Oil prices rose on Monday morning as tensions between the US and Iran escalated, fueling fears of disruptions in energy deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices surged in early trading after the US announced new attacks for the ninth consecutive night, and Iran retaliated by targeting US allies in the Middle East.
The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by 3.2%, reaching $90.95 per barrel, the highest level since June 11, while US benchmark crude increased by 2.8% to $84.04 per barrel, as reported by Euronews.
"The US and Iran continue to exchange blows that prove to be lethal for both parties," wrote Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey, commodity strategists at ING on Monday.
"If this escalation is not stopped, we could return to a situation marked by widespread attacks throughout the Persian Gulf," they added.
Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial navigational route for global oil transportation – has been almost completely blocked, intensifying supply pressure, they further noted.
On the other hand, AI sector actions – including those of chip manufacturers – declined on Friday, pulling down global markets.
Commitments to massive investments in artificial intelligence fuel fears that the sector may be in a speculative bubble, and many investors have chosen to sell to secure their recent substantial gains.
"The resurgence of military tensions in the Strait of Hormuz could increasingly weigh on financial markets in the near future, especially if solid financial reports from tech companies continue to be met with skepticism," wrote Jonas Goltermann, chief markets economist at Capital Economics on Monday.
Markets were also shaken by the launch of a new powerful Chinese AI model, this time developed by Beijing-based company Moonshot AI.
The impact of the new open-source AI model Kimi K3 was similar to that seen when the "DeepSeek moment" in China disrupted global markets at the beginning of 2025. The launch was perceived as a new sign of how high-performing and cost-effective Chinese AI models are increasingly competing with rivals such as Claude (from Anthropic) and GPT (from OpenAI).
T.D.