Yesterday, U.S. markets ended higher, bolstered by reports suggesting Iran might be open to discussions, as well as Donald Trump's commitment to stabilizing oil markets. The U.S. President's announcements regarding U.S. naval escorts for tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz, along with the implementation of a political risk insurance mechanism, helped reassure investors.

On the sixth day of the Middle East conflict, Iran has accused Israel and the United States of "deliberately" targeting civilian areas. "Our people are being brutally massacred as the aggressors deliberately target civilian areas and any location they believe will inflict maximum suffering and loss of life," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei stated in a post on X.

According to reports from CNBC, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced that the United States and Israel are on the verge of achieving absolute control over Iranian airspace.

Since the start of allied strikes last Saturday, the human toll among the Iranian civilian population has worsened significantly, with at least 1,114 deaths recorded, according to the U.S.-based organization HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency).

In this context, Donald Trump has officially nominated Kevin Warsh as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, according to a White House statement. If confirmed by the Senate, the former Fed governor will succeed Jerome Powell for a four-year term.

The nomination was sent to the Senate more than a month after the President publicly announced his choice. However, the confirmation process could face obstacles. Republican Senator Thom Tillis indicated he would block the nomination's consideration until a federal criminal investigation into Jerome Powell is dropped.

This investigation focuses notably on the $2.5 billion renovation project of the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, as well as Jerome Powell's testimony before the Senate regarding the project.

Broadcom Beats Expectations Driven by AI Boom

Regarding individual stocks, Broadcom is expected to rise following first-quarter fiscal results that exceeded expectations, supported by strong growth in its artificial intelligence-related businesses. The group reported adjusted earnings of $2.05 per share on revenue of $19.31 billion, above analyst estimates. Revenue grew 29% year-over-year for the period ending February 1st.

Kroger is expected to decline after announcing 2026 forecasts deemed cautious by the market. The U.S. food retailer anticipates identical sales growth, excluding fuel, of only between 1% and 2% for the current year.

Estée Lauder announced today the signing of an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of Forest Essentials, the Indian beauty brand. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026 and follows Estée Lauder Companies' minority stake in Forest Essentials, initially acquired in 2008 and increased to 49% in 2020.

CoreWeave announced a multi-year agreement with artificial intelligence company Perplexity to host its inference workloads on CoreWeave Cloud infrastructure. The financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

On the economic front, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 213,000 new weekly jobless claims for the week of February 23rd, a figure stable compared to the previous week's level (revised upward from 212,000 to 213,000). The number of new claimants is slightly lower than consensus expectations, which had forecast 215,000.