Merlintrader’s Daily Briefing

Monday, July 13, 2026 — evening wrap. A weekend of renewed U.S.–Iran fighting carried into the new week and set a risk-off tone. After Friday’s record close, the major indexes traded lower through Monday: the Nasdaq was off about 1.5% as semiconductors led the retreat, the S&P 500 down roughly 0.7% and the Dow near 0.3% lower, cushioned by energy. Crude jumped about 5%, WTI near $75 and Brent around $79, after President Trump said the U.S. had resumed its blockade of Iran and floated a 20% fee on cargo through the Strait of Hormuz. (Figures are intraday, as of mid-afternoon ET; U.S. markets close at 4 p.m. ET.) It all sets up a loaded Tuesday, with June CPI and the first big-bank earnings landing into a live oil shock.

Risk-off Monday: the session
  • Reversal— After Friday left the S&P 500 at about 7,575, the Nasdaq near 26,282 and the Dow around 52,637, the renewed U.S.–Iran escalation flipped the mood; by mid-afternoon ET the S&P was near 7,520 (-0.7%), the Nasdaq near 25,882 (-1.5%) and the Dow near 52,488 (-0.3%).Indices
  • Tech drag— Growth names led lower, with Nvidia off roughly 3.5% and Tesla near -3.7%, while Microsoft (about +1.7%) and Amazon (about +1.2%) bucked the trend.Tech
  • Rotation— Energy cushioned the Dow as investors rotated away from growth on the geopolitics, a classic defensive shift.Rotation
  • Crypto— Bitcoin slid about 3.3% toward $62,000 as risk appetite cooled across assets.Crypto
Oil shock and the Hormuz standoff
  • Oil— WTI jumped about 4.5% toward $75 a barrel and Brent traded near $78.85 (+3.7%), snapping a two-day slide as the Gulf risk premium widened.Oil
  • Blockade— President Trump said the U.S. had resumed its blockade of Iran and, on Truth Social, floated a 20% fee on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz to fund U.S. defense of the corridor.Geopolitics
  • Chokepoint— Iran declared the strait closed “until further notice” while Western naval forces said it stayed open; reported strait traffic fell to a multi-week low.Energy
Chip mayhem: SK Hynix and Samsung
  • SK Hynix— SK Hynix tumbled about 15% in Seoul on a cautious broker note flagging that it may miss quarterly profit estimates, reversing Friday’s blockbuster U.S. debut.Chips
  • Contagion— The note dragged memory and storage peers, with Micron, Seagate and SanDisk lower and semiconductors broadly under pressure.Chips
  • Samsung— Samsung Electronics also fell, even after reporting record profit with a roughly 19-fold year-on-year jump.Chips
Europe: energy leads, gilts wobble
  • Indices— Germany’s DAX slipped about 0.3% and France’s CAC 40 about 0.2%, while London’s FTSE 100 outperformed near +0.2% on its heavy oil-major weighting.Europe
  • Energy— Oil majors rallied on the crude bid, with Shell up about 1.8%, BP about 2.7% and TotalEnergies about 2.3%.Energy
  • Rates— UK gilts led a European bond selloff as the oil spike rekindled inflation worries.Rates
Corporate and deal flow
  • Media— Multiple U.S. states are preparing to challenge Paramount Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery; Paramount traded up about 3% and WBD about 1.2%.Media
  • Space— SpaceX-linked SPCX slipped about 5% and stayed volatile after this month’s fast-track Nasdaq-100 addition and IPO chatter.Space
  • IPO— Anthropic picked Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead its planned initial public offering.IPO
  • Airlines— Frontier Airlines stands to pick up routes and fares as Spirit winds down operations.Airlines
Merlintrader verticals
  • Biotech— A bright spot: Biogen rose about 3% on an upbeat analyst call. Confirm any PDUFA date or clinical readout on official FDA and company sources before treating it as set.Biotech
  • AI & semis— The SK Hynix shock is the read-through for the AI-hardware trade into ASML and TSMC results later this week.AI
  • Energy & uranium— Energy and uranium names track the crude premium and every Hormuz headline.Energy
  • Defense & space— Defense and space stay sensitive to how the blockade and strikes evolve from here.Defense
What is next: CPI and bank earnings
  • CPI— June CPI is due Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, the first inflation read to capture crude’s recent climb.Macro
  • Banks— Second-quarter earnings open Tuesday with JPMorgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.Earnings
  • Fed— New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh testifies to Congress this week after a hawkish start to his tenure.Rates
Bottom line
  • First read— A weekend-into-Monday escalation broke the calm; equities traded risk-off, with tech leading lower and oil firmly bid.Bottom Line
  • Second read— It is textbook risk-off: crude up, growth and crypto down, and energy the port in the storm.Bottom Line
  • Third read— Tuesday is pivotal, with June CPI and the first bank earnings landing into a live oil shock that can reset rate expectations.Bottom Line
Read the full Daily Briefing
Listed / exchange-traded biotech focus

Weekly Biotech Catalyst Tracker

Window covered: July 6 → October 6, 2026. Compact homepage grid for FDA decisions, regulatory submissions and major clinical readouts. Tap any ticker box for the detailed catalyst note.

23Active
16FDA / Reg
7Data / BLA
Jul 8Updated
No matching catalyst found. Try another ticker or reset filters.

Most attention-worthy watchlist

$CELC$OTLK$REPL$CAPR$NUVL$RARE$IONS$IMMX$SLN$QURE

Calendar cleanup

Removed from the active three-month board: $PRAX moved to December 27, 2026, $SVRA moved to November 22, 2026, and $CORT is no longer an open July PDUFA because relacorilant / Lifyorli was approved early. Orca-T / Tregzi was approved early, but Orca Bio is private, so it is sector context only.

Educational content only — not investment advice. Verify dates and filings before trading around binary events. Full catalyst calendar FDA SEC EDGAR

Biotech Catalyst Lookup

Type a ticker to get an AI-generated snapshot of the next catalyst (PDUFA, clinical data, regulatory events) with a link to the primary source.

Disclaimer. This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, in line with CONSOB (Italy) and SEC (USA) guidance. Data is generated by AI from web sources and may contain errors or be out of date — always verify against the linked primary source. Do your own research and consult a licensed advisor. Full disclaimer: merlintrader.com/disclaimer.

Avvertenza. Questo contenuto ha finalità esclusivamente didattiche e informative. Non costituisce consulenza finanziaria né una raccomandazione di acquisto o vendita di alcun titolo, in linea con le indicazioni CONSOB (Italia) e SEC (USA). I dati sono generati dall'AI a partire da fonti web e possono contenere errori o non essere aggiornati — verifica sempre rispetto alla fonte primaria collegata. Fai le tue ricerche e consulta un consulente autorizzato. Disclaimer completo: merlintrader.com/disclaimer.