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Wall St. falls after Trump's Iran remarks ruffle investors; Broadcom gains
Wall Street's major indexes dropped on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump declared that an interim agreement aimed at ending a?war against Iran was "over." Broadcom led the gains among recently battered chips stocks. At the NATO summit, Trump said that he was not interested in continuing talks with Iran. He also warned that Washington would likely carry out more strikes on Wednesday evening. His remarks marked the latest setback of the back-and forth in negotiations that have oscillated between threats of escalation, and hopes for diplomacy. Investors were caught off guard by several false begins toward a peace agreement. Broadcom rose 4.2% as Apple announced it would spend over $30 billion in a chip supply agreement with the chipmaker that was reached earlier this week. Art Hogan is the chief market strategist for B. Riley Wealth. He said: "Any announcement by Apple regarding their use of your equipment is pretty positive, especially since there are 2.5 billion Apple devices in people's possession around the world." Nvidia's early losses were pared and the company turned positive following the Information report that China plans to allow its leading AI firms to purchase a limited amount of H200 chips from the company. After recent volatility, the chip stocks were mixed Wednesday with the broader Philadelphia SE Semiconductor?index falling 0.08%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 774.50 points, or 1.46%, to 52150.65. The S&P 500 lost 66.94 points,?or 0.89%, to 7,437.21. And the Nasdaq Composite?lost 235.63 points (or 0.91%) at 25,584.18. At 12:04 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 774.50, or 1.45%, to 52150.65. The S&P 500 fell 66.94, or 0.89, to 7,437.21, and the Nasdaq composite?lost 235.63, or 0.91% to 25,584.18. Brent crude futures soared 7% on the day after Trump's remarks. Treasury yields rose as well, as the selling spread to bonds. The latest escalation of the conflict could unsettle an equities rally which has seen the benchmark S&P500 up about 9% this year despite steep declines in 2026, when the Mideast War began. The Federal Reserve may be forced to change its course if oil prices continue to rise. Except for energy and consumer staples, nine of the eleven sectors in the S&P 500 traded in the red. As oil prices rose, travel stocks that are sensitive to fuel prices and demand fell. United Airlines fell 4.4%, and Delta Air Lines?fell 3.4%. Cruise operators have also fallen, with Carnival Cruise Line down 5.1% and Norwegian Cruise Line down 4%. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks fell 1.6%, to "three-week-lows". The CBOE Volatility Index (Wall Street's fear gauge) hit a record high. The last point was up 2.4 at 18.54. IMF WARNINGS IN FOCUS FED MINUTES The International Monetary Fund lowered their 2026 global growth forecast by 3% on Wednesday, citing the ongoing threats posed by the Middle East war. Minutes of the Fed's?policy meetings for June are due in a few minutes. The readout may provide better insight into how policymakers assess inflation risks and economic development. In the past, the minutes tended to be less of a market mover. Hogan said, "I?think that this could be different." According to LSEG, traders are pricing in a minimum of one rate increase by the end 2026. On the NYSE and Nasdaq, declining issues outnumber advancers in a ratio of 3.6 to 1. S&P 500 & Nasdaq Composite did not post any new 52-week lows or new highs.
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Airbus sales rise by 15% in the first half to 351 units
Airbus said that it delivered 351 planes in the first half of this year, up around 15% from the 306 aircraft in the same period in 2025. The company had handed over 89 jets to customers in June. Analysts estimate that Airbus will be able to meet its full-year goal of 870 deliveries if the figures 'confirm' a previous report. On Monday, it was reported that the?largest aircraft manufacturer in the world is?increasingly?confident? of reaching a goal of 900 deliveries without changing its official guidance. Airbus has had a difficult time overcoming supply chain issues. While engine availability is improving, the first quarter's performance was impacted by earlier shortages and delays on planes headed to China. Boeing has an advantage in delivering aircraft. Airbus's delivery rates typically increase in the second half a year. In its monthly report, the Toulouse-based group?also stated that it had sold 887?aircraft between January and?June. This is a?net of 822 aircraft after adjusting cancellations. (Reporting and editing by Gianluca Nostro, Dimitri Rhodes)
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Sources say that some war insurers recommend shipowners stop Hormuz voyages following attacks.
