Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Geopolitical risk is back on the radar after Ukraine launched drone strikes on at least seven Wildberries warehouse facilities across Russia. The e-commerce giant, Russia's answer to Amazon, saw depots hit in multiple regions, a deliberate signal that economic infrastructure is now a target and that the war's costs are landing on ordinary Russian consumers and small businesses.
Shifting to the Middle East, a fragile pause in U.S.-Iran hostilities appeared to hold through Monday, though weekend negotiations hit fresh obstacles before any lasting framework could be established. Markets have been watching this corridor closely given its implications for oil supply, and the durability of this ceasefire window remains the central question traders are pricing around.
Closer to home, the picture in Seattle underscores just how dramatically the tech cycle has turned. More than one-third of downtown office space now sits vacant in a city that was adding roughly forty thousand jobs per year at its peak. Amazon and Microsoft built that boom, but hiring freezes and remote work have hollowed out the core, making Seattle one of the most difficult labor markets in the country right now.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
