As August drew to a close, global markets found themselves caught between two ancient forces — the fear of war and the discipline of money. Fresh military clashes in the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil higher and reminded investors that geopolitical fault lines can shift without warning, while the Federal Reserve's renewed hawkishness signaled that the era of easy capital remains distant. Indian markets, buffered by a remarkable fourteen-day streak of domestic institutional buying, stood at a crossroads — resilient enough to snap a losing streak, yet not immune to the pressures gathering at the ed