Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news Oil has fallen back below $90 a barrel, paring back some of its earlier gains after reports of diplomatic exchange between the US and Iran. Iran has said that diplomatic exchanges with the United States via mediators were ongoing, despite US military strikes on the country. We have been informed by mediators, we have received messages – without going into details – but the main point is that the diplomatic apparatus has been active in recent days and ideas have been conveyed to us by certain mediators.

The European continent is at present particularly vulnerable to the lack of finished fuels as demand has severely increased due to the ongoing, unforgiving heatwave reflected in the demand on the electricity grid. The Gasoil/Brent crack rallied nearly $10/barrel last week and is up nearly $25/barrel since the world thought Hormuz was cured in the middle of June. …One could argue that the recent scrutiny received by AI and technology companies, and stock market falls, are due to the increased awareness of both overstretched valuations and investment, and now, in AI buildouts, overcapacity.

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