Trump vows to hit Iran ‘very hard’

Good morning. Here’s what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

1.

Crude diplomacy: US President Donald Trump said the US would be attacking Iran “very hard” after warning Tehran had “taken too long to negotiate a deal” and would “have to pay the price". “We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump told reporters at the White House. The threats followed US strikes on nearly 20 Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz, carried out after Trump blamed Tehran for the downing of a US Apache helicopter. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they retaliated with missile and drone attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Most missiles and drones were intercepted. Meanwhile, the US military said one of its aircraft fired precision munitions into the engine room of a chemical and fuel tanker in the Gulf of Oman after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions, the eighth vessel struck under its blockade of Iranian ports, Reuters reported. Three Indian seafarers were missing after the attack and India summoned a top US diplomat in protest. Iran said US strikes destroyed two water reservoirs in its southern Hormozgan province, cutting off drinking water to 20,000 people, which foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called “a calculated war crime”, the NYT reported. State broadcaster IRIB later reported water was restored within 12 hours. Trump also revealed a “secret mission” he said had moved more than 100 million barrels of oil through the strait. (Capital Brief)(AP)(NYT) (FT)(Reuters)

2.

Chips down: Another selloff in AI stocks dragged Wall Street sharply lower overnight, with the S&P 500 falling 1.62% to a five-week low, the Dow dropping 1.87%, and the Nasdaq losing 1.98%. The closely watched semiconductor index fell 3.57%, while Super Micro Computer tumbled 27.98% after announcing plans to raise USD7 billion through equity offerings to fund AI server production. Cancer drugmaker Parabilis Medicines surged 58% in its US trading debut after an upsized IPO, while Canadian generic drug maker Apotex Health also jumped in Toronto’s largest IPO in five years. Meanwhile, renewed US-Iran tensions added to investor uncertainty after Trump said the US would attack Iran again “very hard”. Brent crude settled 1.8% higher at USD93.10 a barrel, paring gains after Trump said the US military had secretly escorted ships carrying more than 100 million barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz. The FT reported about 15 ships a day are escaping the strait via a risky route hugging Oman’s coastline under US air cover, most of them oil tankers, citing people with knowledge of the transits. Separately, Trump baffled Wall Street by congratulating Citigroup and CEO Jane Fraser for topping first-quarter M&A advisory rankings by value, which the bank does not actually hold, with most league tables placing Citi behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan. (WSJ)(Bloomberg)(AP)(Reuters)