US EQUITY OPEN: Indices open rangebound in lacklustre trade as Middle East headlines dominate the tape

OPEN: US indices opened the first trading session of the week mixed, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gains, and outperforms, while the Russell 2000 and S&P 500 see slight losses to varying degrees. Newsflow has been pretty quiet, but a couple of US/Iran headlines have been the highlight; Al-Arabiya sources said the 60-day period between Iran and the US has been extended, while a Senior Iranian official said Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to a 'fully offensive' one. Meanwhile, US President Trump stated there are ongoing back channels with the IRGC, but the IRGC denied this. Sectors are exclusively in the red, aside from Technology, with Consumer Staples, Materials and Real Estate lagging. The calendar ahead is quiet as only NAHB is scheduled at the top of the hour. Elsewhere, WTI and Brent are firmer by c. USD 0.40/bbl, and seen two-way trade on the aforementioned headlines, with precious metals also eking out gains. Treasuries are marginally lower. In FX, G10 peers noticing strength across the board vs. the Dollar as Antipodeans reside as the outperformers. Regarding earnings this week, retailers are the highlight as WMT, HD, TGT & LOW are all set to report, ahead of NVDA next week. STOCKS SPECIFICS: Alibaba (BABA) selling its Gaming unit for at least USD 1.5bln to fund its AI push. Diana Shipping (DSX) withdrew its offer to acquire Genco (GNK), citing demands from the Genco board it deemed unrealistic. Nvidia (NVDA) & OpenAI are nearing a deal to finance a large-scale data centre campus in Ohio. IRS investigating UnitedHealth (UNH) over alleged underpayment of taxes between 2017-20 via a foreign subsidiary Mobileye (MBLY) was upgraded at Berenberg to Buy from Hold. US Commerce Secretary Lutnick said the Trump administration opposes Apple (AAPL) using Chinese memory chips. Nvidia (NVDA) will be the exclusive AI compute infrastructure provider for SB Energy’s PORTS-Pike data centre campus in Ohio; WSJ reported that Nvidia’s financial guarantee reduced from USD 250bln to under USD 120bln to address investor concerns over risk exposure. Shopify (SHOP) was downgraded at Phillip Secs to 'Accumulate' from 'Buy'. US Navy awards RTX (RTX) $22.9bln contract to boost output of tomahawk missile.