WS #11813

The US-Iran conflict narrative remains DE-ESCALATING despite Trump's claim that the ceasefire is 'over'. Markets largely shrugged off the statement, focusing instead on the continuation of talks. Iranian FM Araqchi will visit Oman on Saturday for talks on the Strait of Hormuz and bilateral ties, reinforcing the diplomatic track. Oil prices drifted lower (WTI ~$71.84, Brent ~$76.10), and the market reaction to renewed tensions has been muted, indicating that investors are not pricing in a significant escalation. This counters the previous bearish oil/geopolitical thesis. SK Hynix's historic Nasdaq debut continues to dominate: shares opened at $170 (+14% from $149 IPO), raising $26.5B in the second-largest US IPO ever. CEO expects memory crunch to extend beyond 2030, which is bullish for NVDA, MU, and the broader semiconductor space. Multiple sources (Seeking Alpha, TechCrunch, GDELT) corroborate the strong debut and its implications for AI chip demand. On the MAG7 front, a $506.21M dark pool buy order for QQQ signals institutional accumulation, while META's AI compute business launch at a discounted valuation is being highlighted as attractive. Nvidia shares are up sharply (+3.48% to ~$209.75), helped by the SK Hynix fuel. Netflix is down 2.67% amid reports of potential acquisition talks for Letterboxd and broader streaming concerns. The Graham-Blumenthal sanctions bill against Russia has been approved by the White House, which could impact energy markets and Russian oil flows. A wildfire in southern Spain has left at least 12 dead, but no market impact is expected. Overall, the window is dominated by the SK Hynix IPO success (semis bullish), US-Iran de-escalation (oil bearish), and institutional accumulation in tech (QQQ dark pool).