Bracing for shock

Oil markets brace for shock after US attack on Iran, US calls on China to prevent Iran from closing Strait of Hormuz, Dow/S&P/Nasdaq futures slide, Wolfspeed files for bankruptcy, and Tesla rolls out robotaxis in Texas test...

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Market Briefing
June 23, 2025

Good morning.

The Fast Five → Oil markets brace for shock after US attack on Iran, US calls on China to prevent Iran from closing Strait of Hormuz, Dow/S&P/Nasdaq futures slide, Wolfspeed files for bankruptcy, and Tesla rolls out robotaxis in Texas test…

The Pentagon Has an Antidote to Oil Wars
While the stock market trembles at the thought of soaring gas prices... Guess what? 

The Pentagon is focusing on a quiet discovery deep under the Utah desert. A discovery that could protect us all from "wartime" energy prices — get the details here *

Calendar: (all times ET) - Full Calendar

  • Today:
    Existing home sales, 10:00A

  • Tomorrow:
    Consumer confidence, 10:00A
    Powell testifies to House Financial Services Committee, 10:00A

Your 5-minute briefing for Monday, June 23:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 6/20/2025.

Pre-Market:

US Investor % Bullish Sentiment:
↑ 36.67% for Week of JUN 12 2025

Previous week: 32.66%.

Market Wrap:

• Dow futures -109 pts (-0.3%); S&P -0.3%; Nasdaq 100 -0.4%
• US enters Israel-Iran war, strikes 3 Iranian nuclear sites
• Oil futures +3.8% to ~$77; risk of $100+ if Strait of Hormuz is blocked
• Trump: “There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran”
• Rubio urges China to pressure Iran to keep key trade route open
• Conflict shifts oil price baseline to $80s range, analysts say
• S&P lost 0.15% last week, now ~3% from record high

EARNINGS

Light earnings week. Here’s what we’re watching:

When billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg all quietly bet on the same thing...you should pay attention.

HEADLINES

Oil prices are expected to jump in reaction to the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but the long-term impact may be muted, experts said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called for China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important trade routes for crude oil in the world.

  • Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures slide, oil rises after US strikes on Iran (more)

  • Options Traders Wrestle With Stocks’ Muted Reaction to War Risk (more)

  • Dollar firms as markets brace for Iran response to US attacks (more)

  • Gold edges higher in Asia after US joins Israeli attacks on Iran (more)

  • Gulf markets end higher, shielded from turmoil after the US strike on Iran (more)

  • Tesla rolls out robotaxis in Texas test (more)

  • US strikes in Iran spark airline cancellations and travel turmoil (more)

  • Meta approached Perplexity before massive Scale AI deal (more)

  • Social Security cost-of-living adjustment may be 2.5% in 2026 (more)

  • US semiconductor maker Wolfspeed to file for bankruptcy (more)

  • Kroger to close around 60 stores nationwide over next 18 months (more)

DEALFLOW

M+A | Investments

  • Haveli Investments to buy Couchbase for ~$1.5B

  • Commerce Bancshares to acquire FineMark for $585M

  • Redwire acquires Edge Autonomy

  • HG Insights acquires TrustRadius

  • Tron to go public via reverse-merger with SRM

  • NovaSpark Energy, a provider of mobile hydrogen generation systems, received an investment from Boot64 Ventures

VC

  • Juniper Square, a provider of connected fund software and services, closed its Series D round at a $1.1B valuation, raising $130M

  • Slide, a BCDR platform for MSPs, raised $25M in Series A funding

  • Sedai, a self-driving cloud company, raised $20M in Series B funding

  • Paradigm Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, received an additional investment of $12.6M from Eshelman Ventures

  • Alta, a personalized styling companion service, raised $11M in Seed funding led

  • Warp, a tech-powered middle-mile logistics company, raised $10M in Series A funding led by Up.Partners and Blue Bear Capital

  • SportsVisio, a sport analytics platform for athlete, coach, and fan, raised $3.2M in additional funding

CRYPTO

  • Ether leads crypto selloff as US attacks Nuclear Sites in Iran (more)

  • Coinbase shares rise as investors anticipate US stablecoin rules (more)

  • Strategy’s Michael Saylor raises Bitcoin forecast to $21M by 2046 (more)

BULLISH BITES

🚨 This could be the antidote to "wartime" energy prices. * 

✅ Circle gets buy rating after Senate passes stablecoin bill.

🤔 AQR’s Cliff Asness sides with Jim Chanos in critique of Michael Saylor’s strategy.

🤖 How Christian Klein’s AI bet turned SAP into Europe’s most valuable company.

✍️ Weird-shaped notebooks make me want to write again.

DAILY SHARES

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