Iran Keeps Striking Gulf; Oil Set for Weekly Surge

0:01Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcast Radio News. Good morning, I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm John Tucker. Here are the stories we're following today. Well, John, the apparent stabilization in the energy and equity markets this morning comes as the U.S. and Israel reassure world leaders and investors they will no longer target energy infrastructure in Iran. Oil and gas prices have surged this week following strikes from both sides. As heard right here on Bloomberg Radio, President Trump said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop attacking Iranian oil and gas fields. I told him don't do that and he won't do that.

0:44We didn't discuss. You know, we do. We're independent. We get along great. It's coordinated. But on occasion, he'll do something. And if I don't like it and so we're not doing that anymore. And President Trump also told reporters he is not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would no longer target energy infrastructure after its attack on an Iranian gas field that sparked retaliatory strikes. Israel acted alone against the Islawia gas compound. Fact number two, President Trump asks us to hold off on future attacks, and we're holding on.

1:25Benjamin Netanyahu's comments came after Israeli officials previously said they had to inform the U.S. about the attack. Still, John, oil heading for another weekly gain as the war in the Middle East drags on. The Strait of Hormuz is on but closed, and analysts warn that the crisis may deepen. Will Kennedy covers the oil markets for Bloomberg. Iran has, throughout this conflict, and continues to strike energy infrastructure. It has, from the beginning, hit refineries throughout the region, and we saw another strike this morning on a Kuwaiti refinery. So there hasn't been a stop to the strikes on energy infrastructure in the region.

2:01But as long as Hormuz is closed, the energy problems will remain. The main fundamental driver of energy markets right now is the Strait of Hormuz, which is normally responsible for 20 % of the world's energy flows, is effectively shut. We're probably losing about half of that, 10 million barrels a day, roughly. That's unsustainable unless prices go much, much, much higher. And as Bloomberg's Will Kennedy and other energy markets, European natural gas futures surged to almost double their pre-war level. Fuel prices also climbed, with central bankers warning that the conflict carries the risks of tighter monetary policy.

2:38And Karen, tensions between the U.S. and Japan over the Iran war remained evident as President Trump hosted the Prime Minister Sonne Takeuchi at the White House. Here's President Trump's response when a reporter asked him why the U.S. hadn't informed Japan and European allies in advance of his strike on Iran. One thing you don't want to signal too much, you know, when we go in, we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? okay? Japanese Prime Minister Sonai Takeichi's slight smile appeared to drop.

3:17She raised her eyebrows. However, President Trump and the Prime Minister otherwise exchanged warm words during their White House meeting, including him calling her a popular, powerful woman. Well, John, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, acknowledged to lawmakers that the U.S. and Israel have different goals for their joint military campaign in Iran, and Bloomberg's Amy Morris has more from Washington. Gabbard says the Trump administration's goals are centered on degrading Iran's military, but Israel's aim is to remove Iran's leadership. We can see through the operations that the Israeli government has been focused on disabling the Iranian leadership and taking out several members, obviously beginning with the Ayatollah, the supreme leader.

4:02The conflict has led to Iranian retaliation against several Gulf countries and strained U.S. ties with allies in Europe. Gabbard says she does not know if Israel supports President Trump's desire for a deal with Iran. She was on Capitol Hill for a House committee hearing on global threats. In Washington, Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio. And in other news this morning, the Justice Department has sent a subpoena to former FBI Director James Comey. This is part of an investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials waged a conspiracy against President Trump. The subpoena seeks information about Comey's role in putting together an intelligence assessment about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

4:45John, let's turn to the markets where stocks are on track for a third straight week of losses, and it could be another volatile session as we close out the trading week. It is triple witching day on Wall Street. Bloomberg's Tom Busby has more on what to look for. Wall Street bracing for what could be an unusually volatile day because of a large number of stock Stock index and ETF options expiring today, roughly$5.7 trillion worth. Now, this triple witching comes at a troubling time for the markets, with the war in Iran about to enter its fourth week, oil prices at multi-year highs, and a lot of traders now lowering their bets for any interest rate cuts from the Fed this year in order to keep an expected jump in inflation somewhat in check.

