About 1,500 ships were on the route to the Strait of Hormuz waiting to pass through the waterway, Iran's state media reported on Thursday.
The report said any vessel seeking to cross the area must obtain permission from the IRGC navy.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
China orders firms to ignore US sanctions on Iranian oil - Fox News
China has ordered companies to disregard US sanctions targeting Iranian oil purchases, Fox News reported on Thursday, citing a directive issued through China’s Commerce Ministry.
The report said the order invoked a 2021 “blocking statute” that bars Chinese firms from complying with foreign sanctions considered illegitimate by Beijing.
According to Fox News, the directive applies to several Chinese refiners accused by Washington of buying Iranian crude, including independent “teapot” refineries.
The report described the move as a more explicit form of resistance to US pressure on Iran’s oil exports, which Washington has sought to curb as part of its sanctions campaign against Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused China of helping finance Iran through oil purchases, Fox News said.
“This is unprecedented. It’s a major escalation in terms of China’s response to US economic statecraft,” Fox News quoted analyst Max Meizlish as saying.
China is the main buyer of Iranian crude, much of which is shipped through opaque maritime networks designed to avoid sanctions enforcement, the report said.
'EU says Iran war does not yet require emergency tourism measures'
The European Union does not believe the impact of the war involving Iran warrants emergency support measures for the tourism sector at this stage, according to draft European Commission guidelines seen by Reuters.
“The current situation does not point to the need for dedicated measures for the tourism sector, unlike during the COVID-19 crisis,” the draft guidelines said.
The guidance, due to be published on Friday, is expected to be shared with airlines and tourism operators.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202604294038
'Iran expected to answer US proposal as Trump says deal 'will happen''
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he held a lengthy meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since the strikes that killed his father.
Iran’s embassy in Seoul denied on Thursday any involvement by Iranian armed forces in damage to a South Korean-operated vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
German intelligence officials privately warned that the threat of Iran-linked attacks in Germany is more serious than publicly acknowledged, the New York Times reported.
Iran was expected to hand mediators its response to a US proposal aimed at ending the war on Thursday, CNN reported, citing a regional source.
Iran’s internet blackout entered its 69th day on Thursday after 1,632 hours, internet monitor NetBlocks said.
US President Donald Trump said Iran is “militarily defeated” but may not recognize it, adding that he believes Tehran ultimately understands its position as he deals directly with its leadership.
Sarepta says to ‘exercise prudence’ in setting expectations for Elevidys’ recovery
Sarepta Therapeutics has put in place several initiatives to help its gene therapy Elevidys return to growth, but recovery will take a long time, according to company executives.
Sarepta Therapeutics is taking a conservative approach to predicting the future and wants others to do the same. The embattled biotech asked analysts on a Q1 earnings call Wednesday to “exercise prudence” before raising their expectations and projections for its recovery.
This is despite CEO Doug Ingram telling investors that the company is “in a great place” financially, with enough resources to keep advancing its pipeline without having to sell off stock for capital.
Sarpeta is coming off a difficult 2025. Its flagship product, the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys, was linked to one patient death in March 2025 and to another in June that year. The mortalities kicked off a back-and-forth with the FDA, which after a third death linked to a related product asked the company to stop U.S. shipments of Elevidys. Sarepta initially said no but eventually agreed.
After less than two weeks, Elevidys shipments resumed, with the FDA later adding a boxed warning that flags a risk of death. The regulator also limited the drug’s use only to those who are able to walk and are 4 years of age and older.
In the aftermath of the Sarepta saga, which also saw the short-lived exit of then-biologics chief Vinay Prasad, demand for Elevidys has been slow to pick back up. In Q1 of this year, the gene therapy made $102 million in revenue, down 7% since Q4 2025, according to Jefferies, but still beating the consensus forecast of $96 million.
