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Brent crude rises after Trump says he wants to ‘take the oil’ in Iran; Starmer to gather business leaders to discuss emergency measures – business live | Business

Published

3 months ago

March 30, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

Brent crude on track for record monthly rise of nearly 60%

Brent crude is on course for a record monthly rise of nearly 60%, exceeding gains it made during the 1990 Gulf War.

The global oil benchmark is currently trading 3.5% higher at $116.051 a barrel – up 59% so far in March – while New York light crude rose 2% to $101.6 a barrel.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched their first attacks on Israel over the weekend as the US–Israeli war with Iran widened. More US troops have arrived in the Middle East while the Israeli military said today that is it attacking government infrastructure “throughout Tehran”.

Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysts Vanda Insights, said:

The market has all but discounted the prospect of a negotiated end to the war, Trump’s claims of ongoing ‘direct and indirect’ talks with Iran notwithstanding, and is bracing for a sharp escalation in military hostilities, which is a bullish signal for crude, with huge uncertainties on the timing and nature of the outcome.

Natural gas prices have also gone up again, amid concerns that supplies will be further disrupted. Dutch month-ahead futures rose 1.6% to just over €55 a megawatt-hour.

Debenhams lifts 2027 profit forecast as turnaround pays off

British fashion retailer Debenhams has raised its 2027 profit forecast after beating forecasts for last year, as its turnaround strategy is paying off.

The shares rose more than 6% on the news. The well-known brand made a comeback last March after the online retailer Boohoo rebranded as Debenhams. It embarked on measures to cut costs and debt amid fierce competition from low-cost fast fashion rivals such as Shein and the resale app Vinted.

Debenhams, which owns brands including PrettyLittleThing, Oasis, Warehouse and Karen Millen, forecast annual adjusted core profit of £53m for the year to 28 February, ahead of its previous guidance, driven by a 76% jump in second-half profit. It expects 2027 profits to grow in double digits.

Dan Finley, the chief executive, said:

Our multi-year turnaround strategy continues at pace. Our pivot to the stock-lite, capital-lite, highly profitable marketplace is working.

The cost base has been reset, the warehouse consolidation completed, the tech re-platform delivered, the stock base rightsized, most of the onerous costs exited and the brand management teams strengthened. This is significant progress, ahead of our plan, but there is still more to be delivered and we now focus on growth.

Debenhams logo is seen on smartphone in front of a displayed Boohoo logo. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

The company said all its brands are trading profitably, on an adjusted core profit basis. It raised £40m from shareholders in February, more than its initial target of £35m, backed by the Boohoo founder, Mahmud Kamani. It came less than 18 months after the group raised £39m from shareholders as it battled to revive sales.

The retailer has been locked in a drawn-out tussle with its top investor Frassers Group, majority-owned by retail tycoon Mike Ashley, which unsuccessfully tried to block the rebranding and out Kamani from the board.

Wayne Brown, analyst at Panmure Liberum, said:

This is the third upgrade this year and FY26 EBITDA has now been upgraded 51% since the same time last year.

Net debt is not overly stretching and is predicted to fall organically before we even see the sale of non-core assets.

The transformation work done has been huge and the noise (and costs) associated with these is now all but over.

Some may say it is too early to call, but all the signals and green shoots of the new business model are now visible and when investors start to recognise this, the shares will rally very hard.

Global government bonds set for biggest monthly losses in over a year

Government bonds around the world are set for the biggest monthly losses in more than a year, as investors worry about the impact of a prolonged war in the Middle East on inflation and economic growth.

Declines in bond prices have pushed their yields (or interest rates) higher, although they eased on Monday.

The two-year US Treasury yield is set for a monthly rise of around 50 basis points, the biggest increase since October 2024. Australia’s three-year yield is also 50bps ahead in March, the most in 17 months. Japan’s two-year government bond yield has risen 12.5bps this month.

Moh Siong Sim, a strategist at the Singapore bank OCBC, told Reuters:

Now that the reality is sort of sinking in that perhaps the oil price might stay high for a bit longer, given that it’s hard to see an end to the war anytime soon, the growth impact is starting to become more of a focus.

