The closure of the Strait of Hormuz affected oil and gas tankers, sparking a global energy crisis triggered by the Middle East war.
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Hello, my name is Dylan Butts from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
Wall Street traded on peace promises Thursday, with U.S. stocks rising on the back of a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Iran.
However, energy markets reflect a less optimistic reality, with access through the Strait of Hormuz still appearing to be restricted and oil prices rising.
The question here is: Could Iran be pushing for a new normal in one of the world’s most important shipping lanes?
What you need to know today
Stocks extended their gains on Thursday as investors remained optimistic that the fragile two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran can be maintained despite key details of the deal remaining unresolved.
However, the energy market is not so optimistic. US crude oil prices rose above $100 in trade as it emerged that Iran was still restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz despite a pause in its conflict with the US.
This view was reinforced after the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz was not open to shipping.
“Clarity is needed at this moment,” Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber wrote in a social media post. “Let me be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is restricted, conditioned and controlled.”
Oil prices then fell back from their highs after Israel agreed to negotiate with Lebanon “as soon as possible.” Israel’s Lebanese military operation against Iran’s ally Hezbollah has emerged as a central fault line in the US-Iran deal.
Still, the precise situation in the Strait of Hormuz is expected to remain a focus of negotiations. The Financial Times reported that Iran plans to force shipping companies to pay tolls in virtual currency when transiting the strait.
In response to these reports, President Donald Trump said Thursday that if Iran is charging oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz, “it better stop now.”
But his top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, said getting even one oil tanker through the strait would provide “a huge chunk of what’s missing” amid global supply shortages.
But in a development that could cause further oil disruption, a vital Saudi pipeline to the Red Sea has reportedly been attacked by Iran, reducing its throughput.
The government is strengthening its emergency response. Japan is reportedly considering releasing about 20 days worth of oil reserves as early as May.
There were notable developments in Washington that highlight the broader geopolitical context. A recent government filing reveals plans to automatically enroll American men between the ages of 18 and 26 into the U.S. military draft by December. It’s been almost half a century since compulsory registration for this age group became law.
Beyond geopolitics, major developments are occurring in the world of big technology.
Meta recently released Muse Spark, its first new AI model in over a year. It aims to benefit from the huge investment it made in June in Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang.
This comes after Anthropic announced a powerful new model that will be rolled out to a select group of companies as part of a new cybersecurity initiative called Project Glasswing.
— Dylan Butts
And finally…
The relentless flogging of software stocks by AI threats shows no end in sight with Anthropic’s new agents.
Artificial intelligence problems in the software industry don’t seem to be going away anytime soon, following the industry’s decline following Anthropic’s latest product and earnings update.
Software prices have continued to fall this week, with the iShares Expanded High-Tech Software Sector ETF (IGV) falling on Wednesday, when much of the market was participating in the rally following President Donald Trump’s ceasefire announcement, and falling again on Thursday. IGV has fallen more than 4% since the beginning of the week. Some stocks have seen bigger declines than others, like Workday and Intuit, both of which are down more than 15% this week.
The uproar comes after Anthropic revealed this week that its revenue run rate is now over $30 billion, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025. The company also rolled out the latest updates to its agent tools, including the Cloud Management Agent, which reduces the time it takes developers to build their own agents. This has once again raised fears that the age of AI in software is upon us.
— Sarah Min
