Oil price slides as US and Iran pause fire; cancer treatments help AstraZeneca beat profit forecasts – business live
Key events
Introduction: Oil price slides as US and Iran pause fire
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Oil prices have fallen more than 5% this morning as the US paused strikes on Iran for the second night in a row, with military officials advising Donald Trump to stop his bombing campaign.
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, is now down 5.3% to $91.68 a barrel, after it hit $100 last week.
Trum is believed to be considering diplomatic and military options in the conflict with Iran, while the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House on Tuesday.
Iran said on Sunday that it would pause “retaliatory” attacks against US allies in the region.
Jim Reid, of Deutsche Bank, says that while the pause is not a formal ceasefire, both sides have presented it as “an opportunity for diplomacy”.
US officials, including UN ambassador Mike Waltz, have stressed that all military options remain on the table and that President Trump is simply giving negotiations more space. However, reports from the New York Times and Axios suggest an active debate within the administration over both the effectiveness and costs of further strikes, with some military officials reportedly arguing that key objectives have largely been achieved. For now, the market is treating the lull as a positive development, although the situation remains highly fluid.
The main market risk remains the energy and shipping front. Traffic through Hormuz remains severely disrupted, while the conflict has broadened into the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Houthi forces reportedly launched missile and drone attacks against Saudi energy infrastructure around Jizan and Yanbu over the weekend, prompting retaliatory Saudi strikes. This raises the prospect of simultaneous disruption to both Gulf and Red Sea export routes. So a welcome pause from the main actors but a fragile one, especially with side battles still ongoing.
Elsewhere this morning, AstraZeneca reported better than expected profits for its second quarter, driven by strong growth in its cancer treatment sales.
Its earnings for the three months ended in June rose 18% to $2.63 (£1.97) a share, while its overall revenue rose by 5% to $15.38bn at constant currency.