Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.
Markets were not getting too excited at the beginning of this week when Donald Trump said a peace deal with Iran was “very close”.
And last night’s exchange of strikes might explain why. The US has said its completed a series of strikes against Iran in response to its claim that Iran had launched a drone attack on a helicopter resulting in a rescue mission for two members.
Donald Trump said on Tuesday the downed helicopter had been monitoring the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that around a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows through. The Strait has now been effectively closed since late February.
The US has framed its strikes as “a proportional response” for the helicopter downing, whilst Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described the attacks as “vicious”.
The IRGC has responded with strikes on 21 targets at US bases in the region.
The move sent Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – above $92 per barrel on Wednesday morning, recovering part of the previous session’s losses.
The latest round of jitters will hit markets after a bruising session on Tuesday, which saw the FTSE 100 finish over one per cent lower as the falling oil price dragged down BP and Shell whilst health stocks weighed down the index after GSK’s $10.9bn takeover. Wall Street was also seeing red as the rebound in chip stocks ran out of steam leaving the tech-heavy Nasdaq losing one per cent.
We’ll be bringing you the latest market reaction and more.
Here’s a few of our top headlines this morning
- UK Government warns Joe Joyce against travelling to Russia for Moscow fight
- Liz Kendall hails ‘Brit-maxxing’ as Labour bets £1.1bn on AI chip race
- Starmer says X is responsible for fake Farage and Bailey fight images
- Retail bosses urge Starmer to ease cost of youth employment as ladder of opportunity wobbles
- Justice For Players hopeful of Fifa deal in football class action after Diarra settlement
