Hello.
Iran attacked three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the second strike since the US-Iran ceasefire deal weeks ago.
And Trump is saying the ceasefire is over, and that the U.S. will “hit them hard tonight.”
Stocks are selling off. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, Nasdaq tumbled 0.3% (semiconductors leading), and the Dow dropped 1%. Energy held up on supply concerns; discretionary got crushed on higher fuel costs. Watch the next 72 hours. Ceasefire = elevated but contained oil. Escalation = deal breaks, crude runs, and everything else corrects.
Today:
📰 Market Headlines: Iran escalation ripples through stocks, SpaceX drops below IPO price, Vertex buys Crinetics $10 billion, Fed minutes Wednesday
🤖 AI/Future/Tech: Claude goes mobile, Figma acquires vibe-coding startup, Netflix adds short-form, X rolls video editor
🚀 Market Movers: Vertex-Crinetics $10 billion, Primary Wave-Kobalt $1.5 billion, Caterpillar-Skycatch, id Software cuts 50%, Big 12-Monster Energy $20 million
More below.
This is not financial advice. Always do your own research. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.
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⚡ Strait of Hormuz Attacks Unravel US-Iran Deal, Oil Jumps 5%
Iran attacked three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, including a Qatari LNG carrier and Saudi oil tanker, sending Brent crude soaring 5% to $75.50 per barrel and WTI climbing 5% to $72. The violence marks the second assault since the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding weeks ago to end their conflict. In direct response, the US Treasury revoked the license that allowed Iran to export previously sanctioned crude oil globally, effectively dismantling a key concession from the now-tenuous agreement.
The attacks expose the fundamental power struggle we’re experiencing: Iran claims it must control transit through the strait while the US demands freedom of navigation. Ship-tracking data shows vessels are already rerouting around the southern Omani coast to avoid Iranian drones, once again injecting uncertainty into one of the world's most critical energy chokepoints. "Iran probably can't enforce a tolling system in the strait, its effective leverage doesn't extend that far," says Gregory Brew, Iran analyst at Eurasia Group. "But these sporadic attacks inject enough uncertainty to preserve some of its wartime position." Qatar, which has served as mediator, denounced the attack as a direct threat to global energy security and international law.
More than the risk of a single oil spike, the concern is a total collapse of peace negotiations. While US officials told Reuters negotiations continue, the White House has made clear that any sanctions relief (like Iran's crude-selling license) is conditional on Tehran's compliance. If these attacks escalate into a cycle of retaliation, the agreement could shatter entirely, removing 2.5 million barrels per day of Iranian crude from the market. That's roughly 2.5% of global supply. Oil could easily test $85+ per barrel if geopolitical tensions escalate further, which would ripple through inflation expectations, airline costs, and consumer spending.
Our take: Watch the next 72 hours. If this turns into tit-for-tat strikes, the deal breaks and oil runs. Energy stocks (XLE, CVE, COP) could rally on supply concerns, but consumer discretionary (XRT, AMZN) likely gets hit. If a ceasefire holds, we're back to a messy status quo with generally lower oil prices.
📰 Market Headlines
US stocks slipped Tuesday as semiconductors dragged the Nasdaq lower and traders digested fresh escalation in Iran.
The Dow dropped more than 100 points after briefly touching a record intraday high. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 1.2% with chip names leading the decline.
American forces carried out a "series of powerful strikes" against Iran late Tuesday in response to attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The Treasury also revoked a license that had allowed Iran to export oil globally, stoking fears of supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude jumped more than 2% to top $72 a barrel, while Brent surged over 3% to $74.
SpaceX cratered nearly 7% and closed below $150 for the first time since its IPO, even as a flood of bullish Wall Street initiations hit the tape. JPMorgan set a $225 target, Morgan Stanley went Street-high at $300, and Raymond James slapped an $800 price tag on shares. The problem? Nasdaq inclusion allowed early investors to offload shares to index funds, and the selling pressure outweighed the analyst cheerleading.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced a $10 billion deal to acquire Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, its largest acquisition bet ever. Vertex is paying $85 per share in cash, a 102% premium, for Crinetics and its recently launched acromegaly drug Palsonify. The company claims the deal could generate more than $5 billion in peak annual sales, but investors weren't convinced by the rich price tag. Vertex shares ticked lower in post-market trading.
Perplexity confirmed it plans to use Nvidia's new Vera CPUs, adding another name to the growing list of AI companies adopting the chip giant's central processing units. Nvidia expects to generate $20 billion in Vera sales by fiscal year-end. Perplexity's VP of Infrastructure said the chips ran AI agent coding tasks about 1.5 times faster than traditional CPUs. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Oracle have also signed on.
