World oil prices jump amid Middle East tensions

Crude futures went on to give up some of the gains but still rose nearly 3%

World oil prices jumped Wednesday, with the benchmark international contract Brent North Sea crude surpassing $95 for the first time in nearly six weeks as Iran and US carried out more strikes.

Crude futures went on to give up some of the gains but still rose nearly 3%.

The military actions have been renewed at an extraordinary high, said John Kilduff of Again Capital. And the rhetoric is as hot as it’s been since the beginning of the war.

According to maritime data firm Kpler, three of the ships had taken on oil at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Yanbu terminal, which is an important means for Riyadh to bypass the Hormuz Strait.

CFRA Research senior vice president Arun Sundaram cited a litany of worry items in a “growing list of headwinds” including renewed US tariff threats, spiking bond yields and the country’s fears over China’s artificial intelligence competitiveness.

The market has refused to flinch, like a boxer absorbing punch after punch while refusing to go down, Sundaram said.

While stock market traders kept a close watch on the Mideast war developments, focus was also firmly on the technology sector, as it has been for several weeks.

A rotation away from tech has resulted in a better day for European markets overall, which continue to defy the strength in oil, said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading and investing platform IG.

The recent pullback in chip stocks following a storming run earlier this year has left investors hungry for an update on AI-related demand and to see if all the big investments into tech infrastructure are paying off, said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.