaba hitting a 16-month low after Anthropic accused it of IP theft. Crypto saw Bitcoin rip to $96,750 on Coinbase news, but the broader crypto narrative remains mixed with regulatory uncertainty.