WS #9257

The dominant narrative remains the Iran-Israel conflict escalation, with Iran launching ballistic missiles at Israel and oil prices surging over 4% to $94/barrel. This is corroborated by multiple sources (BBC, FT, Bloomberg, social media). The conflict is ESCALATING, with Israel closing Gaza crossings and Trump stating Netanyahu has 'no choice' but to accept a US-Iran deal. A new development is Trump's dismissal of 'no new wars' promise, which may fuel uncertainty. On the tech side, NVIDIA announced multiyear partnerships with SK hynix and NAVER for AI infrastructure, and SK Telecom plans a gigawatt-scale AI cloud using NVIDIA DSX. These are bullish for NVDA and AI-related names. However, strong US jobs data is fueling rate hike expectations, causing a tech selloff. Xi Jinping's planned visit to North Korea adds geopolitical complexity. The overall market sentiment is bearish due to rate hike fears and Middle East tensions, but NVIDIA's AI deals provide a counter-signal for tech.