Top story for the morning: US and Iran exchange blows, Washington threatens new duties

The US and Iran exchanged new blows, with the US military reporting the interception of Iranian missiles and drones and an attack on a facility on Qeshm Island, while new Iranian attacks and threats to Kuwait and Bahrain heightened fears of a ceasefire breakdown. In addition, the US has proposed additional duties of up to 12.5% on imports from 60 countries and economies, including China, the EU and Japan. On these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of June 3.

The U.S. military reported intercepting several Iranian ballistic missiles and drones and retaliating against an Iranian military facility on Qeshm Island, CNBC reported. At the same time, Iran continued attacks on U.S. facilities and vessels in the region, and Kuwait and Bahrain reported missile and drone threats, heightening fears of a ceasefire breakdown.

Despite the escalation, talks between Washington and Tehran are continuing, although no agreement on extending the ceasefire has yet been reached, the channel points out.

SpaceX plans to float 555.6 million shares at a price of $135 per paper, which will raise about $75 billion and will become the largest IPO in history, writes Reuters. The company expects a valuation of at least $1.8 trillion, and the offering could take place as early as June 11 on the Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas exchanges under the ticker SPCX.

Organizers of the placement are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan and 18 other banks, notes Bloomberg. In terms of funds raised, SpaceX IPO will more than double the record placement of Saudi Aramco in 2019.

The U.S. Trade Representative Office has proposed additional duties of up to 12.5% on imports from 60 countries and economies, including China, the EU and Japan, accusing them of not doing enough to combat goods produced using forced labor, CNBC reports. A duty of 10% is proposed for countries with partial restrictions on such products, and 12.5% for the rest.

The initiative was part of the Donald Trump administration's new trade strategy after the Supreme Court limited most of his previous duties. At the same time, Washington began consultations on the creation of the US-China Trade Council, which could lead to the reduction of mutual duties and easing of trade restrictions, the TV channel points out.

South Korea's Kospi index has risen about 100% since the beginning of the year, becoming one of the leaders of the global stock market thanks to the boom in artificial intelligence and high profits of chip makers, CNBC reports. Goldman Sachs raised the index's target for the next 12 months to 12,000 points, suggesting a potential upside of more than 35% from current values.

SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics remain the main drivers of the rally, accounting for much of the market growth.

- Japan's broad Topix index was up 2 percent, while the Nikkei 225 was up 2.7 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index rose 1.3 percent.

- South Korean stock markets are closed due to local election day.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.9 percent.

- S&P 500 futures, Nasdaq Composite futures and Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded contracts were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor