WS #12027

The US-Iran conflict is escalating sharply, with multiple sources corroborating a third night of US strikes on Iranian military targets and Trump reinstating a naval blockade of Iran with a 20% fee on Strait of Hormuz cargo. Oil has advanced above $85 on these tensions, per Bloomberg. Iran retaliated by attacking Bahrain and two UAE tankers in the Strait, killing one sailor. This is a significant escalation from the previous window, where the blockade was announced but not yet enforced. The conflict is now active with casualties, directly threatening oil supply routes. Separately, Ukrainian drone strikes hit the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery in Bashkortostan, adding to supply-side pressure on Russian oil. On the tech side, SK Hynix erased a 9% intraday plunge to finish higher, suggesting aggressive buying in AI memory despite a global tech rout. Nvidia is reported to have halved its Asian AI chip buyer list amid tighter China screening, a bearish signal for NVDA's China exposure. Comcast is reportedly splitting NBCUniversal, a major media restructuring. The Venezuela earthquake killing 1,450 is a humanitarian tragedy but has limited direct US market impact. Overall, the dominant theme is the escalating US-Iran conflict, which is bullish for oil and defense stocks but bearish for consumer, transport, and risk assets.