Day 154. The war filed an earnings report.

ExxonMobil and Chevron just posted $26.6 billion in combined quarterly profit. Exxon’s profit more than doubled. Chevron’s nearly quintupled. Regular gas is averaging $4.11 a gallon, about a dollar more than last year. The same disruption squeezing households and rerouting tankers has been very good to companies with oil outside the Gulf and refineries running near full capacity.

Oil companies don’t declare wars or set the world price of crude. They don’t need to. The strait closes, supply tightens, prices rise and the market sorts everyone into winners and customers. Washington talks about resolve. Tehran talks about resistance. The quarterly statement uses cleaner language: revenue, margin, return.

The war isn’t paying for itself, but it’s paying very well.

Pour two fingers. Charge for four.

Riyadh convened more than 40 governments and won backing from 14 for a multinational Maritime Defense Alliance to guard Red Sea and Hormuz shipping, a rare bid by Gulf states to police their own waters. The move came the same day US-Iran strikes hit Egyptian soil for the first time, widening a war now in its fifth month. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says the strait stays shut as long as US “interference” continues, even as shipping through it crept back.

The S&P 500 rose 1.7% to 7,438 and the Nasdaq jumped 2.8% Thursday, clawing back the Fed-day drop on the strength of Microsoft’s AI results. After the close, Apple cleared $111B in revenue on record Services and Amazon climbed about 8% on cloud demand.

The central bank’s preferred inflation gauge eased from 4.1% to 3.7% year over year, with the core reading at 3.3% and real spending up 0.4%. The step down leaned on softer energy prices, leaving underlying inflation sticky enough to explain Wednesday’s three dissents for a hike.

WTI slid back toward $80 a barrel into Friday, unwinding much of the war-premium spike as tanker traffic through the Gulf recovered. That leaves crude near where it traded before the latest round of strikes.

The Okanogan County lightning fire held near 128,200 acres as crews lifted containment to 27%, up from the mid-teens a week ago. Cooler, calmer air has let them gain ground after days of wind-driven runs.

Dalton Rushing’s three-run homer sank Seattle 6–2 in Los Angeles on Thursday, capping a road trip to forget. With the Aug 3 deadline three days out, the club has already added Randy Arozarena, Justin Turner and Yimi Garcia while dealing Ryne Stanek and Ty France.

You’re receiving the morning dispatch from Four Fingers News.