Insurance industry sources reported that some war underwriters advised shipping companies to pause voyages across the Strait of Hormuz, while others were reviewing their policies after renewed vessel attacks threatened a return to war between Iran and the United States. Washington revoked a license allowing Iran oil sales and launched overnight strikes against Iranian targets after the attacks on Tuesday on three tankers on the crucial waterway. Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, that the interim agreement to end "the war with Iran" was "over". U.S. troops were expected to launch new attacks on Wednesday night in response to Iranian attacks against U.S. base in the Gulf. These comments caused a 5% increase in the global oil price. According to industry sources war risk insurance is usually provided seven days a week and reviewed every 24 to 48 hours. Even slight increases can result in daily costs that are hundreds of thousands of dollars higher. Sources who refused to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue said that war insurance rates on ships in the Gulf had already risen to 3% from 2% last week. However, there were no immediate signs that the war cover was being halted. One underwriting source said, "Someone is going to cover you but at a rate of?5% or less." On Wednesday, the U.N. International Maritime Organiztion (IMO) stated that sailings through Hormuz must be avoided as long as crew safety cannot be guaranteed. IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez stated?on?Wednesday that the high?costs of ship insurance were a major concern and "added to the pressure on shipowners & operators". He said that governments with influence over the insurance and reinsurance market have a role to?play in engaging with insurers so as to ensure premiums are based on current realities rather than reflecting the peak of crisis. (Reporting and editing by Jonathan Saul with The Insurer, Michael Jones)
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Trump will fly to the UK on Air Force One, but a new plane is also going to be there.
According to a posting on Truth Social, President Donald 'Trump' said on Wednesday that he would 'fly' an old Air Force One plane from Turkey to the UK "for the sake of 'old fashioned'". The new plane, given to the U.S., by Qatar, will visit the same base in Britain. Trump announced that the newly overhauled Air Force One 'will fly to RAF Mildenhall, in the United Kingdom for?U.S. Air Force One will be toured by servicemen and women stationed at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom. The new plane is a Boeing 747 that was gifted by Qatar to the United States last year. It has been refurbished by L3Harris Technologies, a defense contractor. The livery of the jumbo jet has been changed to a red-white-dark blue-gold scheme chosen by Trump. This is a departure from Air Force One's iconic design. Trump wrote that "everyone is so excited" and "we thought they should be the first." He added that Air Force One, the departing aircraft, would travel from Turkey to Mildenhall 'for the sake of old times. The acceptance of the Qatari jet had attracted scrutiny. Experts said that retrofitting this luxury?plane would require security upgrades, improved communications to prevent eavesdropping and missile defense capabilities. (Reporting and editing by Philippa & Mike Fletcher in Washington)
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Wall St. falls after Trump's Iran remarks weigh down on markets
Wall Street's major indexes dropped on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump declared that an interim agreement aimed at ending a?war against Iran was "over," and gains in Broadcom provided some respite for the recently battered-down chip stock. Trump stated that he has no desire to engage Iran further. He warned Iran of additional strikes that Washington would likely make on Wednesday night. Trump's comments marked the latest twist in a conflict that has seen rhetoric between the U.S., Iran and other countries swinging back and forth between military escalation or diplomacy. Investors have been caught off guard by false dawns, when expectations of a lasting deal were raised only to be dashed without resolution. Matthew Ryan, Ebury's head of market strategy, said: "The million dollar question is whether this represents a breakdown in negotiations, a return to war, or just a temporary setback." Broadcom gained 3% in value after Apple announced that it would spend over $30 billion on a chip supply agreement with the company, reached earlier this week. After recent volatility, the chip stocks rose?on?Wednesday and helped to cap losses on Nasdaq's technology-heavy index. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index rose by 1.4%. Brent crude futures, as well as?U.S. Both West Texas Intermediate crude and Brent crude futures rose more than 5%. The benchmark S&P 500 index was down in nine of its 11 sectors, except for energy and information technology. Travel stocks that are sensitive to fuel prices fell, as rising oil prices raised concerns about fuel costs and demand. United Airlines fell 3.2%, Southwest Airlines was down 1.1% and Delta Air Lines dropped 1.9%. Cruise operators have also fallen, with Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line both down 1.8%. At 10:10 am. At 10:10 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 514.42, or 0.99%, to 52.410.73. The S&P 500 fell 34.32, or 0.4%, to 7,469.53, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 78.12, or 0.31% to 25,739.43. The latest escalation threatens to upset the equity rally that has seen the benchmark S&P500 up by about 10% this year despite steep declines in 2026 because of the Iran conflict. Oil prices rising again could increase inflation fears and complicate Federal Reserve's policy. The CBOE Volatility Index (Wall Street's fear gauge) hit a record high of over a week earlier that day. The last 0.99?points was at 17.12. The?International Monetary Fund lowered their global growth forecast for 2026 to 3.0% on Wednesday, warning about the ongoing risks of the Middle East war. Minutes of the Fed's policy meeting from June are due in the afternoon. The readout may provide better insight into how policymakers assess inflation risks and economic growth. In the past, you had fewer market-moving events with minutes. Art Hogan is the chief market strategist for B. Riley Wealth. CME's FedWatch tool shows that markets are pricing in at least one rate increase by the end of 2026. On the NYSE and Nasdaq, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 2.6 to 1. On the NYSE, there were 19 new highs as well as 43 new lows. The S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite, posted no new highs or lows in 52 weeks. (Reporting by Ragini Mathur and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli)
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There are some flights to the Middle East that have resumed but there is still disruption.
