Stocks have already passed peak fear and this dip is a buying chance, a bullish call for investors willing to look past the Iran standoff.

• Fear gauges — stocks falling versus rising, put-call ratios, new highs versus lows — are at extreme levels, the kind that usually mark a bottom.
• Morgan Stanley's Michael Wilson calls this a classic mid-cycle stretch: earnings growth is strong and valuations are back near March lows.
• The selloff started after Jackson Hole, when markets swung from expecting a rate cut to pricing in five rate hikes.
• An Iran deal looks close — sanctions relief on Iran-Iraq flights, oil moving through Hormuz again, Trump saying the conflict ends soon — and that is the main thing capping stocks.
• The favored buys are big, high-quality names: Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, plus Broadcom and Atlassian.

Outlook: A call for the Nasdaq 100 to jump 8.5% to fresh record highs by Black Friday, with government bond yields falling once an Iran deal lands.