Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Gilts and sterling are under pressure today as political turmoil in Westminster rattles already fragile bond markets. Prime Minister Starmer faces a crucial cabinet meeting amid a party revolt, and the prospect of a leadership contest has investors nervous. Reeves' allies are signaling the chancellor should hold her post even if Starmer falls, a sign of just how seriously markets are being factored into the political calculus.
Crossing the Atlantic, Trump is backing a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax as pump prices surge. The average gallon has jumped from just under three dollars before Iran escalations to four dollars and fifty-two cents today. The federal levy adds eighteen point four cents per gallon, so the relief would be real but modest against a backdrop of genuine supply disruption.
And speaking of that disruption, the Iran conflict is sending economic shockwaves well beyond the Middle East. In Bangladesh, fuel shortages are hitting workers like ride-share drivers who are spending hours in supply lines, threatening livelihoods and accelerating a drift back toward rural life. It is a reminder that commodity shocks travel fast and hit hardest at the margins of the global economy.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
