WS #7157

The dominant narrative remains the escalating Iran/Strait of Hormuz crisis, with a significant new development: the UAE carried out a joint attack on Iran alongside Israel, confirmed by Bloomberg and widely discussed on social media. This marks the first time an Arab country has directly struck another Muslim nation alongside Israel, representing a major escalation that could further destabilize the region and push oil prices higher. US intelligence assessments confirm Iran retains 70% of its missile stockpile and has restored access to 30 of 33 missile sites, contradicting earlier claims of degradation. The ceasefire is on 'massive life support' per Trump, and US inflation jumped to 3.8% due to energy costs. Oil prices remain elevated with WTI at $102.18 (+4.19%) and Brent at $107.77 (+3.42%). Goldman Sachs sees dollar strength as the energy shock keeps rates high, and gold holds its decline as US inflation lowers rate cut odds. On the positive side, the S&P 500 slipped 0.16% from its record, but NVDA and AAPL hit record highs, suggesting tech momentum may be decoupling from macro headwinds. Cerebras Systems guiding its IPO above range and JPMorgan's Ethereum tokenized money market fund filing signal continued institutional interest in AI and crypto. The overall narrative is one of escalation in the Middle East conflict, with second-order effects on inflation, energy, and commodities, while tech stocks show resilience.