Here are six things you need to know this morning
Oil prices are plunging: Oil and gas prices both plummeted after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire aimed at halting the American-Israeli military campaign in exchange for a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz. Brent fell as much as 16 per cent before trading around US$95 a barrel, while European natural gas futures posted their biggest decline in more than two years, shedding as much as 20 per cent. Prices of refined fuels such as diesel and jet fuel — which had been the biggest threats to global inflation — also tumbled. Much will now depend on how quickly transit through Hormuz can resume. There are reports that two ships did that today. That according to the Marine Traffic monitoring group. It follows a post on X from Iran’s Foreign Minister that during the two week ceasefire, passage through the strait “will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces”.
Markets surging on truce news: Dow Jones futures jumped early Wednesday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures, while oil prices crashed. U.S. President Donald Trump suspended Iran attacks by two weeks while Tehran will open the Strait of Hormuz. The stock market tumbled Tuesday morning, but roared back to close mixed as traders hoped for a last-minute Iran war deal or reprieve from Trump’s Tuesday 8 p.m. ET deadline. European and Asian markets are also see strong positive reaction to the two week truce.
Truce could lead to busy M&A season in energy: It might be a busy market for mergers and acquisitions in Canada’s oilpatch later this year, provided the geopolitical mayhem eases enough for buyers and sellers to find common ground on price, says a partner at consulting firm Deloitte. In a report published Wednesday, Deloitte said deal activity seemed to be on the upswing heading into this year after a decade-long lull. But with the U.S.-Israel war on Iran shaking global oil markets, the outlook now is much more hazy. “It’s really hard for a deal to get done” with the West Texas Intermediate price hovering around US$115 per barrel, said Andrew Botterill, partner for energy, resources and industrials at Deloitte Canada. “Buyers and sellers are just too far apart.”
Ceasefire may be too late to avoid food inflation: Unless Iran peace talks progress rapidly, higher fertilizer prices may lower crop yields and fuel food inflation. The Bloomberg Agricultural Subindex gained four per cent this year on concern over how farmers will respond to higher costs in the Northern Hemisphere planting season. It retreated less than one per cent on news of a two-week ceasefire. Speculators in corn, wheat and soybean futures are the most net long since 2023. The last such commodity shock in 2022 stoked inflation for more than a year. Speculators in corn, soybeans and wheat were net long about 15 per cent of open interest in the latest weekly data released April 3, a level last seen at the end of the 2021 to 2022 grains rally. The Bloomberg Grains Spot index is 40 per cent lower than its high in 2022.
Denim maker sees stock jump on earnings report: Levi Strauss shares jumped about 12 per cent on Wednesday as investors cheered its strongest quarterly revenue growth in nearly four years with confidence growing in the denim maker’s ability to stave off tariff hits with more full-price sales. Demand for Levi’s baggy jeans product line, as well as increased sales to younger customers through its digital channels, has given the company room to raise some prices and pare back on discounts against the backdrop of a roughly 10 per cent tariff the company is paying under the duties introduced on imports into the U.S. in 2025. “Demand hasn’t been affected (by) higher pricing, and we see benefits becoming more fully realized starting in F2Q,” Rick Patel, analyst at Raymond James, said in a note. The company is also bracing for a C-suite change, and said it was looking for a replacement for finance chief Harmit Singh, who will retire after about 13 years in the role.
Prairie town has no corporate takers on renaming it: Duck Lake, a Saskatchewan community steeped in history that includes Louis Riel and the Northwest Rebellion, will not be renamed for a corporate sponsor. The mayor says a campaign accepting bids to buy the naming rights to the town for $10 million is dead but admits the bad blood it spawned lives on. The invitation created an intense debate in the town of 500. Anderson said some residents understood how the money could help the community improve infrastructure, but others were furious about the history behind the town’s name being lost to a corporation. In 1885, the area was the site of the first battle of the Northwest Rebellion, an uprising led by Louis Riel over land rights.
