Oil prices fall as Trump says strait of Hormuz ‘open to all’ if Iran accepts deal
Oil prices fell and stock markets rose as Donald Trump said the war with Iran would end and the strait of Hormuz would be “open to all” if Tehran struck a deal with Washington,The US president posted on social media: “Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran,”However, he added that if Iran did not strike a deal, “the bombing starts” and “it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before”,It came after the president said he would briefly pause his “Project Freedom” operation escorting ships through the strait, which carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies but has been blockaded by Iran since late February, triggering a global energy crisis,Trump said he was stopping the operation for “a short period” so he could finalise a deal with Tehran but added that his blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.
According to state media, the Revolutionary Guards’ Navy said on Wednesday that safe transit through the strait would be ensured with US threats coming to an end and new procedures in place.It was Iran’s first reaction to the US pausing operations intended to help stranded ships pass through the strait.Initially, the news sent Brent crude oil – which had risen as much as 6% earlier this week after the latest attacks in the Middle East – tumbling 11% to as low as $97 (£71) a barrel.It was the first time it has fallen below $100 since 22 April.Wholesale gas prices also fell – the British June contract fell 6.
3% to 107.8p a therm – while airline stocks rose on improved prospective for international travel.The crude price had been falling on Wednesday morning, and accelerated after a report by the Axios news site that the White House believed it was getting close to agreeing a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war with Iran.It said the two sides were ready to set a framework for more detailed nuclear talks, citing four sources including two US officials.However, oil pared its losses later in the day, trading down 7.
3% at $101.83 a barrel as Iran said it was an “American wishlist [and] not a reality”.The Guards’ statement on the strait did not specify what the new procedures entailed and thanked shipowners and captains for respecting Iranian regulations when moving through the waterway.The oil price had hit $126 a barrel last week, its highest level since 2022, after Trump said the US blockade of Iranian ports could last for months and peace talks remained stalled.European stock markets rallied on Wednesday.
The UK’s FTSE 100 index rose 2%, and France’s Cac 40 was up 3% and Germany’s Dax rose by 2,1%,MSCI’s All-Country World Index rose 1,6% to a new record alongside similar milestones for its emerging markets benchmark and its broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan, which rose by 2,5%.
The rally was led by a 6.6% surge in South Korea’s Kospi, which cleared the 7,000 mark for the first time.As the Seoul market reopened after a holiday, Samsung Electronics increased by 14.8%, topping a $1tn market value, as it rode the boom in AI stocks.On Wall Street, the S&P 500 – which hit a new record on Tuesday – rose nearly 1.
5%.On the bond market, UK long-term gilt yields decreased slightly after reaching their highest level since 1998 on Tuesday.The yield on 30-year gilts – which is the effective interest rate on the UK government’s long-term borrowing – reduced by about 9 basis points to 5.63%.Gold, which is traditionally seen as a safe haven asset, rose by 3% to $4,695 an ounce.
Trump’s latest comments came as the French shipping group CMA CGM said one of its ships, the San Antonio, had been the target of an attack while crossing the strait of Hormuz.The attack, which occurred on Tuesday, had injured crew members and damaged the vessel, the company said, adding it was “closely monitoring the situation and remains fully mobilised alongside the crew”.The chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, Susannah Streeter, said: “A dam of tension has eased with relief flooding into financial markets, amid hopes that hostilities will cease in the Middle East, with the Trump administration making conciliatory moves.“Relief is starting to seep into the bond markets, with UK gilt yields easing off amid hopes that inflation might not head quite as high if a longer-term resolution can be negotiated.”
