WS #8807

The dominant signal in this window is a sharp escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with multiple sources reporting a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, causing significant casualties. This is corroborated by NBC, BBC, and multiple social media accounts, marking a clear escalation from the previous stable narrative. Separately, the US-Iran conflict remains unresolved, with reports that Iran has quit peace talks, contributing to oil price spikes and Bitcoin falling to seven-week lows. On the corporate side, Dollar General reported a Q1 EPS beat but a sales miss, while Intuit faces a securities fraud investigation after a 20% stock drop. A notable MAG7 signal is a report that Berkshire Hathaway may invest $10 billion in Alphabet (GOOGL), which could contradict the broader tech selloff narrative. The Russia-Ukraine escalation is the highest-significance development, with potential to move energy, defense, and broad market indices.