WS #11235

The dominant theme remains the sharp escalation of the Russia-Ukraine energy war, with multiple corroborating sources reporting a massive Russian ballistic missile strike on Kyiv (74 missiles, 496 drones, 18-20 killed) and Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's Kstovo oil refinery (Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez), hitting the AVT-6 unit and triggering a fire. These strikes are part of a broader campaign that has cut Russian refining capacity by a third, causing fuel shortages and rationing. This escalation is cross-corroborated by AP, Guardian, and multiple OSINT sources, marking a significant intensification of the conflict's energy dimension. Separately, the EU's top court upheld Google's €4.1 billion Android antitrust fine, a high-significance regulatory blow to Alphabet that reinforces EU platform liability. On the macro front, the US nonfarm payrolls report due today is the key catalyst for risk assets, with expectations for a soft print that could validate Fed Chair Warsh's dovish inflation view and boost bitcoin and gold. In corporate news, Palantir was upgraded to Buy at DA Davidson with a $175 target, Mizuho hiked Robinhood price target to $130, and Tesla China sales climbed for the eighth straight month in June (89,091 vehicles sold). A Korea tech rout is turning systemic with KOSPI -7.9% and Samsung -9%, SK Hynix -12-15% tracking SOX -6.27% amid Meta spare-compute report. Iran warns US and Israel against attacking during Khamenei's funeral, threatening harsh retaliation. US-Iran negotiations scheduled for July 18.