The Strait of Hormuz is f***ing heating up again. On the 30th, the U.S. struck two rocket launchers on Iran's Larak Island, marking the first known direct attack on Iran by the U.S. military since late July. The U.S. claimed the reason was that the Revolutionary Guard was preparing to launch rockets carrying naval mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Iran later stated that the attack caused both military and civilian casualties, vowing retaliation and punishment. They then fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. Jordan reported that multiple missiles were intercepted, with no significant damage observed. The market reaction, however, was pretty straightforward: oil prices up, risk assets broadly down. WTI surged about 1.7% at one point, and Brent crude approached $90 again. U.S. stock futures weakened—Dow futures dropped about 110 points, S&P futures fell 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.5%. Bitcoin:native spiked to $77,000 before starting to pull back. Powell just said inflation won’t come down without more rate hikes, and now oil prices are climbing again. Trump, are you forcing Powell to hike rates in September? Guess the midterms don’t f***ing matter anymore, huh!