Good morning. Hallam Bullock here, filling in for Dan for the summer while he finishes his parental leave.
In today’s big story, US warplanes bombed three of Iran’s nuclear sites. Now, all eyes are on the Strait of Hormuz, a 90-mile strip critical to global oil prices.
What’s on deck
Markets: How young people are turning to day trading as an escape route from the usual 9-to-5.
Tech: Tesla officially launched robotaxis in Austin to a small group of users.
Business: Husbands are quitting their jobs to work with their Etsy-famous wives.
But first, global investors are on alert.
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The big story
All eyes on Hormuz
Iran has a white-knuckle grip on global oil.
After US President Donald Trump announced the US had “totally obliterated” three of Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend, oil prices initially surged to a five-month high on fears of widespread disruption to trade. Prices cooled just hours later.
Where oil prices go from here depends on Iran’s response. Iran’s parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz — a critical global transit chokepoint for about a quarter of global seaborne oil and one-fifth of the world’s liquified natural gas trade.
If the Strait of Hormuz were closed, the impact would be felt across the globe, especially at the gas station. You could also expect higher inflation, slower growth, and higher interest rates, Kyle Rodda, a senior financial markets analyst, told BI.
Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, said closing the Strait of Hormuz could push oil prices to $110 per barrel.
It would also do significant economic harm to Iran itself, which uses the passage for its energy exports. China, the world’s largest buyer of Iranian oil, would suffer too.
This isn’t the first time Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. So far, it’s never delivered on that threat.
We’ve been working around the clock to bring you full coverage of this critical moment.
We’ve got details from a rare Pentagon press briefing, during which officials revealed the deception tactics behind the mission. We took a closer look at the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers used to drop 14 GBU-57s — 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs capable of penetrating 200 feet into the earth before exploding. It marks the first time these formidable weapons have been used in combat. New satellite imagery revealed the extent of the damage at Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility.
We’ve also gathered business leaders’ reactions to the strike, from Bill Ackman to Dustin Moskovitz.
3 things in markets
1. Broke: the usual 9-to-5. Bespoke: stock trading all day. For some Gen Zers and millennials, trading stocks full- time offers an escape from the monotonous grind of a typical job. Three day traders told BI the ups and downs of the trade and how much money they’ve made from it.
2. Why a top market strategist maintains a bearish outlook. While many on Wall Street have eased their economic outlooks, Peter Berezin of BCA Research said his base case is a 60% chance of a recession this year and a 25% stock drop. A weakening consumer, a growing deficit, and trade uncertainty are some of Berezin’s concerns.
3. Citadel’s not-so-average internship. A five-star hotel. Beach yoga. Company-themed lattes. Citadel’s exclusive summer internship, which has a 0.4% acceptance rate, kicked things off with a unique off-site trip in Florida. BI’s Emmalyse Brownstein got a first-hand view of it all.
3 things in tech
1. First Tesla robotaxis launched, with Tesla employees in the passenger seat. Musk said he tentatively planned to launch the service on June 22 earlier this month, after more than a decade of hype. Tesla invited a small group of users in Austin to try the self-driving cars for a flat fee of $4.20 on Sunday. The catch? A Tesla employee sitting in the passenger seat.
2. This AI can catch shoplifting before it happens. Paris-based AI startup Veesion uses its gesture recognition algorithm to flag suspicious movements — rather than individual tracking — to a retailer. Veesion aims to predict retail theft and said its tech has been able to cut one store’s missing inventory rates from the health and beauty section in half.
3. Where are the workers? Cities across the US are betting big on AI data centers, luring tech companies with millions in tax breaks and promising their communities more jobs. The problem is, these AI data centers aren’t producing many permanent full-time positions, a BI investigation found.
3 things in business
1. Goodbye, Instagram boyfriend. Enter the Etsy husband. Women are finding enough success on their Etsy shop to quit their jobs and pursue their side hustle full-time. They’re hiring their husbands to help, too. It’s a new take on the family-run business, dominated by women.
2. Five things people don’t get about consulting. Former consultant AJ Eckstein worked for a Fortune 500 management consultant firm for three years, before leaving to start his own business when he became disillusioned with the industry. He told BI what people don’t understand about working in consulting and shared his own experience, from a lack of autonomy, to his career growth stagnating.
3. Show some personality in your next job interview. Hiring managers from McKinsey, Verizon, Exelon, and Kraft Heinz shared with BI their tips on how to stand out among thousands of job applicants. Candidates who show traits like leadership, humor, and genuine interest may improve their chances.
In other news
What’s happening today
- President Donald Trump meets the National Security team.
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference ahead of this week’s NATO Summit.
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WHO publishes Global Tobacco Epidemic report.
Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York (on parental leave). Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Meghan Morris, bureau chief, in Singapore. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London.
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