WS #9730

The dominant narrative remains the US-Iran conflict, with multiple signals indicating escalation. Iran has directly rejected Trump's claim of a deal being signed on Sunday, calling it a 'propaganda event' tied to his birthday. Additionally, Iran has begun fortifying its underground nuclear facilities by dispersing uranium stockpiles and installing booby-traps, according to US intelligence. A separate report claims Iran just launched missiles at Israel, suggesting the ceasefire is collapsing. These developments are corroborated by multiple sources (Bluesky, GDELT, BBC) and point to heightened geopolitical risk. The Fed and BOE remain guarded after 100 days of the Iran war, as per Bloomberg, indicating central banks are monitoring the situation. In corporate news, Amazon is implicated in the Anthropic 'Fable' incident, with Axios reporting on how Amazon and the White House ended Anthropic's Fable. The US government is unlikely to extend export controls to other AI companies, which is a positive for the AI sector. Palo Alto Networks saw insider cluster selling of $2.5M over 7 days, a bearish signal for PANW. The Anthropic-Amazon story is corroborated by multiple Bluesky posts and Axios, suggesting high significance. The Iran nuclear facility fortification is a new escalation that counters the prevailing thesis of a near-term deal.