Good evening, you're listening to Markets Desk.
Iran's political landscape shifted dramatically this weekend as hundreds of thousands filled the streets for Ayatollah Khamenei's funeral, chanting death to America and death to Israel. Senior officials emerged publicly, signaling institutional confidence even as the new supreme leader has yet to appear, and nuclear negotiations with Washington remain deeply unresolved.
Turning to payments and fintech, Circle's stablecoin dominance is facing a serious structural challenge. A one hundred forty member consortium has launched Open USD, a shared-yield architecture that directly undercuts Circle's reserve-based model. Visa stands among the beneficiaries, and legacy payment networks could reclaim ground they've steadily ceded to crypto infrastructure over the past several years.
And in industrials, Regal Rexnord has been one of twenty twenty five's quieter breakout stories. Shares are up roughly fifty one percent on the year, fueled by surging orders from AI data centers and a thirty four percent surge in its automation segment. Rising short interest and margin pressure are the counterweights investors are watching closely heading into the back half of the year.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
