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Oil (BZ=F, CL=F)
Oil prices rose on Thursday morning, on expectations of potentially tighter supply, after the US announced fresh sanctions on Iran's oil trade.
Brent crude futures were up 0.6% to $66.23 a barrel on Thursday morning, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.8% to $62.95 a barrel.
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US president Donald Trump's administration issued the new tariffs on Wednesday amid talks on Iran's nuclear programme.
Jim Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE), said: "The rise was initially supported by the news on China’s openness to talks and then was further boosted by news of additional US sanctions on Iranian oil, with Treasury secretary Bessent posting that 'we will apply maximum pressure on Iran and disrupt the regime’s oil supply chain and exports'."
Pound (GBPUSD=X, GBPEUR=X)
The pound was little changed against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) on Thursday morning, trading at $1.3225, as investors weighed comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and the latest developments around tariffs.
In a speech on Wednesday, Powell said that the Fed would "wait for greater clarity" before considering any interest rate adjustments as he expects Trump’s tariffs to generate "higher inflation and slower growth."
He acknowledged that those twin developments could create a dilemma for the Fed, which seeks to maintain stability with prices and the labour market.
"We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension," he said.
US stocks tumbled on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closing the session down 2.2%, on the back of Powell's comments, as well as concerns about the impact of restrictions on chipmaker exports.
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Nvidia (NVDA) shares fell nearly 7% on Wednesday, after the chipmaker revealed late on Tuesday that that new restrictions from the US government on its chip exports to China would result in $5.5bn in charges. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares fell more than 7% it after made similar announcement, saying the new provisions could cost the chipmaker up to $800m.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said: "While investors may have been hoping for a change, once again markets have been buffeted by ‘Storm Donald’ as the US president’s trade policy continues to exert pressure on global companies."
In other currency moves, the pound rose 0.2% agains the euro (GBPEUR=X), trading at €1.1642.