🚀 Markets tank as Israel targets Iran

Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. Markets plunged Friday after Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, spiking oil prices and triggering a global flight to safety, as President Trump warned Tehran to make a nuclear deal before it’s “too late.” The Dow dropped over 500 points, oil surged 8%, and gold rose on investor fears of escalating conflict. Though the mood remained measured due to Iran’s limited military capacity and recent OPEC+ production increases, the sudden geopolitical shock erased weekly gains and rattled a market already on edge.

2. Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” expands tax credits for some families but could harm millions of low-income children by tightening eligibility for aid like SNAP, Medicaid, and the Child Tax Credit. While the bill includes $1,000 “Trump Accounts” for babies and a $2,500 child tax credit, stricter work requirements and loss of refundability mean 20 million low-income children would be excluded from the full benefit. Cuts to food and health aid could leave 2 million children without SNAP and millions more without health coverage, prompting warnings that the bill could reverse progress made in reducing child poverty.

3. Meta is investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI and hiring its founder Alexandr Wang to lead its superintelligence efforts, marking one of its boldest AI moves yet. Wang will step down as Scale’s CEO, handing the reins to strategy chief Jason Droege, while retaining a board seat. Though Meta gains a 49% stake in Scale, it will have no voting power or access to customer data. The deal strengthens Meta’s AI ambitions amid rising competition from OpenAI and Google, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg betting on outside talent to reboot Meta’s lagging Llama AI performance.

4. India is ramping up efforts to mine and refine its vast rare earth reserves in a bid to reduce global reliance on China, which dominates the critical minerals market. With the third-largest rare earth reserves globally and 35% of beach sand minerals, India is seen as a promising alternative supplier—especially as Chinese export curbs hit automakers worldwide. But experts say India must overcome major gaps in refining tech, infrastructure, and private investment to compete. A new national critical minerals strategy and possible public-private partnerships aim to boost domestic capacity and attract foreign collaboration.

5. Headlines

   1. Flights are being diverted as Iran has closed it’s airspace following an attack by Israel.

   2. Chipotle has reported that implementing AI into its hiring process has reduced time to make new hires by 75%.

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Liam Gill