Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk. Here is what is moving markets right now.
The dominant macro story this session is the escalating confrontation between Washington and Tehran. The United States launched fresh strikes on Iran overnight, and President Trump has moved to reinstate a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, even suggesting other nations pay for safe passage through the waterway. Iran has pushed back sharply, calling the toll excessive and asserting its own claim over the strait. The dollar index is catching a modest safe-haven bid on the news, up about fifteen basis points, while equity weakness is adding to demand for greenback liquidity. With Hormuz handling roughly a fifth of global oil flows, traders are watching crude closely for any further escalation premium.
Turning to California, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a new electric vehicle incentive bill offering first-time buyers thirty-five hundred dollars in rebates, but with a fifty-thousand-dollar price cap that would exclude most luxury EVs. The notable carve-out is for California-headquartered manufacturers, which means Rivian and Lucid could qualify regardless of sticker price, giving both companies a meaningful competitive advantage in their home market.
And on the AI infrastructure debate, Meta's announcement of a fifty-billion-dollar data center has reignited the overbuild conversation. Wall Street cheered the commitment, but analysts are quietly asking whether the industry is front-running demand that has not fully materialized yet.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
