Morning Note: Market News
MARKET NEWS
Isreal attacks Iran: Brent Crude surged almost 10% before falling back somewhat, after Israel carried out military strikes against Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks targeted Tehran’s nuclear program and military and would last until the threat was removed. Stock futures and Treasury yields slid. Iran launched more than 100 drones toward Israel in the last few hours. Iran’s Armed Forces chief of staff and the commander of the Revolutionary Guard were killed, state media reported. US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said the US wasn’t involved. Keir Starmer urged “all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently.”
Markets: US markets closed in positive territory with the S&P 500 closing 6045.26 +23.02 (+0.38%). Futures markets are indicating US markets in open around 1.5% lower on the events in the Middle East. In Europe, markets are also expected to open lower although the fall was more modest in London due to the relatively high weighting towards energy in the FTSE 100. The US dollar firmed, and Gold traded higher by around 1% in early trade.
Air India Crash: One of the black boxes of the crashed Air India plane has been recovered, the Hindustan Times reported. The deadliest aviation accident in over a decade killed 241 people on board. The lone survivor was a British national. Boeing fell 4.8%. CEO Kelly Ortberg cancelled a trip to the Paris Air Show.
Trade: Donald Trump floated higher auto tariffs as he signed a measure blocking California’s EV mandate. Ford and GM slipped. The White House is said to be developing a plan to prioritize and fund rare earth projects.
Corporate: China’s largest shipping company, Cosco, is among firms in talks to join a multinational group seeking to buy Li Ka-Shing’s global ports, people familiar said. Lone Star is said to be near a sale of Novo Banco to BPCE, valuing the Portuguese lender at almost €7 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery is close to winning support from creditors to overhaul its debt. Apple aims to release its delayed AI upgrade of Siri next spring. China delayed the approval of Synopsys’s proposed $35 billion acquisition of Ansys, the FT reported.
