US EQUITY OPEN: Stocks lower in choppy trade amid ongoing geopolitics

• OPEN: Stocks have opened lower on Thursday as geopolitics continues to dominate. Iran has reportedly sent its official response to the US, but it is awaiting the US response. Trump said earlier that Iran was begging to make a deal, and called on them to get serious soon, before it is too late and there will be no coming back. We await official response from the US on Iran's response. Sectors are mixed, with communication, tech and industrials lagging, while Real Estate, Health Care and Staples outperform. Although markets opened lower, we are paring weakness at the time of writing - seemingly on the reports that Iran sent its official response to the US. However, the latest source reports suggest Iran's assessment is that the US proposal is one-sided and unfair and lacks requirements for success. Oil prices are firmer while gold and silver are hit. T-notes are bear flattening ahead of the 7-year auction, but price action continues to be dictated by ongoing geopolitics.

Stock Specifics

• Ares Management (ARES): ARES Strategic Income Fund posted its steepest monthly loss on record in February
• JetBlue Airways (JBLU): Says it is not active in M&A talks
• Worthington Steel (WS): EPS and revenue missed
• Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA): Sold 1.1bln of Bitcoin to repurchase 1bln of convertible senior notes
• Navan (NAVN): Quarterly revenue and revenue outlook beat
• MillerKnoll (MLKN): Earnings and guidance missed
• Qualcomm (QCOM): Downgraded at Bernstein to 'Market Perform' from 'Outperform'
• Adobe (ADBE): Downgraded at William Blair to 'Market Perform' from 'Outperform'