5:24Tom Busby, Bloomberg Radio. Thanks, Tom. In a company news, shares of FedEx, they're up more than 10 % in early trading. raising their full-year profit forecast. FedEx says it does not expect the war in the Middle East to have a direct material impact on its business. Well, the U.S. has charged a super microcomputer co-founder with sending AI technology to Asia. John, prosecutors charge Yi-Suan Wali-Liao in a scheme to send U.S.-assembled servers containing NVIDIA's cutting-edge chips to China in violation of U.S. export controls. The indictment marks the biggest chip-smuggling case prosecutors have pursued since first restricting NVIDIA shipments to China in 2022.

6:06Shares of Supermicro are down 22 % in early trading. And OpenAI developing a desktop application to bring together its popular chat GPT chatbot coding tool and web browser. That's an effort to keep users engaged in the face of fierce competition from rivals like Anthropic. It's unclear when the application is going to launch. And we have a programming note, John. Markets may close on Fridays, but the world does not. And that's why we're bringing you a new live radio and TV show. Bloomberg this weekend is looking beyond the daily headlines to the bigger themes driving politics, business, and culture.

6:42Join David Gura, Christina Ruffini, and Lisa Matteo for smart conversations and in-depth interviews that help make sense of the week that's been and what comes next. Get Bloomberg this weekend live, Saturdays and Sundays, from 7 a.m. Eastern on Bloomberg Radio, TV, and the Bloomberg Business App. It's now 508 on Wall Street. Time for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr. Thank you very much, John. The TSA call-out rate has grown. It's nearly 40 % at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

7:19Agents haven't been paid due to the February 27th partial government shutdown over immigration reforms. Because of the call-out, security wait times are growing for travelers. Ricky Smith is the general manager of Hartsfield, Atlanta. He suggests passengers arrive at least three hours before a flight's departure time. The lines are steady. They're moving because TSA workers are continuing to provide the professionalism that we expect them to. So the lines are moving and passengers are getting to their flights. It's just taking a little more time for them to get through the security checkpoints.

7:51Meanwhile, the Senate has unanimously passed a bill that ends a congressional perk, which allows federal lawmakers to skip the TSA security line at the airport, at least until the Homeland Security shutdown ends. The measure was introduced by Senator John Cornyn. Maybe, just maybe, if Congress has to live under the same laws that everybody else does, it will motivate us to get our work done. Republican Senator John Cornyn, the bill now goes to the House. We're learning two planes nearly collided as they were landing at Newark Airport in New Jersey. The incident happened Tuesday night. Flight radar shows an Alaska Airlines 737 was told by air traffic controllers to go around just as it was about to land because a FedEx 777 cargo plane was approaching on an intersecting runway.

8:40The pilots pushed the engines. They went back up and they cleared the FedEx plane by just 300 feet. The FAA is investigating. Spanish authorities say they have found the body of missing University of Alabama college student James Jimmy Gracie from Illinois, who was missing for more than two days. The body of the 20-year-old was found last evening in the waters off of Barcelona Beach, near where he was last seen outside a nightclub with his friends early Tuesday while on spring break. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it. With Bloomberg News Now, I'm Michael Barr, and this is Bloomberg.

9:16Thanks, Michael. Well, time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in Dan Schwarzman. March Madness Field is 64, got underway with top seed Duke having to come back from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat Siena. There were some major upsets as 12-seed high points done Wisconsin. 11-seed VCU erased a 19-point second-half deficit to knock off North Carolina in overtime, while 11-seeded Texas got past BYU. The Lakers remain red-hot as L.A. knocked off the Heat 134-126 behind 60 points from Luka Doncic. Elsewhere, the Spurs slipped past the Suns 101-100. while the Magic lost to the Hornets 130-111.

9:50Close to 10.8 million viewers tuned in to watch Venezuela's thrilling 3-2 win over the United States in the final of the World Baseball Classic. That's almost twice the number of viewers who watched the U.S. beat Japan in 2023. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. As markets move and headlines break, what matters most is context. A Bloomberg subscription gives you unmatched reporting, sharp analysis, and powerful tools that help you connect the dots. Visit Bloomberg.com slash podcast offer to learn more. Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio, nationwide on Sirius XM, and around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business App.

