WS #7787

The dominant narrative in this window is a mix of escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and strong corporate earnings, with the market laser-focused on Nvidia earnings after the close. Iran's Parliament Speaker made multiple hawkish statements, claiming the US and Iran are in a 'war of wills' and that military forces used the ceasefire to rebuild strength, while also warning of a new round of war. This escalates the Iran situation despite the ceasefire. On the positive side, Lowe's (LOW) beat Q1 estimates with EPS $3.03 (+2% YoY) and reaffirmed FY26 guidance, while Target (TGT) delivered its biggest sales gain in four years. TJX Companies also reported earnings. Intuit (INTU) shares fell 2.4% premarket on news of 17% workforce layoffs, signaling cost-cutting amid slowing growth. ZIM (ZIM) missed Q1 badly with EPS -$0.71 (miss 87%) and revenue -30% YoY, highlighting shipping weakness. China banned Nvidia's RTX 5090D V2 chip while CEO Jensen Huang was visiting, escalating tech tensions. GitHub confirmed a hack stealing data from thousands of internal repositories. The Iran situation is ESCALATING in terms of rhetoric, but tankers exiting Hormuz with 6 million barrels of crude oil provides a partial supply relief signal.