The Fed's June meeting minutes drop Wednesday afternoon, and investors will parse the document for clues about policymakers' thinking after Chairman Kevin Warsh's first meeting kept rates steady. Markets are trying to gauge whether the Iran situation changes the inflation calculus or keeps the Fed on hold longer than expected.
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🤖 AI/Future/Tech News
Claude Cowork now runs overnight from phones without a desktop session. Max tier ($100/month) gets beta access first.
Meta debuted a new AI image-generation model inside its chatbot and Instagram, according to Bloomberg.
Figma acquired a YC-backed vibe-coding startup pivoted to AI agents, its boldest dev tooling bet since Adobe's $20B deal collapsed.
Netflix added short-form publisher content (2-20 min clips) from Variety, BuzzFeed, Condé Nast starting August 3, targeting TikTok and YouTube viewers.
X rolled out a built-in video editor to combat stolen content after admitting top accounts regularly repost old viral videos.
Hacktivists defaced two US Army AI websites with pro-Kurdish messages, continuing a string of recent federal breaches.
🚨 Trending on Reddit
NVIDIA (NVDA) chatter focused on portfolio positioning and valuation debates. Some users discussed closing positions due to relatively weaker returns compared to other holdings, while others argued the stock remains undervalued given the company's dominance in AI chips. A $900 million credit line secured by NVIDIA-backed Nscale for AI data center expansion also drove mentions.
GameStop (GME) discussion centered on the 2026 Annual Meeting and CEO Ryan Cohen's comments about shifting from brick-and-mortar to a collectibles-focused business. Users highlighted the resulting revenue growth and operational income, plus the rejected eBay acquisition that GameStop continues to pursue. Shareholders approved all five director nominees and ratified KPMG LLP as auditor.
SpaceX (SPCX) mentions rose following its Nasdaq-100 inclusion. Sentiment was mixed. Some users noted the initial sell-the-news reaction and questioned whether the index addition was as significant as anticipated, while others pointed to new analyst coverage and revenue projections as reasons for optimism.
Rivian (RIVN) conversation turned cautious after the company announced a 75 million share public offering. Users expressed concerns about the company's financial position and production capabilities versus Tesla. Others remained bullish, citing Amazon's backing and confidence in Rivian's vehicle quality despite premium pricing.
🤫 Insider Trading
🚚 Market Movers
Vertex Pharmaceuticals acquired Crinetics for $10 billion, adding two endocrine drugs with $5 billion peak sales potential.
Primary Wave closed Kobalt for $1.5 billion, acquiring publishing administration, royalty collection (AMRA), and catalogs from Prince, Whitney Houston, and Bob Marley.
Caterpillar bought Skycatch to integrate real-time spatial data and AI into mining software, strengthening autonomous fleet operations.
Job Cuts:
id Software cut roughly 50% of staff (over 90 employees) as part of Xbox's ZeniMax restructuring.
Nature's Bakery is shutting down its Hazelwood, Missouri plant starting September 2026, shifting production elsewhere.
The Big 12 signed a $20 million Monster Energy deal adding logo patches to jerseys and fields. Member schools get $1 million annually.
🎙 Make Your Voice Heard
How does the Iran-Hormuz situation resolve in the next 72 hours?
- 🛢️ Ceasefire holds. Oil stays $70–80/barrel range; markets stabilize by week's end.
- 🚀 Tit-for-tat escalation kicks off. Deal collapses, oil tests $85+, broader market correction hits.
- ⚖️ Diplomatic pause. Talks resume, uncertainty lingers; oil bounces between $75–82 for weeks.
- 📊 Complete meltdown. Regional conflict spreads beyond Hormuz; oil $90+ and equities crater 5%+.
🎤️ What you said last time

🧠 The Missing (Market) Links
Home sales jumped 5.9% YoY in June as mortgage payments fell 2.5% from last year, reversing May's decline.
Jet fuel hit $2.90/gallon (down 40% from April), yet airfares climbed 26.7% YoY as airlines chase billion-dollar Q1 losses.
Baltimore ranked second-most stressed city with top work stress and fourth-highest share of underwater mortgages.
Signed estate jewelry hits $10.4 billion by 2030 at 12.7% CAGR as wealthy buyers chase authenticated vintage pieces.
US health spending hit $5.3 trillion in 2024, projected to consume 20% of GDP by 2033, $15,474 per person annually.
Interior design's anti-algorithm era is here as clients reject screenshot-perfect rooms for stranger, more personal pieces.
US domestic travel spending hit $909 billion (up 0.9% YoY) as budget-conscious travelers swap Europe for road trips.
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