Some airlines have maintained their suspensions, while others are increasing the number of flights they offer to certain parts of the Middle East. The following is a list of the alphabetical status updates for airlines flights: AEGEAN AIRLINES The largest airline in Greece has cancelled flights to Dubai and Erbil until September 30. AIRBALTIC The cancellation of flights to Dubai is effective until October 24. AIR CANADA Canadian Airlines has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv, Dubai and Abu Dhabi until October 24. AIR FRANCE-KLM Air France has suspended flights to Beirut until July 20. Air France resumed flights to Riyadh and Tel Aviv in June, but Dubai was not reopened until July 8. KLM has suspended all flights to Riyadh Dammam, and Dubai until the 23rd of August. CATHAY PACIFIC Hong Kong Airlines plans to resume flights to Dubai and Riyadh on September 1. The U.S. carrier suspended?services on the Atlanta-Tel Aviv routes through December 18, The airline plans to resume New York JFK-Tel Aviv flights starting September 6. However, the launch of its Boston-Tel Aviv flight, scheduled for late October, was delayed. FINNAIR It has cancelled all Doha flights up to October 2 and continues to avoid the airspace of Israel, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Iraq. The airline will resume its Dubai flights in October, which are only operated during the winter. British Airways, owned by IAG, delayed the resume of flights to Riyadh and Doha until August 8th. Flights from Dubai, Tel Aviv and Bahrain to Amman and Amman will be paused until after the summer. They are expected to resume on October 25, When the airline resumes its services, it plans to reduce flights to Dubai, Doha and Riyadh to just one flight per day, while removing Jeddah from their list of destinations. JAPAN AIRLINES Japan Airlines has suspended its scheduled Tokyo-Doha and Doha-Tokyo flight until August 31, and Doha-Tokyo until September 1. The Polish airline will resume its operations in Beirut during the summer of 2027 and its winter route from Dubai. LUFTHANSA GROUP SWISS delayed the return of flights to August and Brussels Airlines suspended its operations until 24 October. The suspension of Dubai flights by SWISS and Lufthansa will continue until September 13. Until October 24, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS have suspended their flights to Abu Dhabi and other destinations, including Amman, Beirut and Dammam as well as Riyadh. Erbil, Muscat, Tehran and Riyadh are also affected. Eurowings, a low-cost carrier, plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv as early as July 10. The airline plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv in the autumn after restarting Erbil and Beirut on July 1. ITA Airways also extended its suspension of flights to Riyadh and Dubai until October 24, for operational reasons. NORWEGIAN AIR No new dates have been set for the launch of Tel Aviv or Beirut flights by the low-cost carrier. SINGAPORE Airlines In response to increased demand, the carrier has extended its Singapore-Dubai suspension until August 2 and added services on Singapore-London Gatwick (late March) and Singapore-Melbourne (late March-October 24). TURKISH AIRLINES SunExpress (a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa) resumed Izmir to Dubai on July 7, with plans to resume Antalya to Dubai route on July 15. SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, resumed its Izmir-Dubai route on July 7 and plans to resume its Antalya-Dubai route?on July 15. WIZZ AIR Low-cost carrier has suspended flights from Europe to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman until mid-September. (Compiled by Josephine Mason and Jamie Freed. Elviira Lioma, Tiago Branao, Agnieszka Olesska, Bernadette HOG, Boleslaw LaSocki, Alexander Klyve Gudbrandsen, Romolo Tosiani. Matt Scuffham and Louise Heavens edited the article.
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Air Canada hires the top boss of Scandinavian Airlines to be CEO
Anko van 'der Werff will replace Michael Rousseau, the CEO of Canada's largest airline, Air - Canada, as its new CEO. This announcement ends months of speculation about leadership. The search for Rousseau's replacement was concluded by the appointment. In March, he announced that he would be retiring after 19 years with?the airline. Rousseau was criticized earlier this year for failing to express condolences after a crash that claimed the lives of two pilots. Van der Werff will join Air Canada by the end of January, 2027. The?airline announced that SAS, which is a part-owned company of?Air France KLM, would begin the process to appoint a successor.
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What are the dangers of an LNG tanker exploding?
