Mitsui O.S.K.: Operations in key Arabian Gulf routes ‘so far normal' despite regional tensions
CEO Takeshi Hashimoto outlines current conditions for shipping and energy transport in the Arabian Gulf, as the Israel-Iran conflict fuels uncertainty over vital trade corridors.
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New York Times
23 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump and the Middle East Weigh on the Fed
If there is one story to watch on Wednesday, it will be this: what Jay Powell, the Fed chair, says about the economic impact of conflict in the Middle East and how it might change the central bank's forecasts about interest rates in the coming months. We also take a look at the fallout of the Musk-Trump breakup for an overlooked stakeholder: China. Trump and Iran loom over the Fed President Trump's increasingly bellicose remarks about Iran over the past 24 hours — he's called for the country's 'unconditional surrender' as it exchanges barrages with Israel — may not exactly be scaring investors. But it has thrown the Fed a curveball. The central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday. Markets will be watching closely the Fed's rates forecast and Jay Powell's news conference. High on the agenda will be questions about whether the Fed chair sees conflict in the Middle East and higher oil prices creating a new inflation risk that forces the central bank to keep rates higher for longer. A recap: In March, the Fed signaled that it would lower its benchmark lending rate by half a percentage point this year. (Trump, who has repeatedly chided Powell for not cutting rates sooner, argues that two full percentage points of cuts are warranted.) A lot has happened since then. Moody's cut America's triple-A credit rating, citing Washington's inability to manage the nation's fiscal hole. Nonpartisan congressional analysts estimate that the House version of Republicans' huge policy bill would grow the national debt by $3.4 trillion and potentially jolt the market for Treasury notes and bonds. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
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Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures stall as Fed takes front seat from Mideast fears
US stock futures stalled on Wednesday, with the prospect of the US joining Israel-Iran hostilities keeping investors on edge as they braced for the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and the S&P 500 (ES=F) both fluctuated along the flat line. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were also little changed following a losing day for the major gauges. Markets are on alert for any sign that the US has joined the Middle East conflict, which has swung stocks around since it broke out last week. President Trump said "our patience is wearing thin" and met with his national security team on Tuesday, raising speculation that the US could join Israel's offensive. Iran has warned it will respond firmly if the US crosses a red line into involvement, and has reportedly readied missiles for strikes on US bases in region if it does. Oil prices ticked higher, recovering ground after falling 1% earlier Wednesday morning. 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Tesla (TSLA) stock was up before the bell today. A Bloomberg report on Wednesday said that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI was burning through $1B a month as costs of building its AI models increased. Micron (MU) shares rose 1% today in premarket trading, following Wells Fargo analysts maintaining a Buy rating for the tech stock and a price target of $130.00. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is back trading near record highs, but there's still skepticism on Wall Street, Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal reports: Read more here. 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Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Oil is holding gains after spiking to a five-month high on Tuesday. Concerns over the US joining the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran continue to bolster the value of the commodity. Bloomberg reports: Brent (BZ=F) traded above $76 a barrel after closing 4.4% higher in the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was near $75. President Donald Trump met with his national security team on Tuesday, after demanding Iran's 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER' and warning of a possible strike against the country's leader — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in a social media post. Iran's crude-exporting infrastructure has been spared so far, and most of the fallout has been confined to shipping. The Middle East produces around a third of the world's oil and a wider conflict could drive prices even higher. The biggest concern for the oil market centers on the Strait of Hormuz, although there are no signs that Iran is seeking to disrupt shipping through the narrow waterway. About a fifth of the world's daily crude output passes through the strait at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Read more here. Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: AMD (AMD) stock rose over 1% in premarket trading on Wednesday, following the news it plans to partner with Microsoft to develop custom chips to power the next range of Xbox systems. Tesla (TSLA) stock was up before the bell today. A Bloomberg report on Wednesday said that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI was burning through $1B a month as costs of building its AI models increased. Micron (MU) shares rose 1% today in premarket trading, following Wells Fargo analysts maintaining a Buy rating for the tech stock and a price target of $130.00. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is back trading near record highs, but there's still skepticism on Wall Street, Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal reports: Read more here. Economic data: Building permits (May preliminary); Housing starts (May); FOMC rate decision; FOMC median rate forecast for end of 2025; Initial jobless claims (week ending June 14); Continuing claims (week ending June 7) Earnings: Aurora (ACB), Smith & Wesson (SWBI) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: Stocks are back near record highs — but Wall Street isn't buying it Investors brace for Fed signal on 2025 rate cuts Musk's xAI burns through $1 billion a month as costs pile up US added over 1,000 new millionaires a day last year: UBS Trump flexes security powers to keep global tariff goal alive Nintendo extends gains to record as Switch 2 sales boom Shares of Nintendo (NTDOY, 7974.T) continued to climb, with President Trump's trade policy shift providing an added tailwind to the success of its Switch 2 games console update. The stock jumped in Tokyo, while the US-listed stock popped before the bell on Wednesday. