WS #7097

The UK political crisis is the dominant signal in this window, with multiple sources confirming that PM Starmer has told his cabinet he will not resign, despite six cabinet ministers reportedly urging him to quit. This has triggered a sharp selloff in UK gilts: the 30-year yield hit its highest since 1998 at 5.794%, and the 10-year yield rose to 5.119% (highest since July 2008). The pound fell 0.5% against the dollar. The narrative is ESCALATING but with a counter-signal: Starmer's refusal to step down may temporarily stabilize the situation, though the market reaction suggests deep concern over fiscal credibility. Separately, the US-Iran ceasefire remains fragile, with European markets retreating on doubts about the peace deal. Germany's inflation jumped to 2.9% in April, and ECB's Nagel warned the central bank must act if the Iran war threatens price stability. In corporate news, MARA Holdings sold $1.5B of bitcoin to pivot toward AI infrastructure, signaling a strategic shift that could pressure other miners. Anthropic warned against unauthorized stock exposure via tokenized products, creating valuation risk for private AI companies. Broadcom shares slumped on reports that OpenAI's $18B custom chip deal hit a financing snag, directly impacting AVGO. The Hantavirus situation is being monitored by WHO, with Tedros expecting more cases, but this remains low-significance for broad markets.