Good afternoon, you're listening to Markets Desk.
In the Persian Gulf, a strategic stalemate is taking shape. American forces are blocking Iran from exporting crude while simultaneously struggling to fully control the Strait of Hormuz. The result is choppy oil prices, rival Gulf exporters positioning for a surge, and Tehran weighing increasingly aggressive options to break the chokehold.
Shifting to the defense and readiness picture, Admiral Brad Cooper, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, called the USS Lincoln's current deployment one of the most operationally intense and consequential missions of the modern era. His visit comes as Central Command grapples with documented munitions shortfalls and mounting mental health pressures on deployed personnel, a candid acknowledgment of strain at a critical moment.
On the earnings front, Archer Aviation guided to a third-quarter adjusted EBITDA loss of between one hundred seventy million and two hundred million dollars, following a loss of one hundred seventy-seven point one million in the second quarter. The electric air taxi company still holds roughly one point six billion in cash, giving it meaningful runway even as its burn rate draws scrutiny from investors watching the emerging air mobility sector.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
