{"id":61464,"date":"2026-04-30T16:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/trump-declares-victory-in-iran-war-as-blockade-holds-amgen-and-western-digital-lead-earnings-wave\/61464\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:38:22","slug":"trump-declares-victory-in-iran-war-as-blockade-holds-amgen-and-western-digital-lead-earnings-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/trump-declares-victory-in-iran-war-as-blockade-holds-amgen-and-western-digital-lead-earnings-wave\/61464\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Declares Victory in Iran War as Blockade Holds; Amgen and Western Digital Lead Earnings Wave"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>President Trump declared the &quot;Iran war has been won&quot;<\/strong> while maintaining a <strong>&quot;100% effective&quot; blockade of the Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, despite reports of active air defense engagements over Tehran.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Amgen (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMGN\">AMGN<\/a>) and Western Digital (<a href=\"\/stock\/WDC\">WDC<\/a>)<\/strong> both delivered significant earnings beats, with <strong>WDC<\/strong> boosting its quarterly dividend by <strong>20%<\/strong> and <strong>AMGN<\/strong> raising its full-year guidance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rivian (<a href=\"\/stock\/RIVN\">RIVN<\/a>)<\/strong> maintained its <strong>62,000\u201367,000<\/strong> vehicle delivery guidance for the year and announced a <strong>50% capacity boost<\/strong> at its Georgia plant, despite a slight Q1 revenue miss.<\/li>\n<li><strong>AWS<\/strong> announced it will sunset <strong>Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins<\/strong> by April 2027, transitioning users to <strong>Kiro<\/strong>, a new agentic development environment built for spec-driven development.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> closed unofficially higher by <strong>0.90% at 24,894.40<\/strong>, buoyed by strong tech earnings and optimistic commentary regarding the economic impact of AI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Geopolitical Tensions and the &quot;Iran War&quot;<\/h2>\n<p>President Trump stated on Thursday that the United States has effectively won the war against Iran, though he signaled a desire to &quot;win by an even bigger margin&quot; through continued pressure. The President emphasized that the <strong>blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has been &quot;100% effective,&quot;<\/strong> cutting off all Iranian oil revenue and causing the domestic economy to collapse. Despite these claims of victory, reports from <strong>Tasnim<\/strong> and <strong>Mehr News<\/strong> indicated that air defense batteries over <strong>Tehran<\/strong> were actively engaging small drones and surveillance UAVs late in the day.<\/p>\n<p>The human and financial costs of the conflict are coming into clearer focus, with <strong>US officials estimating the war&#39;s cost at approximately $50 billion<\/strong>. In response to the regional instability, the <strong>UAE Foreign Ministry<\/strong> has banned its citizens from traveling to <strong>Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq<\/strong>, urging those currently in those countries to depart immediately. To bolster regional defenses, <strong>Israel<\/strong> has reportedly rushed a <strong>laser defense system<\/strong> to the UAE to counter potential Iranian missile threats.<\/p>\n<h2>Amgen and Western Digital Post Strong Gains<\/h2>\n<p>In the healthcare sector, Amgen (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMGN\">AMGN<\/a>) reported <strong>Q1 revenue of $8.62 billion<\/strong>, edging out the <strong>$8.57 billion<\/strong> estimate. The company\u2019s <strong>adjusted EPS of $5.15<\/strong> significantly outperformed the <strong>$4.75<\/strong> forecast, prompting management to lift its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to a range of <strong>$21.70\u2013$23.10<\/strong>. <em>The positive outlook reflects strong demand across its core portfolio and disciplined cost management.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Western Digital (<a href=\"\/stock\/WDC\">WDC<\/a>) also impressed investors with <strong>Q3 revenue of $3.34 billion<\/strong> and <strong>adjusted EPS of $2.72<\/strong>, beating the <strong>$2.39<\/strong> consensus. The company provided robust <strong>Q4 revenue guidance of $3.65 billion<\/strong> and announced a <strong>20% increase to its quarterly dividend<\/strong>. <em>Analysts view the dividend hike as a sign of confidence in the recovery of the memory and storage markets.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Mixed Results for High-Growth Tech<\/h2>\n<p>Reddit (<a href=\"\/stock\/RDDT\">RDDT<\/a>) shares saw positive momentum after posting <strong>Q1 EPS of $1.01<\/strong>, nearly doubling the <strong>$0.58<\/strong> estimate. The platform reported <strong>126.8 million daily active uniques<\/strong>, surpassing expectations and guiding <strong>Q2 revenue to $715\u2013$725 million<\/strong>. Conversely, Roblox (<a href=\"\/stock\/RBLX\">RBLX<\/a>) reported a beat on the bottom line with an <strong>EPS of -$0.35<\/strong>, but missed on user growth with <strong>132 million daily active users<\/strong> against a <strong>140.9 million<\/strong> estimate.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <strong>Meta<\/strong> has reportedly informed staff that further rounds of layoffs remain a possibility, as the company continues to &quot;flatten&quot; its organizational structure. In the cloud space, <strong>AWS<\/strong> is pivoting its developer tool strategy by sunsetting <strong>Amazon Q Developer<\/strong> plugins in favor of <strong>Kiro<\/strong>, an agentic environment purpose-built for <strong>spec-driven development<\/strong>. AWS clarified that the developer experience within the <strong>AWS Management Console<\/strong> will remain unaffected by this transition.<\/p>\n<h2>Rivian Maintains Outlook Amid Expansion<\/h2>\n<p>Rivian (<a href=\"\/stock\/RIVN\">RIVN<\/a>) reported <strong>Q1 revenue of $1.38 billion<\/strong>, slightly below the <strong>$1.39 billion<\/strong> expected, but posted a narrower-than-expected <strong>adjusted loss per share of $0.54<\/strong>. The EV maker delivered <strong>10,365 vehicles<\/strong> in the quarter and reaffirmed its full-year delivery target of <strong>62,000\u201367,000 units<\/strong>. Most notably, the company has boosted the initial capacity of its <strong>Georgia manufacturing plant by 50%<\/strong>, targeting an eventual <strong>200,000 units<\/strong> to meet long-term demand.<\/p>\n<p>On the policy front, the <strong>White House<\/strong> has authorized the transport of crude oil and petroleum products between the <strong>United States and Canada<\/strong>, a move intended to stabilize energy flows. President Trump predicted that <strong>gasoline prices will &quot;drop like a rock&quot;<\/strong> once the conflict in Iran is fully resolved, reiterating his stance that Tehran will never be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways President Trump declared the &quot;Iran war has been won&quot; while maintaining a &quot;100% effective&quot; blockade of the Strait 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