{"id":383007,"date":"2026-04-09T10:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/383007\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T10:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:24:20","slug":"oil-prices-rise-and-stocks-fall-as-investors-wary-of-fragile-us-iran-ceasefire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/383007\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil prices rise and stocks fall as investors wary of \u2018fragile\u2019 US-Iran ceasefire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oil Oil prices have jumped again and stock markets faltered (Jane Barlow\/PA) (PA Wire) <\/p>\n

Oil prices have jumped again and stock markets faltered as investors were wary over a \u201cfragile\u201d ceasefire in Iran<\/a>, despite following a relief rally in the US.<\/p>\n

The price of Brent<\/a> crude oil was rising by about 3.5% to 98 US dollars a barrel on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, oil fell back sharply to lows of about 90 US dollars a barrel following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n

\"(PA (PA Graphics) (PA Graphics) <\/p>\n

Iran agreed to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but closed the waterway again on Wednesday night in response to Israeli<\/a> attacks on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Stock markets opened in the red on Thursday, with the UK\u2019s FTSE 100 edging lower by about 0.2% in early trading.<\/p>\n

There were deeper losses elsewhere in Europe, with France\u2019s Cac 40 down 0.5% and Germany\u2019s Dax falling by 1%.<\/p>\n

The declines come despite a rally on Wall Street on Wednesday night, with the S&P 500 surging by 2.5% and the Dow Jones by 2.85% on the back of the ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n

Experts said doubts about the stability of the deal in the Middle East<\/a> were showing up in investor sentiment.<\/p>\n

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: \u201cRelief has now been reflected in market movements, but the next challenge is to turn this into belief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have already been reports that the ceasefire is a fragile one, with further Israeli attacks on Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has led to threats that Iran could withdraw from the truce if the attacks continue, while White House comments have remained aggressive as forces remain in the area, poised to act if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist for Wealth Club, said: \u201cWhile overall there is still hope that the truce with Iran will hold, it\u2019s becoming clear just how complex achieving a longer-lasting deal in the Middle East will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the Strait of Hormuz is a \u201cchokepoint for global energy supplies\u201d but remains \u201clargely obstructed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if shipments resume, the risks won\u2019t disappear overnight,\u201d Ms Streeter added.<\/p>\n

\u201cTankers<\/a> may be forced to navigate mined waters and a heightened military presence, all of which will keep insurance premiums high and freight costs elevated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathleen Brooks, research director for XTB, said that oil prices remaining below 100 dollars a barrel on Thursday \u201ccould be a sign that investors remain hopeful of a breakthrough in the coming days, or at least firmer foundations for the ceasefire to take hold\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could limit the downside for risk in the short term, and it could cap oil price gains,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oil prices have jumped again and stock markets faltered (Jane Barlow\/PA) (PA Wire) Oil prices have jumped again…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[53725,42,87,22469,43,6807,182936,1760,114994,182934,182935,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-383007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-crude-oil","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-israeli-attacks","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-oil-prices","14":"tag-pa-graphics","15":"tag-stock-markets","16":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","17":"tag-susannah-streeter","18":"tag-thursday-morning","19":"tag-top-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topnews","22":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}