Oil prices have fallen for a sixth session, dropping further below $100 a barrel on reports of increased supply from the Middle East and amid hopes of progress in talks between the US and Iran.
Asian stock markets have risen for a sixth session, riding high on the artificial intelligence wave.
Brent crude is down about $1 at $98.32 a barrel, after closing below $100 a barrel yesterday for the first time in more than two weeks. If the downward move is sustained over the day, the six-day declines would be the longest losing run for oil since August 2025, according to Bloomberg.
Reuters reported, citing sources, that Saudi Arabia has restarted operations at its east-west pipeline and may have already resumed exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Donald Trump talked of progress in talks with Iran in New York but also threatened to “annihilate” the country if there was no deal.
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, addresses the UN general assembly later today and, according to reports, may meet the US president.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, arrives in Washington later today for talks with Trump, with speculation a trade truce between the US and China will be extended, and hopes that they can agree a cooperation deal over AI. Trump commented on AI in his speech at the UN yesterday, calling it “super intelligence” and rejecting any attempts to control it.
The buzz around AI has lifted technology stocks and helped South Korea’s Kospi gain 0.5%, while the Taiwan stock market rose 0.75%. Japanese markets are closed for the silver holiday. China’s CSI 300 fell 0.5%.
There has been strong uptake of Meta’s new personal Muse agent, which has been at the top of the US app download charts since its launch a fortnight ago.
The dollar has climbed to a two-month high on expectations of interest rate increases soon. Sterling dipped 0.2% to $1.3316, while the euro eased to its weakest level since July, falling 0.2% to $1.1423.
Today’s key events
• 9am BST: eurozone S&P Global flash manufacturing PMI for September
• 9.30am BST: UK S&P Global flash manufacturing PMI for September
• 2.45pm BST: US S&P Global flash manufacturing PMI for September
We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day on our business live blog …
