Houthis Strike Saudi Aramco Headquarters in Dhahran

Yemen's Houthi militants struck a building at the headquarters of Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported this morning. The coordinated assault involved missile and drone strikes across Saudi territory, escalating regional conflict directly into the infrastructure core of the world's largest crude exporter. The strike follows earlier wire reports of explosions and air raid sirens across the kingdom, culminating in a qualitative military operation confirmed by Yemeni armed forces. While damage assessments remain preliminary, the direct targeting of Aramco's primary administrative and operational nerve center in the eastern province reintroduces immediate event risk to global energy transit and supply routes. Energy contracts showed immediate sensitivity to the escalation. Front-month Brent futures held at $105.55 a barrel, while WTI crude futures traded at $94.18. The underlying equity market, however, remains split in how it digests the shock. On my desk, SPY continues to trade above its zero-gamma flip at 776.13, sitting at 779.75 with dealers in long gamma between the 774 put wall and the 781 call wall. That positioning forces market makers to buy dips and buffer swings, keeping broader index volatility muted with the VIX down 0.26% at 15.23. The vulnerability sits entirely in tech: QQQ is trading at 745.14, trapped below its 749.94 flip in short gamma territory. In that pocket, dealers hedge by selling weakness toward the 742 put wall rather than cushioning it, leaving growth names far more exposed if energy-driven inflation fears accelerate.