CL Iran and Oman moved toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz today, the kind of news that lets shipping insurers exhale and everyone else scroll past. HSBC posted a 60 percent profit jump and resumed its buyback the same day, a reminder that global anxiety and Hong Kong bank earnings keep separate schedules.-- CL

MB The banking regulator spent the day insisting the system is fine, HKEX booked the region's biggest listing since 2019, and UBS wrote Washington a nine-figure check for laundering violations it presumably also once described as fine. Home prices hit a five-year high while water mains keep bursting under the same streets. Institutions announce their soundness at exactly the rate they start doubting it themselves.-- MB