WS #9444

The US-Iran military conflict continues to escalate, with new reports of Iranian drone attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, and Jordan intercepting Iranian missiles. President Trump has approved military action against Iran, and Iran released video of missile launches. S&P 500 futures fell 0.5% and Nasdaq futures fell 0.8% in response. China's May PPI hit a near 4-year high of 3.9% (in line with estimates), while CPI stalled at 1.2% (slightly below 1.3% estimate), indicating persistent producer inflation but weak consumer demand. China is tapping commercial oil stockpiles to weather the Gulf shock. Asian stocks slid on hot inflation prints and geopolitical flare-up. Bitcoin and gold fell together as rate-hike bets hit hedges. Bitcoin ETF net assets have fallen to $77.58 billion, back to levels seen just after Trump's 2024 election win, despite favorable regulation. OpenAI is in talks to lease a 10-gigawatt Ohio data center with Nvidia backing, and Alphabet's $80B AI infrastructure bet is the largest equity raise ever. Applied Materials expanded Singapore manufacturing to support AI chip demand. The narrative arc for the US-Iran conflict is ESCALATING, with no de-escalation signals.