One source stated that a Qatari LNG tanker was in danger of exploding after it suffered significant damage during an attack on Tuesday on the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz. Although the LNG industry has had a few accidents at onshore facilities, a catastrophic LNG cargo tank explosion on a commercial "LNG" carrier has not occurred. The recent targeting of energy-shipping vessels by belligerents during the Ukraine and Iran Wars has however raised concern. The incident on Tuesday involving the Al Rekayyat tanker is the second instance this year in which an LNG vessel has been caught up in a conflict-related attack. The Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz was hit by Ukrainian drones in March and caught fire. According to the Russian transport ministry, its crew had to abandon the ship. What is LNG and how does it get stored and transported? Natural gas that has been chilled to minus 162 degrees Celsius is LNG. The cooling process turns the gas to a liquid, and reduces its volume by 600 times. This makes it easier to ship. The LNG is kept at extremely low temperature in cryogenic tanks with thick insulation. The LNG is then loaded onto LNG carriers at the export terminals. The LNG carriers have double-hulled ships and cargo tanks that are highly insulated to keep LNG cool throughout the voyage. During transport, a small amount of LNG vaporizes. Unmanaged boil-off gases can increase the pressure and volume of storage tanks if left unattended. It is captured and used as primary fuel in ship engines. What are the main risks? LNG does not burn when it is liquid. However, risks can occur if LNG is leaked, turns into a gas and mixes with air at the right ratio, or reaches an ignition source. LNG ships reduce this risk by using double-hull constructions, multiple containment systems, gas detection equipment, pressure-relief systems, emergency shutdown systems and firefighting equipment. They also follow strict operating procedures, crew training, and use equipment such as emergency shut-down systems, firefighting systems, and emergency shutdown systems. Could the QATARI tanker explode? The 'Al Rekayyat' tanker reported an engine room fire. A source stated that the ship was at risk of explosion, though there were no signs that the LNG tanks had been compromised. The crew was evacuated safely. Theoretically, any LNG carrier is at risk if damage leads to a large LNG release or the formation of a gas cloud. Modern?LNG carriers have multiple layers of protective coatings to keep any fire from reaching the cargo tanks. Industry experts also say that a fire in the engine room does not necessarily mean that the tanker is going to 'explode. Risks would be increased if the fire spread to cargo systems, caused damage to containment tanks, or led a significant LNG spill. According to a source in the industry, Al Rekayyat is likely to stay as it is as long as there are no further attacks.
Shipping firm executive says port strike on US East Coast will cause supply chain problems from the start.
The French container carrier CMA CGM's North America CEO warned on Wednesday that a strike by dockworkers on Oct. 1, at ports along the U.S. East Coast, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea would disrupt the flow of cargo into the country. The International Longshoremen's Association represents 45,000 dockworkers at 36 ports, including New York/New Jersey and Savannah, Georgia. The union has promised to stop working if a new contract is not in place by the expiration of its current six-year labor agreement on September 30th at midnight.
George Goldman said, "The moment you shut the door, everything starts to back up," on a webcast by the Port of Los Angeles.
He said that "one day is not enough" to close a port.
CMA CGM belongs to the United States Maritime Alliance, an employer group that negotiates with the ILA. Ports that could be affected are responsible for about half of U.S. imported goods. Retailers, manufacturers, and other ocean carriers are worried about cargo being stuck in idled facilities. They have moved some cargo to West Coast ports to avoid this. Sea-Intelligence analysts, a Copenhagen-based firm that provides shipping advice, estimate that it will take between four and six days to clear a strike-related backlog.
Sea-Intelligence stated that a two-week strike may mean ports will not be able to return to normal operation until 2025.
Experts in transportation said that goods from Europe, India, and other countries that depend on direct routes over the Atlantic Ocean will be affected most.
Imports into the busiest U.S. West Coast port are also surging. This is because CMA CGM and Maersk, as well as other large container carriers have also been stocking up on Halloween costumes and holiday apparel in anticipation of any possible labor action. Manufacturers have also been stocking up on solar panel and other goods that could be subject to tariff increases.
In August, the Port of Long Beach recorded its busiest month for 113 years, with a volume jump of nearly 34% compared to the previous year, and boosted by a 40% increase in imports.
Los Angeles, the neighboring port, reported a volume increase of 16% in August. This was largely due to an 18% rise in imports.
Gene Seroka is the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. He said that it was difficult to quantify the increase in cargo from other ports. Los Angeles, however, can still handle around 1.2 million 20 foot equivalent units per monthly, as opposed to the 960 597 TEUs processed in August.
Seroka replied, "We can handle the cargo."
(source: Reuters)