WS #6694

Asian markets surged on renewed hopes for a US-Iran peace deal reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with the Nikkei 225 gaining 5.7% to a record intraday high. Oil prices remain above $100. Multiple sources (EuropeSays, Bloomberg, FT) corroborate the peace narrative, but a counter-signal emerges: reports suggest Saudi Arabia—not Iran talks—is the real reason Project Freedom was paused, and Iran denied involvement in an attack on a South Korean vessel. In AI, Anthropic is reportedly buying 100% of compute capacity at xAI's Colossus 1 data center (300MW in Memphis), a massive infrastructure commitment that signals surging AI demand. Elon Musk called Nvidia's GB300 'the best AI computer' as SpaceX and Anthropic struck a deal. Separately, the Supreme Court let a contempt order against Apple stand in the Epic case, a negative for AAPL. Cathie Wood's ARK bought Tempus AI and sold AMD, continuing her rotation. The drone strike on Latvia's oil depot near the Russian border adds geopolitical risk in Europe. The dominant theme is the Iran peace narrative, which is STABLE but with emerging counter-signals. The AI infrastructure buildout continues at a rapid pace, bullish for NVDA, GOOGL, and related plays.