Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on the stories moving the needle.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, on his first state visit to India, made clear Tehran has no intention of yielding to American or Israeli pressure, declaring his government will not surrender. Indian Prime Minister Modi used the visit to renew calls for dialogue, underscoring New Delhi's delicate balancing act between Washington and Tehran at a time of elevated geopolitical tension.
Shifting to equities, history is pushing back on crash narratives circling the Trump administration. Nearly one hundred fifty six years of Dow Jones data show well-above-average annualized returns have been the norm during Trump's time in office, a reminder that political anxiety and market performance often move in opposite directions, and that headline risk rarely tells the whole story.
On the portfolio management side, billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller has been reshuffling his chip exposure in a notable way, exiting positions in Broadcom, Intel, and Micron in favor of a single semiconductor name he views as better positioned. Druckenmiller oversees more than five billion dollars at his family office, and his conviction trades tend to draw serious attention across the institutional community.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
