Iran ceasefire deadline Wednesday sent Brent crude surging toward $100 (S&P 500 -0.63%). Apple dropped a bombshell — Tim Cook stepping down, John Ternus in as CEO September 1 (AAPL -2.52%). Amazon’s $25B Anthropic deal is the largest AI infrastructure bet yet (AMZN +2.2%). Retail sales surged 1.7% but record gas station receipts flattered the number, crushing rate-cut hopes. UNH beat big (+6.96%); GE Aerospace sold off despite a 25% EPS beat (GE -5.56%).
MIB: Iran Deadline, Apple CEO Transition, and Record Retail Sales Crush Rate-Cut Hopes
MIB: Iran Diplomacy Lifts Stocks, ARM Disrupts Nvidia’s Supply Chain, and the Recession Clock Keeps Ticking
Iran peace talks lift markets (S&P +0.54%) — Trump sends 15-point proposal; Tehran rejects, demands Hormuz control. ARM +12% on plan to sell own chips with Meta as anchor customer. SpaceX files for IPO this week — $1.75T valuation, biggest in history. Google TurboQuant 6x memory compression sends MU -3.4%. AMD and Intel +7% on CPU price hike reports. Gold +2.3% to $4,535 as stagflation hedge persists.
MIB: Precious metals rout, Qatar struck again — Hormuz Week 3 Rewrites Every Portfolio Playbook
Gold crashes -5% through $5,000 as real yields spike — silver -6%, platinum -4%. Iran strikes Qatar’s LNG; Dutch TTF gas surges +13%. Chip equipment stocks surge (LRCX +4.13%, AMD +2.91%) on Micron AI beat, but MU -3.78% sell-the-news. Jobless claims 205K beat, defying stagflation fears. S&P -0.28% but Russell 2000 +0.64% as Israel pledges Hormuz reopening. FedEx beats AMC, raises guidance.