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Oil is holding gains after spiking to a five-month high on Tuesday. Concerns over the US joining the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran continue to bolster the value of the commodity. Bloomberg reports: Brent (BZ=F) traded above $76 a barrel after closing 4.4% higher in the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was near $75. President Donald Trump met with his national security team on Tuesday, after demanding Iran's 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER' and warning of a possible strike against the country's leader — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in a social media post. Iran's crude-exporting infrastructure has been spared so far, and most of the fallout has been confined to shipping. The Middle East produces around a third of the world's oil and a wider conflict could drive prices even higher. The biggest concern for the oil market centers on the Strait of Hormuz, although there are no signs that Iran is seeking to disrupt shipping through the narrow waterway. About a fifth of the world's daily crude output passes through the strait at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Read more here.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trending tickers: Tesla, CoreWeave, CrowdStrike, Airbus and AO World
Shares in Tesla fell nearly 4% on Tuesday, after Wells Fargo warned of weak second quarter deliveries and concerns about a threat to its free cash flow. Wells Fargo is expecting Tesla's Q2 deliveries to be down 21% versus a year ago, with the bank's 343,000 estimate around 17% below the consensus. In a note to clients, Wells Fargo's Colin Langan wrote: "New Model Y appears weak given inventory building & promotions. There is also no update on the affordable model, the only driver of 2H [second half of the year] volumes." Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks rise as UK inflation slows ahead of Bank of England decision "Order px [pricing] is stable, though financing promos & inventory discounts continue. We expect lower margin q/q due to px." Langan's analysis showed that Tesla's free cash flow was at risk of going into the red in 2025 due to different factors, including lower deliveries, as well as pricing and tariffs. 'We now forecast FCF [free cash flow] burn of $1.9bn (£1.4bn), the first FCF FY since 2018," the note said. Tesla shares were back up nearly 1% in pre-market trading on Wednesday morning, though the stock is still down nearly 10% over the past month. Shares in Nvidia (NVDA)-backed artificial intelligence cloud computing company CoreWeave (CRWV) surged 8.5% on Tuesday and were up another 2% in pre-market trading on Wednesday. The stock's rise came after Bank of America analyst Brad Sills on Monday downgraded CoreWeave but set his price target on shares to a new Wall Street high. Read more: Oil prices ease but remain at four-month high amid Iran-Israel conflict Sills lowered his rating on CoreWeave to "neutral" from "buy", citing a high valuation and pointed out that it was trading on 27 times its projected 2027 earnings but highlighted its significant debt. However, Sills still lifted his price outlook on the stock to $185 from $76, which is the highest among Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg. "[W]e see solid sustained demand in CoreWeave's AI infrastructure market," Sills wrote. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD) hit at a fresh all-time high on Tuesday, with a closing share price of $492.03, with the stock hovering just above the flatline in pre-market trading on Wednesday. CrowdStrike announced on Monday that it had joined forces with Amazon (AMZN) Web Services (AWS) to provide a program for security incident response. Read more: Stocks that are trending today The company said that its new program offered "AI-powered incident response to help organisations respond to incidents faster, reduce risk, and strengthen their cloud security posture, while providing joint customers significant cost savings and a seamlessly integrated security workflow." Shares rebounded from a fall earlier in June on the back of CrowdStrike's first quarter results. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.73 for the quarter, compared to a Bloomberg consensus estimate of $0.66, while revenue of $1.1bn was in line with expectations. On the Paris bourse, shares in Airbus ( were up 2.6% on Wednesday morning, after the aeronautics and space company reaffirmed its 2025 guidance. Airbus said in a statement on Wednesday, it extended the upper range of its dividend payout ratio to 30% to 50% from the current ratio of 30% to 40%. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio The company also said it would keep its 2025 guidance unchanged. In its first quarter results, published at the end of April, Airbus said it was targeting adjusted earnings before interest and tax of around €7bn (£5.98bn). Shares rose after the release of its first quarter results, though the stock is up just 6.5% year-to-date. On the London market, shares in AO World (AO.L) were down nearly 3%, after the online electronics retailer flagged higher inflation costs. AO said that the largest increase in operational costs had been from those relating to employment and warned that this would only rise further in the 2026 fiscal year because of the changes to the minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions, which were announced in the autumn budget. "We anticipate that this is likely to continue for the next few years, and so we will increasingly look to mitigate these costs through automation, outsourcing and offshoring," AO said. However, in its full-year results, released on Wednesday, AO said revenue rose 9% to £1.14bn ($1.53bn), while adjusted profit before tax came was up 27% to £44m. Read more: UK inflation slows to 3.4% in May as transport costs ease Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "AO has rediscovered its spark, hoovering up a significant number of new customers and growing profits fast. More than 650,000 people bought from the electricals retailer for the first time over the past year, while repeat customers accounted for over 60% of orders. That suggests AO is doing something right with both marketing and service. "At face value, everything looks good until you dig into the numbers. The mobile arm continues to be problematic and that's acting as an anchor on the business." Mould added: "Costs are another headwind for AO and they're only going to get worse. Furthermore, potential legislative changes could create more problems if retailers are forced to take back a customer's old electrical product for free when they deliver a new one." Read more: Why the UK's AIM is struggling 30 years on What you need to know about UK's private stock market Pisces This under-claimed benefit could help boost your pension
