Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz, with North Sea crude oil prices hitting a record high

2026-04-10 by admin

BlockBeats news, April 10, according to the Financial Times, European and Asian refineries are scrambling to purchase oil, driving North Sea crude prices to a record high, while Iran’s continued control of the Strait of Hormuz has sparked new market concerns.

Data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) shows that the spot price of Brent North Sea Forties crude, a benchmark for immediate delivery, approached $147 per barrel on Thursday, surpassing the peak reached before the 2008 financial crisis. This price is significantly higher than the approximately $50 price of the international benchmark Brent crude June futures contract—another sign of tightness in the oil market.

Traders stated that as prices broke through $30 per barrel, hitting the threshold set by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), they were unable to purchase Brent crude contracts for difference (CFD) for next week, which track the difference between spot and forward delivery prices. These contracts are widely used to hedge against rising oil prices.

Deep Trend TechFlow News, June 27 — According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Senators John Curtis (R-Utah) and Adam Schiff (D-California) co-signed a letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig, calling for a federal investigation into prediction market platform Polymarket's promotion of fake bets on social media. The letter stated that the allegations are "deeply disturbing and require immediate review." Prior to this, The Wall Street Journal had published an in-depth report on Polymarket's deceptive marketing practices.

PANews June 27 news, according to Cailian Press, the U.S. Department of Commerce stated in a letter that the U.S. has relaxed restrictions on the use of Anthropic PBC's high-end Mythos 5 artificial intelligence model by "trusted partners." The move eases the dispute between Anthropic and the U.S. government. Previously, the U.S. government, citing security concerns, suddenly banned Anthropic from providing Fable 5 and Mythos 5 to foreign nationals. The letter dated Friday did not mention any adjustments to the restrictions on the use of the Fable 5 model. U.S. Department of Commerce spokesperson Benno Kass said: "In just two weeks, we have worked hard to ensure that the United States continues to maintain its leadership position in the global artificial intelligence field while safeguarding national security."