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Hello, this is Hui Jie writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
Before we left for the weekend last week, peace in the Middle East looked like a real possibility. But now that possibility seems deeply diminished, with tensions on the boil again.
Read on!
What you need to know today
The situation in the Middle East appears to have taken a turn for the worst, complicating chances of a peace deal that had appeared to be in sight last week and had calmed investors’ jitters.
Over the weekend, the Strait of Hormuz was declared open by Iran, only to be closed again, and while U.S. President Donald Trump said his negotiators would be going to Pakistan for another round of peace talks, Iran’s state media denied Tehran’s participation.
Iran’s decision to reject further talks comes as the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports with Trump saying in a Truth Social post that the U.S. had intercepted an Iranian-flagged ship called the TOUSKA in the Gulf of Oman.
Trump said the U.S. Navy had fired on and disabled the ship before Marines boarded and seized the vessel.
Markets, which soared to records last week on the hope that peace could finally come to the region and energy supplies will be restored, have come under pressure again.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 425 points, or 0.9%. S&P 500 futures lost 0.7%, along with Nasdaq-100 futures.
Asian markets painted a mixed picture at open, with South Korean and Japanese markets up, while Australia stocks dipped.
Oil prices, meanwhile, surged, with global benchmark Brent up 6.77% to trade at $96.5 a barrel and U.S. crude futures rising 8.05% to $90.56.