The buzzword here is stagflation. Initial focus was on inflation. Now the ‘stag’ bit is moving into the picture, and that’s perhaps explained why short-ended bond yields have come off.

Oil prices have surged above $100 a barrel since the US and Israel began attacking Iran on 28 February. This has raised fears of higher inflation, and led to a dramatic shift in interest rate expectations. The Bank of England is now expected to raise interest rates, rather than cutting them, at least twice this year, as is the European Central Bank.

The US Federal Reserve, which has been under pressure from Donald Trump to cut rates, is forecast to leave them on hold.

Introduction: Brent Crude rises after Trump says he wants to ‘take the oil’ in Iran; Starmer to gather business leaders to discuss emergency measures

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Asian stock markets have fallen while oil prices have climbed further, after Donald Trump said he wants to “take the oil” in Iran.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, has risen a further 2.2% to $115.01 a barrel, up $2.4.

Asian stock markets have declined, with the exception of the Shanghai and Singapore exchanges, which have edged slightly higher. Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.1%.

Donald Trump has said his “preference would be to take the oil” in Iran and that US forces could seize the regime’s export hub on Kharg Island, the Financial Times is reporting, as the US sends thousands of troops to the Middle East.

The US president compares the potential move to Venezuela, where the US intends to control the oil industry “indefinitely” following its ousting of president Nicolás Maduro in January.

Trump said in the interview with the FT on Sunday:

To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people.

You can follow the latest news on the Middle East here:

Keir Starmer will convene executives from the energy industry, shipping, banking and insurance at No 10 Downing Street today to discuss emergency measures to contain the continuing crisis from Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz.

The roundtable includes leaders from Shell, BP, British Gas parent Centrica and Norway’s Equinor, as well as the insurance giant Lloyd’s of London (the centre of global shipping insurance), banking groups HSBC and Goldman Sachs, and container shipping companies, Denmark’s Maersk and France’s CMA CGM.

No 10 said it is intended to be a constructive meeting about the perilous state of the strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route through which about a fifth of global oil and gas supplies pass, our deputy political editor Jessica Elgot reported. It is likely to inform short and long-term contingency planning amid threats from Iran that it intends to assert sovereignty over the strait, including potentially charging vessels for access once the chokepoint is eventually reopened.

Separately, Rachel Reeves, the UK chancellor, will warn G7 nations they must move faster on clean energy to insulate economies against global price shocks from oil and gas as she and the energy secretary Ed Miliband meet G7 finance and energy ministers today.

The Agenda

9.30am BST: Bank of England mortgage lending and consumer credit
10am BST: Eurozone economic sentiment and consumer confidence
1pm BST: Germany inflation for March (preliminary estimate)

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Arrest over push of woman into bus's path in 2017

Published

17 minutes ago

June 15, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

A 44-year-old man is in custody over the incident where a woman appeared to be shoved into the path of a bus.

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World Cup 2026: Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture; teams hit back at Ceferin; Iran arrive in US – live | World Cup 2026

Published

1 hour ago

June 15, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

More now on the hand gesture story mentioned earlier. Fifa’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup has called for a video assistant referee to be removed for appearing to make a hand gesture resembling a white supremacist sign.

“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network, a longtime partner of Fifa and Uefa, the European football governing body, to monitor racist and discriminatory chants, flags and symbols at international games, said in a statement. “Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup,” Fare said in a statement, describing the gesture as “neo-Nazi.”

Kick-off times are more friendly for the UK viewer today. Spain v Cape Verdi at 5pm and Belgium v Egypt at 8pm. But we need to think globally so that’s 3pm for Cape Verdi viewers cheering on their team while in Egypt it’ll be 10pm for those tuning in to see if Mo Salah can inspire his team to victory over the Belgians.

The biggest test for the UK viewer today is Iran v New Zealand at 2am BST. In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch that’ll be 1pm while in Tehran, Mashhad and Karaj it’s a less palatable 4.30am.

