Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Oil is pushing higher this session after Iran's chief negotiator accused the Trump administration of theater diplomacy, with traffic through the Strait of Hormuz now approaching a near standstill. Iran's restrictive draft plan for the waterway has traders pricing in genuine supply disruption risk, and Brent and WTI are both responding to the tightening chokepoint with meaningful gains. Energy names are catching a bid on the back of it.
Turning to tech, Meta is facing a significant legal and financial blow after a New Mexico judge ordered the company to pay nine hundred forty-two million dollars over harm caused to children on its platforms. That breaks down to five hundred sixty-seven million from the judge and three hundred seventy-five million from a prior jury verdict. The ruling adds to a growing pile of regulatory and litigation pressure on the social media giant heading into the back half of the year.
On a brighter note for fintech, Remitly Global surged roughly eight percent after the digital remittance platform posted a clean beat on revenue and delivered strong EBITDA growth. The company is benefiting from durable demand in cross-border money transfer, and investors rewarded the discipline in the numbers.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
