Oil rises on Trump's threats to Iran, stock markets improve ahead of US data

The price of Wti oil rose to $83.47 a barrel and gas increased by 3.39 percent after the latest threat from US President Donald Trump to Iran. This is reported by Ansa and Borse.it, which describe market operators still assessing tensions in the Middle East and doubts over the full restoration of flows through the Strait of Hormuz, despite diplomatic reassurances circulated in recent days.

On the opposite front, Pakistan indicated that the United States and Iran could be close to an agreement, news that contributed to a slightly higher opening on Wall Street. The two pieces of information — Trump’s threat and the Pakistani hint at an imminent deal — coexisted in the same trading day, with opposite effects on oil and stock markets.

In Europe, markets moved cautiously throughout the morning ahead of the US consumer price data for July, considered decisive in shaping the Federal Reserve’s next moves on interest rates. Milan had been the only market in positive territory on the continent in the first part of the day. In the afternoon, the picture improved everywhere, along with US futures:

Market	Afternoon change
Frankfurt	+0.53%
Milan	+0.25%
Madrid	+0.26%
London	+0.05%

The spread between Btp and 10-year German Bund stayed below 78 points, with the Italian yield falling to 3.91 percent.

Against the backdrop of Italian macroeconomic data, Istat reported that in July the national consumer price index rose by 2.9 percent year-on-year, down from 3.0 percent in June but above the preliminary estimate of 2.8 percent. The figure comes from a single source available in this collection, the official Istat survey: since there is no second independent source confirming it, we report it while stating this. The market is now looking at US consumer prices expected in the afternoon, the information traders consider most useful for anticipating the Fed’s next decisions on rates.