US Retaliates Against Iran Strikes; Investors Spooked by Warsh Hold

Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

1) The US retaliated against Iranian strikes on American forces with a fresh wave of attacks, escalating a conflict that is spreading wider across the Middle East. The US hit dozens of targets in a two-hour operation aimed at degrading Tehran’s ability to threaten American forces, its Arab allies and commercial shipping in the region. Two liquefied-natural-gas vessels were hit by projectiles on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast and caught fire, with a security firm saying the vessels had been struck by drones.

2) Investors dumped 30-year Treasury bonds, sending the yield up as much as 14 basis points to nearly 5.23%, after the Fed kept interest rates unchanged for a seventh consecutive month. Market measures of inflation expectations rose, the dollar slid, and stocks tumbled as investors wagered Chairman Kevin Warsh was only delaying an inevitable rate hike.

3) Meta gave a disappointing quarterly revenue forecast, stepping up pressure on Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to allay investor concerns that the company isn’t swiftly benefiting from its massive outlay on artificial intelligence. The social media giant reported the lowest free cash flow in years, a sign of ballooning expenses for AI bets, including data centers and smart glasses, which could amount to $145 billion this year. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Azure cloud revenue rose 43% during the fiscal fourth quarter, the fastest quarterly growth since early 2022. CFO Amy Hood said she expected growth in the cloud unit to accelerate further in the current quarter, to about 45%, and that demand continues to exceed available supply.

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