10:37This is Bloomberg Daybreak. And we are nearing the end of the third week of the war with Iran. Israel is saying it will no longer target energy infrastructure after an attack on an Iranian gas field sparked retaliatory strikes against energy assets across the Middle East, and that caused oil and gas prices to surge, and it prompted a rebuke from President Trump. We want to get the very latest with Bloomberg's Jumana Bersechi in Dubai. Jumana, good morning. Well, we did hear that Israel and the U.S. may be refraining from attacks on energy infrastructure going forward, but it really doesn't mean Iran is.

11:11What's the latest on the fighting? Yeah, that's right. And to your point, I think there was an attempt to at least de-escalate one part of the war yesterday, which is specifically the Israeli attacks on those gas fields in Iran, which was deemed to be a red line and President Trump visibly trying to put a distance between himself and the military action that Israel conducted. And actually, it was interesting to hear from the Israeli prime minister last night, and he said that they did act solo. And upon the U.S.'s request, they are not going to be targeting energy infrastructure anymore. Now, that's not to say that strikes on infrastructure are still not taking place.

11:51As we understand, there was a heavy wave of airstrikes over central Tehran overnight as well. But in retaliation, I mean, Iran keep going and they keep lashing out at Gulf allies overnight. Overnight, more rounds of attempted attacks on some key refineries in the region. Another refinery in Kuwait this morning announcing that it is halting production. This is the second day in a row that it's been targeted. They've also launched projectiles towards Saudi Arabia once again, towards their eastern oil fields, the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Even yesterday, an attempt on that Yanbu port, on the Red Sea, so not even on the Persian Gulf.

12:30So the strikes on energy continue. But I think one thing that has become apparent from the U.S. and Israeli perspective is the strikes on the Iran gas fields are, I mean, the plan is for that not to be repeated again out of the fear of how Iran could respond specifically on some of those Gulf allies' energy infrastructure. And as you discuss all the fighting that's still going on, we did hear Benjamin Netanyahu sounding more optimistic that the war could be over soon. But it really doesn't sound like there's any sign of that. No, absolutely not. And to what I was saying yesterday, the military operations have continued overnight.

13:08A massive wave of airstrikes is what the IDF have been describing. And I think, you know, from their perspective, it's still very clear that the key military objectives have still not been achieved, even though so far they're happy with the progress that has been made. And we're perhaps getting a little bit more colour on what those military objectives actually are in terms of degrading Iran's military capabilities, degrading their nuclear capabilities, eradication of their naval force or complete demolition of their naval force, which is the term that U.S. President Trump has used. But then, interesting enough, overnight we had some comments as well from Tulsi Ghabar the U.S.

13:53National Security Chief, and she was saying that there is a bit of a divergence between the U.S.'s objectives and Israel's objectives in that Israel perhaps have one step further, which is that maybe one of their explicit objectives is to see a change in leadership. Whereas for the U.S., it's mainly focused on the degradation of military power. And as the fighting spreads as well, are we also getting closer where we could see other nations coming in? And if other nations come in, could that mean more objectives come in as well and possibly change what we're looking at here? I think you have to think of that through the framework of, one, what the U.S.

14:33administration is trying to do to reopen the straits, because as long as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, you're going to continue to see this upward pressure on oil prices, on energy prices, on gas prices, as we've been talking about the last couple of weeks. And so far, countries around the world have been very noncommittal in terms of willing to sign up to those maritime missions because they don't want to get involved in the war. But then the other way to think about it as well is yesterday's actions and the strike on Qatar, on Rastafan facility was so significant that we are seeing a shift in tone out of some of these Gulf nations.

15:08And I will say that it was really interesting to hear from the Saudi foreign affairs minister the night of those attacks. And he said that Saudi Arabia's patience is not unlimited and they reserve the right to respond either politically or non-politically. This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed by 6 a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen. You can also listen live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington, Bloomberg 92.9 in Boston, and nationwide on Sirius XM Channel 121.

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