Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on April 17, 2026 in New York City.
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LONDON — European stocks are expected to fall at the start of the new trading week on concerns that tensions between the United States and Iran could flare up again over the weekend, potentially derailing the fragile ceasefire between the two countries.
british FTSE100 The index is expected to open 0.34% lower, along with Germany’s index. dachshund 1.1% decrease in France CAC40 and italian FTSE MIB Both are 1% lower, according to IG data.
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that a U.S. Navy missile destroyer shelled and disabled an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman before Marines boarded and captured the ship.
The seizure is an escalation of the U.S. blockade of the strait and comes after Iran opened fire on a merchant ship attempting to pass through the strait early Sunday.
The United States has imposed a naval blockade on ships entering and leaving Iranian ports since last week. Iran views the ongoing blockade as an ongoing violation of the ceasefire and cited it as one of the reasons for canceling negotiations scheduled for Monday in Islamabad.
President Trump on Sunday threatened to “destroy every Iranian power plant and every bridge” if Iran doesn’t agree to Washington’s terms to end the conflict. A fragile ceasefire between the two countries is set to expire this week.
Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher overnight, but US futures fell early Monday. The decline comes after a good week for Wall Street, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rising to all-time highs last week following a ceasefire between Iran and Lebanon.
Iran had declared the Strait of Hormuz reopened, but by Saturday, shipping traffic through the main shipping lane was again restricted, with state media reporting that the United States had “failed to meet its obligations.”
There are no major earnings or data releases in Europe on Monday.
— CNBC’s Justina Lee and Fred Imbert contributed to this market report.
