Oil prices jumped to market-shaking levels but then eased back late in the day, helping Wall Street to pare its losses. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% Thursday after trimming an earlier drop of 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Stocks fell much more in Europe and Asia after the price of Brent crude briefly topped $119 per barrel but before oil prices pared their gains late in the day. They're the latest manic swings for oil prices and stocks since the war in Iran raised worries about production troubles in the Middle East.
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AP Wire
Officials in Cuba report an islandwide blackout in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. The Ministry of Energy and Mines notes a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and says it is investigating. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday warned that the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and that it was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade. U.S. President Donald Trump warned in January of tariffs on any country that would sell or provide oil to the island.
AP Wire
Explosions are sounding in Dubai after the United Arab Emirates reopened its airspace following a brief closure amid incoming attacks from Iran. The UAE's military was working early Tuesday to intercept incoming Iranian fire. Meanwhile, Israel launched new strikes on Tehran and against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The Israel military also faced new salvos of incoming missiles from Iran. Fears of a global energy crisis continue as the war rages on. Tehran has regularly fired on Israel, American bases in the region, and Gulf Arab countries’ energy infrastructure. It has also effectively stopped shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
Cuban officials report an island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy and economic crises.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says his government has held recent talks with the U.S. His comments on Friday mark the first time the Caribbean country has confirmed speculation about active communication with the Trump administration which has been openly hostile toward the communist government. Díaz-Canel said the talks were aimed at finding solutions to differences between the two nations. Cuban officials have bitterly complained about a U.S. oil blockade on the island that they blame for severe energy shortages. Cuba's western region was hit by a major blackout last week that has left millions without power.
AP Wire
Iran targeted the world’s busiest international airport Wednesday and attacked commercial ships as U.S. and Israeli strikes rocked Tehran, while the United Nations’ most powerful body demanded a halt to the Islamic Republic’s strikes on its Gulf neighbors that threaten global oil supplies. The latest attacks marked an escalation in Iran’s campaign aimed at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end the war that started 12 days ago. But there were no signs that the conflict was subsiding. On Thursday, an Iranian attack sparked a major fire on an island that's home to Bahrain’s international airport. Also, an attack on Iraq’s Basra port killed one person and forced a halt to operations at oil terminals.
China has set an economic growth target of 4.5% to 5% for this year, a slight decrease in the face of a prolonged property slump and other headwinds and global uncertainty. The target was announced Thursday in an annual report presented by Premier Li Qiang at the opening session of this year’s meeting of the National People’s Congress. A draft budget for this year trimmed the annual increase in defense spending to 7%, down from 7.2% in recent years. The nearly 3,000-member Congress is a largely ceremonial body that endorses policies set by Communist Party leaders. It's due to approve the annual report and budget along with a five-year policy plan.
President Donald Trump says the United States is talking with Cuba and raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the island without explaining what that means. Trump told reporters on Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is speaking with Cuban leaders at a “very high level,” but the White House offered no further details. Trump suggested that Cuba is facing economic collapse. His comments come as Cuba says it is communicating with U.S. officials after a deadly shooting involving a Florida-registered speedboat in waters off the island. Rubio has said that investigators are looking into it.
President Donald Trump sought in his first State of the Union address to sell Americans on the idea of a booming economy, falling prices, and soaring jobs, yet he faces a skeptical public with a much gloomier view. Barely 12 hours before his speech, in fact, The Conference Board, a business research group, released its latest consumer confidence report. It showed that overall confidence in the economy remains historically low, and is barely above the level it plunged to in the depths of the COVID recession. Other polling has yielded similar results: Only 39% of Americans approve of Trump’s economic leadership, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey.