Strait Crisis Continues

Geopolitical disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is pressuring oil markets and weighing on equities. With tanker traffic severely constrained, WTI trades near $103/bbl and Brent near $107/bbl, lifting gasoline and jet-fuel price risks ahead of the U.S. summer driving season. The standoff with Iran has increased uncertainty and could tighten global oil reserves, a major near-term downside risk for markets. Despite Friday’s selloff, pre-market trading saw a partial rebound with the S&P 500 back above 7,400, the Dow above 49,600 and the Nasdaq near 29,400. Earnings season winds down this week with marquee reports from NVIDIA (NVDA.OQ), Home Depot, Target and Walmart, while Baidu missed Q1 EPS (-6.42% to $1.75) but rallied ~4.8% on strong AI revenue. Overall the piece frames a mixed market outlook: heightened geopolitical and commodity-driven risk offset by pockets of bargain hunting and company-specific catalysts.