Thanks Sarah. As for World Cup songs, this one from the German 1990 squad always sticks in my mind. While England took the genre to a new level with New Order and John Barnes’ rap, the Germans very much went down the traditional route. A singer that looks like a cross between Chris de Burgh and Thomas Muller, Karl-Heinz Riedle on maracas, one or two playing air saxophone. Pleasingly dreadful.

The Germans’ response to New Order

I am off to grab some food and so I leave you in the hands of Dave Tindall who will take you through the next few hours of news. I’ll be back later on.

From requests of your favourite football songs to another on if you live in a World Cup host city. We want to hear from you if you have football teams in town from the atmosphere to how it is affecting business. Use the form on this page to get in touch:

We have another shout for the best/worst football song and I can’t decide which side of the forward slash this one belongs on. Graeme Neill said:

Timely given yesterday evening’s match. Japan’s Cornelius and his utterly bonkers Ball in Kick Off is worth a listen:

France will kick-off their tournament against Senegal on Tuesday and to say they have attacking quality is an understatement. The team boasts players like the captain, Kylian Mbappé, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Cherki but they all have a role to play, according to Adrien Rabiot. Read more:

Jacob Steinberg

The cat is well truly out of the bag. Nobody expected the conversation to be quite so revealing when Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers sat on the Lions’ Den sofa last week. Content controlled by the Football Association was an unlikely place for Bellingham to drop a few truth bombs, but the England midfielder was not minded to hold back when it was time to discuss his experience at Euro 2024.

“It didn’t feel like there was any kind of hierarchy,” the 22-year-old said. “I think at the Euros we got some things a little bit wrong off the pitch. I don’t feel like the group connected as well as it could have – for a number of reasons.”

Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture

Fifa have been urged to remove a video review official who appeared to make a white supremacy hand gesture during Germany’s 7-1 win over Curaçao.

The governing body’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup called for Shaun Evans from Australia to be removed from the tournament.

The gesture was also spotted by several fans who posted about it on social media.

“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network said.

Fifa are yet to comment on the situation.

There have been some sights at the World Cup but Scotland fans taking over Fenway Park is one that has been one of the most surreal. The Boston Red Sox lost 6-4 to the Texas Rangers but Scotland fans stayed long after the game was over singing “super John McGinn” and during the match there was a rendition of “yes sir, I can boogie”.

Photograph: Mark Stockwell/AP

Anil Patel has emailed:

This absolute banger wasn’t attached to any particular team but is one of the best themes out there.

This is a great shout and a fun fact for you about it, it was initially written to be a baseball anthem. Some baseball news coming your way soon…

If anyone is unsure of the song I referenced, here it is:

Football songs can be iconic or occasionally cringey, that one with Dizzee Rascal and James Cordon comes to mind for the latter for me. What are your best/worst anthems for a major tournament? Get in touch and let me know.

England may have banished some penalty shootout demons in the last few major tournaments but the question of who would step up to take one is one that will always be asked. One such player who said he would take on is Eberechi Eze, despite missing one in the Champions League final. Have a read of what he said:

There will be many questions raised at this World Cup. Who will win the trophy? Who will claim the Golden Boot? What will the next standout moment be? But there is another question that has been answered in the following piece: Where have the WAGs gone?

Matt Hughes

Fox will not face any punishment from Fifa for breaking the governing body’s advertising rules during the opening game of the World Cup between Mexico and South Africa last week.

The US broadcaster broke Fifa’s strict guidelines for showing commercials during hydration breaks on the first occasion they were in operation by returning to the live action 10 seconds after play had resumed during the second half at Mexico City Stadium.

Fifa’s tournament regulations, which were given to all rights holders two months ago, state that while broadcasters can show ads during hydration breaks they must return to the match 30 seconds before play resumes.

Sometimes a team needs a player to have some standout performances to jump start a tournament and Jordan Henderson believes that player for England will be Jude Bellingham. Henderson said:

I’m sure he will have a big impact for us in this tournament. I can remember five years ago I gave him his first cap, it was away at Middlesbrough. How much he’s grown, as a player and as a person since then, is incredible really. I had a good idea when I first saw him playing and training, and the way he was.

