April 8 Member Morning Report: Trump issues another "ultimatum" as the US and Israel jointly carry out a devastating strike on Iran

1、【Trump Issues Another “Final Warning”】Trump again issued a “final warning” on social media, saying that unless Iran reaches an agreement with the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday (today 8:00 a.m. Beijing time), “all of civilization will be destroyed tonight, and can never be restored.” At the same time, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said the United States has “fundamentally” already achieved its military objectives against Iran, and when the war ends depends on Iran. Meanwhile, ceasefire talks—still being tightly negotiated—are being coordinated in the middle by countries such as Pakistan.

2、【The U.S. and Israel Carry Out a Devastating Strike Against Iran】As the final deadline for the ceasefire approaches, U.S. and Israeli military action against Iran has entered an unprecedented escalation. The U.S. military launched a fierce airstrike on Kharg Island, Iran’s most important crude-oil export hub, and destroyed related facilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. At the same time, Israel directed its targets at Iran’s domestic civilian and transportation infrastructure, causing Iran’s two main rail trunk lines to shut down completely. U.S. President Trump issued an extremely tough warning, saying that if Iran does not accept its ceasefire proposal, U.S. forces will continue to “bomb” Iran’s military and civilian infrastructure “back to the Stone Age.”

3、【Intel Teams Up With Musk to Push the “Terafab” Plan】Intel announced that it will officially join the Terafab super factory project led by Musk, helping Musk manufacture self-developed chips for its robotics business and its highly forward-looking “space data centers.” Spurred by this major piece of good news, Intel’s stock price rose by nearly 5% at one point after the announcement was released, but afterward market sentiment returned to rationality and the stock price pulled back.

4、【Pershing Square Capital Invests $64 Billion to Acquire Universal Music】U.S. well-known hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management (Pershing Square Capital Management) has put forward an acquisition proposal for Universal Music Group (Universal Music Group, UMG), the world’s largest record company. The deal values Universal Music as a whole at approximately $64 billion. Over the past six months, as markets widely worried that music generated by artificial intelligence would run rampant and saturate the music industry—thereby weakening profit space for traditional record companies—Universal Music’s stock price had previously plunged cumulatively by more than 30%. However, after the announcement of this massive acquisition offer, Universal Music’s stock price surged by more than 10% during early trading. It is understood that, if progress is smooth, the acquisition transaction is expected to be completed before the end of this year.

5、【Apple’s First Foldable Screen iPhone Has a “Day of Fright”】On April 7, Apple’s first much-anticipated foldable iPhone experienced a day full of twists and turns. Earlier, Nikkei Asia reported that this breakthrough product—much anticipated—encountered technical obstacles during the engineering testing phase, and its release may be forced to be delayed by several months. This negative development instantly sparked panic in the market, causing Apple’s stock price to drop by more than 5% at one point during the trading day. However, Bloomberg later urgently cited information from insiders to clarify the situation, effectively stabilizing market confidence. According to Bloomberg, the production schedule for Apple’s first foldable iPhone has not derailed; it still plans to debut in the usual way this September at the fall new product launch, alongside a brand-new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max series. However, insiders also added a warning that, due to the complexity of the new flexible display panels and special hinge materials, the device may face serious supply-restriction issues during the first few weeks after it goes on sale. It is understood that pricing for this epoch-making product is expected to break through the $2,000 mark.