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Oil price tops $100 a barrel again after Trump announces strait of Hormuz blockade – business live | Business

Published

2 months ago

April 13, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

FTSE 100 drops

London’s stock market has opened with a bump, as traders react to the lack of progress in the US-Iran peace talks.

The FTSE 100 index of blue-chip shares has lost 0.6% at the start of trading, falling by 67 points to 10,533 points.

AB Foods (the grocery, sugar, agriculture, ingredients and retail group) are the top faller, down 2.7%, with airlines, miners, banks and housebuilders all lower.

Energy companies are rallying, though; BP and Shell are both up more than 1%.

Energy shock to wipe out growth in UK living standards

The surge in energy costs from the Iran war will cost a typical UK household almost £500, new research from the Resolution Foundation shows.

The Resolution Foundation have esimated that rising energy prices are likely to tip living standards growth into negative territory this year.

That’s because the increased cost of energy bills and petrol at the pump will almost certainly be passed onto households.

The typical household is now set to see its income fall by 0.6% – a difference of £480 – over the course of the current financial year, they say, Before the conflict, they were on track for 0.9% growth.

Average income growth for the poorest fifth this year is now set to be just 1.2%, down from 2.8% before the conflict.

James Smith, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation, says:

“Despite hopes for a sustained peace, the path of this conflict remains uncertain and energy prices remain well above pre-war levels, meaning many households face a decline in their purchasing power this year.

“This squeeze will run right through the income distribution. Lower-income households will still see some income growth thanks to a long-awaited rise in real benefit levels, but inflation will likely knock more than a percentage point off what they stood to gain. For those in the middle and towards the top of the income distribution, even the thin growth they had been expecting has tipped into negative territory.

“Deescalation is certainly welcome, but damage to household finances this year is to a large degree already done. The Government should act now to prepare a social tariff that reaches households falling through the cracks this winter.”

Heathrow Airport has warned that the outlook for the next few months is uncertain, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

In its latest traffic commentary, Heathrow says it is supporting airlines and passengers as they adapt to airspace closures, adding:

The knock-on impacts to global supply chains, including fuel, have not affected airport operations. Heathrow will monitor the situation and liaise with Government and airlines to protect passengers’ journeys.

The US dollar is rallying as a sharp risk-off move ripples across markets.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, has gained 0.35% this morning.

The pound is down half a cent, to just above $1.34.

UK gas price jumps

The price of wholesale gas has also risen this morning.

The month-ahead US gas contract is up 9% to 119.50 a therm, its highest level since last Tuesday (before Donald Trump announced the two-week ceasefire with Iran).

Before the conflict began at the end of February, gas was trading below 80p a therm, before hitting 180p/therm in mid-March.

Analyst: oil remains vulnerable to geopolitical triggers.

Every barrel of risk added to oil markets carries an inflation price tag for the global economy, warns Priyanka Sachdeva, analyst at brokerage Phillip Nova:

Oil markets have decisively re-entered geopolitical mode, with prices vaulting back above the psychological $100 per barrel threshold as the United States moved to impose a naval blockade targeting Iranian shipping through the strait of Hormuz.

Both benchmarks, WTI and Brent, opened gap-up and currently hover with almost 8% gains. The market reaction underscores a simple but powerful reality: Hormuz risk is not theoretical; it is structural, and it is real.

The latest catalyst came after talks mediated by Pakistan failed to produce a durable agreement, prompting the U.S. to announce enforcement of maritime restrictions on vessels moving to and from Iranian ports. The mere threat of enforcement alone has been sufficient to re-price risk, demonstrating how vulnerable oil remains to geopolitical triggers.

Only mild losses in Asia-Pacific markets after peace talks break down

The breakdown of US-Iran peace talks last weekend has only led to modest losses in Asia-Pacific markets.

Japan’s Nikkei index is down 0.75%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and the South Korean KOSPI have both dropped by 1.15%.

Michael Brown, senior research strategist at brokerage Pepperstone, says:

While crude has advanced, and stocks slipped a touch, the overall market reaction to the weekend news of a US Navy blockade of the strait of Hormuz has been relatively contained, as participants view the move largely as a negotiating gambit from President Trump.

While it’s clearly a risk-averse start to the trading week, amid President Trump’s announcement of a Navy blockade in the strait of Hormuz, the general market reaction can be summed up as ‘could be worse’.

The US blockade of the strait of Hormuz is a blow to the 20,000 seafarers who have been trapped in the Gulf for the last six weeks.

One told us last week:

“I gave my notice exactly one month ago. I’ve informed the master, I’m not willing to sail through the strait. It’s about safety, it’s all about safety.”

Introduction: US blockage threat puts oil back over $100

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

We start a new week, again, with an escalating conflict in the Middle East, after the collapse of US-Iran peace talks last weekend.

Donald Trump’s threat to impose a blockade on the strait of Hormuz has driven the oil price back over $100 a barrel again this morning, as hopes of an end to the conflict soon take another knock.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, has jumped by 7% to $101.88 a barrel, while US crude is up over 8% to $104.69 a barrel – back towards the highs of almost $120 set early in the conflict.

The US president also said he had asked the US Navy to “interdict” any ship that had paid a toll to Iran for passage through the strait, in an attempt to choke off the flow of Iranian oil.

Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, says:

By doing so, the US aims to force Tehran’s allies and customers to put pressure on Iran to reopen the vital chokepoint, potentially resolving the impasse without committing ground forces to another protracted conflict.

This approach will undoubtedly strain Iran’s relationship with its largest customer, China. Having already lost Venezuelan supply earlier this year, Beijing now faces the potential loss of another roughly 2m barrels a day.

The war has already driven confidence across Britain’s biggest companies down to a six-year low.

Deloitte’s quarterly survey of chief financial officers has found that concerns around energy prices, inflation and interest rates surging after the Middle East conflict, to its lowest level since early in the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The agenda

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

Published

59 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

2 hours 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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