To help re-energize the market, Sarepta has rolled out a slew of aggressive commercial initiatives, Ingram said on Wednesday’s call. These include expanding the company’s salesforce to more actively engage doctors and rolling out new educational resources meant for both patients and physicians. These new materials, according to Chief Commercial Officer Patrick Moss, incorporate new long-term efficacy and safety data from the Phase 3 EMBARK study, which in January found that Elevidys preserved muscle and functional performance over three years of follow-up.
The effort is paying off, Ingram said, but the path to Elevidys’ return to growth will be a long one.
Moss agreed: “Last quarter, I said we are seeing green shoots—early signals that give us confidence we are headed in the right direction—and the team is squarely focused on delivering the efficacy message to drive demand,” he told investors. Still, “it will take time to see the potential impact of my team’s actions reflected in sales.”
While Elevidys commanded most of the analysts’ interest during Sarepta’s call, the company also provided key updates for its siRNA pipeline. Sarepta is building up to additional data for SRP-1001 in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1 (FSHD) and SRP-1003 in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) in the second half of the year, according to its Wednesday release.
A readout in March showed that SRP-1001 resulted in a 90% to 93% decrease in the expression of genes that are abnormally upregulated in FSHD, while SRP-1003 gained an early edge over other therapies from competing companies.
These data gave Jefferies confidence in these assets. “These compounds could show superior efficacy/safety and provide less-frequent dosing” in their target indications, analysts wrote to investors on Wednesday.
Elevidys pivoted to siRNA development in July last year, after the Elevidys deaths.
Shake Shack Shares Crash Most On Record; McDonald's CEO Warns Of Faltering Consumer
Shake Shack shares crashed the most on record after the burger chain reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA, with management blaming the miss on "significant weather impacts."
But the weather excuse may be masking a much larger problem: a weakening consumer increasingly pushing back against premium fast-casual pricing, with the average Shake Shack meal costing around $23.
SHAK reported first-quarter results that missed Bloomberg Consensus estimates, with revenue and adjusted EBITDA coming in light as the burger chain faced margin pressure despite positive comparable sales.
Here's a snapshot of first-quarter results, courtesy of Bloomberg:
Revenue: $366.7 million, estimate $372.5 million (Bloomberg Consensus)
Shack sales: $354.0 million, estimate $358.7 million
Licensing revenue: $12.7 million
Adjusted EBITDA: $37.0 million, estimate $45.5 million
Comparable sales: +4.6%, estimate +4.65%
Traffic growth: 1.4%
Restaurant-level operating margin: 21.2%, estimate 21.9%
CEO Rob Lynch noted that soaring beef costs rose by a low-teens percentage, while unfavorable weather eroded profit. Underlying sales and traffic momentum remained solid in the quarter.
Wall Street analysts were not thrilled with the earnings report. Shares crashed by the most on record, plunging 29% in the early U.S. cash session.
For the year, shares are down 17% and now trading at early-2024 levels.
Separately, Shake Shack announced in a separate release that Michelle Hook will be appointed as the new CFO next Monday.
Earlier, McDonald's CEO warned that current consumer environment is getting pressured: "Clearly, when you have elevated gas prices, which is the core issue that I think we’re all seeing about in the press right now, gas prices, inflation on that, that is going to disproportionately impact low-income consumers. And so we expect the pressures there are going to continue."
Goldman Cuts ARM To Sell On Shocking Smartphone Weakness
Arm Holdings ADRs sank nearly 9% in premarket trading, on track for the largest intraday decline in almost a year, after the chip-architecture company reported softer-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter royalty revenue tied to a slowdown in the smartphone industry, while assuring investors that data center demand can offset the slump.
During an earnings call, Wells Fargo analyst Joe Quatrochi asked Arm CEO Rene Haas:
"Clearly, data centers are very strong and accelerating, but then how do you think about consumer electronics, smartphones, et cetera?"
Haas responded:
So in terms of Q4, as we said before the quarter, we had a bit of a tough comp in that. We had a particularly strong ramp of maybe 400 [ph], a year ago, more so than what we expected this year.
As a result, you saw a bit of a slowdown in royalty revenue. As indicated by our guidance, we're expecting that to get back to the kind of 20% range by Q1.