I think everybody forgets how young he is. We do rondos and it’s the youngest in, and there’s people that I think should be going in before him, but he’s always one of the first in the middle to go in. It just reminds us how young he is. I honestly couldn’t speak highly enough of him.

Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

The travel at this tournament has grabbed more than a few headlines so far and there is another one pertaining to Australia. The Socceroos beat Turkey 2-0 in their opening game with their second against one of the co-hosts, the US, on Friday. Their focus will be on that game but recovery is also high on their list. Read more here:

There have already been so many historic moments at this tournament, including Scotland’s first World Cup win in 36 years. Mo Salah is hoping to replicate the moment and end Egypt’s long wait of 92 years for a victory at the tournament. The team have their first game against Belgium today to try and make history:

Spain, who start their campaign today against Cabo Verde, are among the favourites to win the World Cup after their European Championship success in 2024. Here’s a piece on how the team are embracing the tag and how they are using one trophy-winning tournament to potentially lift another:

Uruguay will take on Saudia Arabia later today but their travel was delayed amid challenges across the tournament.

The team’s initial flight from Mexico was cancelled with their replacment delayed. The Uruguay captain, José María Giménez, described the situation as “difficult”.

There are more games to be played today with another four in store. The details for those kick-off times and match-ups are below but do get in touch to let me know what your World Cup routine is. Are you having to get up early to watch the games? Or are you in a time zone where you can get home from work and watch back-to-back football until it’s time for bed? Email me and let me know, here are today’s fixtures:

Spain v Cabo Verde (5pm BST, 12pm ET, 9am PT)
Belgium v Egypt (8pm BST, 3pm ET, 12pm PT)
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay (11pm BST, 6pm ET, 3pm PT)
Iran v New Zealand (2am BST, 9pm ET, 6pm PT)

So what happened in the matches yesterday? Four took place with the biggest win coming in Germany’s 7-1 dismantling of Curaçao. The island nation will be disappointed with the result but they also made history as they scored their first-ever World Cup goal. That came from Livano Comenencia, who plays his club football for Zürich. Have a read of that report and others for all the latest action on pitch:

Čeferin criticised for ‘uninteresting’ comment

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin was criticised by multiple nations from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean after reportedly saying the expanded World Cup creates “uninteresting” matches.

According to Zurnal 24, the boss said at a conference last Monday: “We have a huge number of matches that are completely uninteresting.”

The associations of Cape Verde, Congo, Curaçao, Haiti, Jordan and Uzbekistan released a joint statement, which was in solidarity with the federations of Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

It said: “Football does not belong to a select group of nations. Its strength comes from its universality,” the statement said. “For many countries, participation in the FIFA World Cup is not only a sporting achievement. It is a moment that inspires a generation, accelerates football development and creates memories that last a lifetime.”

Photograph: Toya Sarno Jordan/FIFA/Getty Images

Ben Fisher

The Iran striker Mehdi Taremi has said the controversy and disruption surrounding their involvement at the World Cup undermines Fifa’s message of peace and conceded he felt the tension before arriving in Los Angeles on the eve of their opener, hours before a peace deal was announced. For the first time since the competition’s inception, a host nation has received a country with which it is at war.

On Sunday Iran flew to LA from Tijuana, Mexico, where they were relocated amid an ongoing row over visas, but are expected to face opposition from Iranians, many of whom believe the national team do not represent the country. Iran has been beset by problems in the buildup to the tournament, with several officials denied entry to the US.

Preamble

Hello and welcome to today’s World Cup news blog where we bring you the latest updates from the global event being hosted across the US, Canada and Mexico.

Any breaking news, team updates or reflections on what has happened so far will be all here for you to feast on, no matter what you are doing with your Monday.

Please do get in touch too, we always like to hear from readers. Potentially on the best underdog story at the World Cup or any quirky predictions you may have for the tournament.

Amongst several stories surrounding the competition today is Iran’s arrival in the US. The team landed on Sunday before they take on New Zealand.

More details on that story will be with you shortly, as well as the reports from the games that took place yesterday to catch up on all the latest action.

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