UK stocks are down firmly in negative territory Thursday morning, weighed down by inflation concerns following an escalation in tensions in the Middle East after fresh strikes by Iran on Persian Gulf oil-and-gas infrastructure.
Following attacks by Iran on energy facilities in the Middle East, including the crucial South Pars gas field, Brent crude futures surged above $119.00 a barrel earlier in the day, and despite dropping a bit to $114.50, remains high up (nearly 6.5%) over previous close.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.