So I would say within -- you know, the assumptions within our expectations are, we will probably continue to see unit growth, I think actually flip to negative for the mobile market in this last quarter. We're going to continue to see very flattish, maybe slightly negative numbers for the overall market.
Haas' comments about the smartphone slowdown are key because Arm's smartphone exposure remains large, and mobile application processors accounted for about 46% of its total royalty revenue in 2025.
Haas has made clear to analysts that the push into data centers and other markets will help offset Arm's high exposure to a softening smartphone market.
Royalties, a closely watched metric for Arm, generated $671 million in fourth-quarter revenue, missing the Bloomberg Consensus estimate of $693.3 million.
"We're seeing the acceleration of Arm being a significant player in the data center," Haas said in an interview, quoted by Bloomberg.
As for the rest of fourth-quarter earnings, Arm beat on total revenue, adjusted EPS, operating income, margins, and licensing revenue. Revenue rose 20% year over year to $1.49 billion, slightly ahead of estimates, while adjusted EPS of 60 cents beat the 58-cent estimate. Adjusted operating income also beat at $731 million, with a very strong operating margin of 49.1%.
The strongest part of the report was license and other revenue, which jumped 29% year over year to $819 million, well above estimates of $775.6 million. That suggests strong customer demand for future Arm designs, particularly in AI, data centers, and new chip programs.
But as we noted above, royalty revenue missed expectations ...
Here's a snapshot of the fourth quarter (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Adjusted EPS 60c vs. 55c y/y, estimate 58c
EPS 29c
Total revenue $1.49 billion, +20% y/y, estimate $1.47 billion
License and other revenue $819 million, +29% y/y, estimate $775.6 million
Royalty revenue $671 million, +11% y/y, estimate $693.3 million
Annualized contract value $1.66 billion, estimate $1.58 billion
Adjusted net income $641 million, estimate $624.3 million
Adjusted gross profit $1.47 billion
- Adjusted gross margin 98.3%, estimate 98.1%
Adjusted operating expenses $734 million, estimate $743.6 million
Adjusted operating income $731 million, estimate $696.4 million
- Adjusted operating margin 49.1%
Adjusted free cash flow $152 million, estimate $374 million
Arm’s first-quarter forecast is broadly in line on revenue, better on earnings, and better on costs (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Sees revenue $1.21 billion to $1.31 billion, estimate $1.25 billion (Bloomberg Consensus)
Sees adjusted EPS 36c to 44c, estimate 37c
Sees adjusted operating expenses about $760 million, estimate $803.1 million
In markets, Arm ADRs sank nearly 9%, the largest intraday decline since July 31, 2025, of -13.5%. On the year, shares are up 117%.
Goldman analyst James Schneider told clients following earnings, "We expect the stock to be range-bound following revenue and EPS guidance that was just above the Street, with an increase to demand expectations for the company's CPU business."
"We are Sell rated on ARM given our concerns around the near-term pressures in the royalty business, the lack of clear competitive advantage relative to peers in chip manufacturing, and elevated valuation relative to peers - but could be more constructive if we see greater evidence of an acceleration in royalty growth or more visibility into greater scale in chip manufacturing," Schneider added.
Additional analyst commentary (courtsey of Bloomberg):
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kunjan Sobhani
- "Arm's fiscal 4Q results reflect a mixed near-term setup, with handset and memory-related weakness weighing on royalties, but partly offset by persistent AI strength."
Daiwa analyst Louis Miscioscia
- Arm's royalty revenue missed due to a shortfall in lower-end cell phone demand, which was weaker than expected due to the higher cost of memory.
Evercore ISI analyst Mark Lipacis (outperform, price target $326)
- Lipacis was more bullish, saying that after examining other trillion dollar market cap companies, believe "ARM has the similar necessary ingredients to cross that $1T threshold themselves"
Bloomberg data shows most of Wall Street is bullishing on ARM... Goldman and AlphaValue are the only with "Sell" ratings ...
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