WS #11684

The US-Iran conflict continues to escalate sharply, with multiple sources (Al Jazeera, BBC, Reuters, social media, UN) corroborating ongoing US airstrikes targeting Iranian infrastructure in Bushehr, Chabahar, Bandar Abbas, and Abu Musa island. Iran's IRGC shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone, and Iranian state media reports a major attack on US bases is imminent. Vance warned any Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz will trigger US military action. Oil prices surged over 5% (Brent above $80), with the Dow down 1.09%. The IMF lowered global growth forecast to 3% citing the conflict. This represents a significant escalation from the previous ceasefire period, with no counter-signals or de-escalation visible. The macro narrative is ESCALATING. Meanwhile, a few company-specific signals emerged: Meta broke ground on a $13B Canada data center (bullish for META, data center infrastructure), GoPro received $20M financing from its CEO (positive for GPRO), RH's CEO sold 125,000 shares (bearish for RH), and JPMorgan called a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger 'strategically coherent' (positive for TSLA).