Iran deal optimism pushes oil price back below $100; UK builders hit by surge in costs – business live
The Brent crude oil price is dropping this morning, towards the two-week lows hit yesterday.Brent is down around 3% at $98.30 a barrel, back below the $100 a dollar mark, following Donald Trump’s claim that it’s “very possible” the US and Iran will agree a peace deal.Saxo’s Strategy Team say:double quotation markOil fell sharply on Wednesday as markets priced a lower risk of prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, after the US reportedly sent a one-page proposal through Pakistan aimed at ending the conflict and gradually reopening the waterway. Iran is expected to respond in the coming days, with nuclear talks likely to follow later
Airlines still have to pay compensation if flights cancelled due to fuel crisis, EU says
Airlines that cancel flights because of fuel shortages this summer will still have to compensate passengers under European law, the EU transport commissioner has said.Apostolos Tzitzikostas told the Financial Times that jet fuel prices or shortages do not meet the criteria that protect EU airlines from passenger claims.“The price of jet fuel is the reason why we have cancellations of flights and if they cancel flights without extraordinary circumstances – jet fuel prices are not extraordinary circumstances – they will have to reimburse the people,” the commissioner said.Although the EU law remains in place in the UK post-Brexit, Keir Starmer’s government is free to take a different position. Last week, it emerged that penalties for airlines that cancel UK flights because of jet fuel shortages have been eased
‘No one has done this in the wild’: study observes AI replicate itself
It’s the stuff of science fiction cinema, or particularly breathless AI company blogposts: new research finds recent AI systems can independently copy themselves on to other computers.In the doom scenario, this means that when the superintelligent AI goes rogue, it will escape shutdown by seeding itself across the world wide web, lurking outside the reach of frantic IT professionals and continuing to plot world domination or paving over the world with solar panels.“We’re rapidly approaching the point where no one would be able to shut down a rogue AI, because it would be able to self-exfiltrate its weights and copy itself to thousands of computers around the world,” said Jeffrey Ladish, the director of Palisade research, a Berkeley-based organisation which did the study.The study is one more entry in a growing catalogue of unsettling AI capabilities revealed in the past months. In March, researchers at Alibaba claimed to have caught a system they developed – Rome – tunnelling out of its environment to an external system in order to mine crypto
Europe’s AI translation industry told it risks reputation by partnering with US firms
AI companies in Europe risk losing their world-leading status in the field of machine translation, industry figures have said, after the decision by one of the continent’s leading startups to partner with Amazon’s cloud computing division provoked alarm.While businesses in the EU have generally lagged behind the US and China in AI adoption, a small group of European companies have cornered the global market for high-quality machine translations for professional use.The biggest success story is Cologne-headquartered DeepL, an online translator that regularly outperforms Google Translate in accuracy assessments. Used by governments, courts and half of the Fortune 500 list of highest-earning US companies, last year it was reported to have recorded revenues of $185.2m
England poised to pick Marcus North as men’s selector over Steven Finn and Darren Gough
Marcus North, the former Australia middle order batter, has emerged as the leading candidate to become the new England men’s selector, with an official announcement expected in the coming days.The 46-year-old has worked as director of cricket at Durham since 2018 and was among those interviewed for the equivalent role with England four years ago – only to miss out to Rob Key in the final stages of the process.But the chance to help shape the England men’s teams as selector has now resurfaced, with North understood to have beaten the likes of Steven Finn and Darren Gough after a round of interviews this week. The England and Wales Cricket Board has declined to comment, with the contract still to be signed.North would effectively replace Luke Wright, who decided to step down at the end of the Ashes defeat in Australia citing a desire to spend more time with his family
Ollie Robinson is English cricket’s biggest enigma who could make an unlikely Test comeback | Ali Martin
Pop quiz: in the last five years, who is the only England seamer to have sent down 50 overs in a Test match more than once?The answer, if the headline and picture haven’t given the game away, is a certain Ollie Robinson. Yep, the same seamer who has been overlooked by England since February 2024 on account of not being fit enough for the demands of the job.Robinson bent his back for 51 overs against Australia at Lord’s in 2023 and bowled 50 there in his third Test two years earlier. Against India at the Oval in 2021 he summoned up 49.3 overs, while his most impressive feat of stamina was probably Rawalpindi in late 2022: 43 overs, five for 122, as England squeezed out a remarkable last-gasp win on a pitch practically made of asphalt
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