This content was published on
July 9, 2026 - 00:09
5 minutes
(Bloomberg) — Oil gained and US equity futures ticked lower after the US said it is striking Iran for the second straight day, an escalation of violence that threatens to choke shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 2.2% to more than $75 a barrel at the open in early Asia trading after notching its biggest daily climb in five weeks in the prior session, with Brent crude briefly topping $80 a barrel. S&P 500 contracts slipped 0.1% after the US benchmark closed down 0.3% on Wednesday. Asian equity futures pointed to gains in Japan and South Korea and losses in Hong Kong and Australia.The additional strikes were started “to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Central Command said in a social media post. The attacks came just hours after President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Turkey said the US would probably target the country again and could resume a blockade, raising concerns about a return to all-out war.The moves posed the greatest threat yet to talks toward a broader agreement to end the war that has jolted global markets. The US has blamed Iran for attacks on some ships in recent days. Tehran has said repeatedly it won’t allow vessels to transit the key Strait of Hormuz without its permission.“Markets weren’t initially taking the re-escalation in US-Iran tensions too seriously earlier this week,” said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com. “But today, that seems to have changed.”The flare-up in tensions and jump oil prices rekindled inflation concerns, prompting money markets Wednesday to boost their bets the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates by October, compared with December previously.Meanwhile, the two-year yield, which closely tracks expectations for the Fed’s monetary policy, rose as much as five basis points to 4.23%, within a basis point of its peak last month, amid a selloff in global bond markets. The 10-year yield climbed as much as four basis points to 4.59%, the highest since late May.Veteran strategist Ed Yardeni said the rupture in the ceasefire between the US and Iran risks sparking a fresh acceleration in price growth, which in turn could compel the Fed to raise interest rates.A few Fed officials in their most-recent policy meeting said there was a case for raising rates, though they ultimately supported the decision to leave rates on hold. More generally, minutes of their June gathering reflected growing concern over inflation just as worries over the labor market slightly receded.“One thing is certain: future policy is heavily contingent on the political situation in the Middle East,” said Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial. “If we can tease out any forward guidance from the minutes, it would be the committee is working through a wide range of scenarios and will not commit to a specific scenario until the incoming data provides necessary clarity.”Corporate Highlights:China plans to allow top artificial intelligence companies to buy a limited amount of H200 chips from Nvidia Corp., a sign the country is easing restrictions on the coveted US technology, according to the Information. SpaceXAI has unveiled a new artificial-intelligence model built in partnership with AI coding startup Cursor that’s meant to be more adept at finance, legal and coding tasks, in a bid by Elon Musk’s firm to gain ground on rivals like Anthropic PBC and OpenAI. China plans to allow top AI companies to buy a limited amount of H200 chips from Nvidia Corp., a sign the country is easing restrictions on the coveted US technology, according to the Information. Apple Inc., following through on a pledge to boost spending on US-made components, said its expanded agreement with Broadcom Inc. is expected to top $30 billion. Meta Platforms Inc. will invest around $10 billion to build its first data center in Canada as the company expands its infrastructure to support its AI ambitions. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC is embarking on its first external fundraising round, according to people familiar with the matter, seizing on the enthusiasm ginned up by archrival SpaceX’s record initial public offering. What Bloomberg Strategists say…“Rising volatility in oil due to renewed US-Iran tensions will be a bigger headwind to risk sentiment than prices in the $70s.”—Michael Ball, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis, click here.Some of the main moves in markets:StocksHang Seng futures fell 0.2% as of 7:01 a.m. Tokyo time S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.6% Nikkei 225 futures rose 1.3% CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was unchanged at $1.1417 The yen was unchanged at 162.59 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8064 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin rose 0.2% to $62,203.9 Ether rose 0.2% to $1,738.33 CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6% to $74.67 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.Currencies©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
