WS #7037

The dominant narrative remains the Iran conflict and its impact on energy markets, which is ESCALATING. OPEC oil production fell to a 20-year low of 20.04 million bpd in April, losing 830,000 bpd due to the Strait of Hormuz crisis. Global markets lose 100 million barrels each week the strait is closed. Trump is considering reimplementing 'Project Freedom' to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and backs a federal gas tax suspension to offset rising fuel costs. He also warned of unprecedented action against Iran if no diplomatic deal is reached. Meanwhile, the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire is deteriorating with increased hostilities. On the tech side, Micron's stock is surging toward fresh highs on AI-driven memory demand, and Nvidia's $2.1 billion IREN deal is drawing comparisons to CoreWeave. Musk and Cook are set to join Trump for the Xi summit, and a bipartisan group of senators urges a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan. A hantavirus case has been reported from a cruise ship, but prediction markets put pandemic risk at just 9%.