Corporate legal accountability in Big Tech and strategic recalibrations across the Middle East defined the hour. In a major resolution to state-level consumer protection litigation, Meta agreed to a landmark settlement of up to $18 billion with a coalition of state attorneys general to halt an ongoing trial over allegations that it engineered Facebook and Instagram to addict children while misleading the public on youth mental health risks. The deal comes alongside a decisive Ninth Circuit ruling establishing that tech companies cannot file interlocutory appeals on Section 230 motion denials, forcing platforms into pre-trial discovery in mass tort actions. In foreign affairs, U.S. policy toward Iran pivoted from military escalation toward financial containment; Secretary of State Marco Rubio signaled that Washington does not plan new strikes for now following Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's aggressive secondary sanctions package. In tandem, crude oil prices slid as Iran and Oman neared finalization of an interim seven-mile transit corridor and fee-sharing arrangement through the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. mine-clearing operations. Regional diplomacy remains fraught, however, as President Trump transmitted a Saudi nuclear cooperation agreement to Congress tied to normalization with Israel, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted sovereignty over the West Bank and pushed forward contentious settlement projects like the E1 corridor. Domestically, the Bureau of Economic Analysis confirmed second-quarter GDP growth at an unrevised 1.5% annualized rate, with personal consumption serving as the primary growth engine against drags from net exports, while sticky PCE price data kept financial markets on edge ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium.