New US bombing raids in Iran and Iranian shelling of Kuwait, among other places, are dampening stock market sentiment. The market trend earlier this week has been generally upward due to hopes for a peace settlement between the US and Iran.
The price of North Sea oil (Brent) rose 3.6 percent to $97.70 per barrel, and in futures trading on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange the price of natural gas rose 3.6 percent to €48.08 per megawatt-hour.
This afternoon, new US inflation figures under the so-called PCE measure will be released, an important basis for decision-making ahead of future interest-rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve.
