Israel Financial News

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday as OPEC forecast relatively strong growth in global oil demand over the next two years and a cold blast in the U.S. disrupted some oil production. Brent crude futures gained 28 cents to $78.16 a barrel by 0004 GMT, and U.S.

Houthis has said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include US ships in response to the American and British strikes. In a sign it remains undeterred, the Houthi movement on Wednesday said it made a "direct hit" with missiles on the US Genco Picardy bulk carrier. This second attack was confirmed by US shipping company Genco, saying that its ship was struck by a projectile while it was travelling through the Gulf of Aden carrying phosphate rock.

European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde says cutting interest rates too soon could threaten Europe’s progress in battling the inflation that has ravaged the economy

Medicine is en route to Gaza after Qatar and France worked out a deal between Israel and Hamas

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(Reuters) — Business chiefs warned on Wednesday that disruption to shipping in the Red Sea caused by attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen could affect supply chains for months and lead to a shortage of tankers needed to transport fuel.

oil markets will cope with Red Sea disruptions in the short run, although prolonged attacks by the Houthis on ships would lead to a shortage of tankers due to longer voyages and a supply delay, the CEO of Saudi oil giant Aramco said. Amin Nasser told Reuters he expected the oil market to tighten after consumers depleted stocks by 400 million barrels in the last two years, which left OPEC's spare capacity as the main source of additional supply to meet rising demand. Attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea have forced many companies to divert cargoes around Africa. The Iran-aligned Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians during Israel's ongoing war with Gaza. «If it's in the short term, tankers might be available… But if it's longer term, it might be a problem,» Nasser said in an interview on the sidelines of this week's World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. «There will be a need for more tankers and are they going to have to take a longer journey». Container vessels have been pausing or diverting from the Red Sea that leads to the Suez Canal, the fastest route from Asia to Europe, where about 12% of world shipping passes.

Yemen, officials said Tuesday, as the Iran-backed rebel group continues to target vessels in the Red Sea.The early morning strikes destroyed four anti-ship missiles that were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, officials said.The Houthis have not stopped their attacks despite two airstrikes by U.S. and British forces last week that targeted the group’s weapons depots, launching facilities and air defence systems.

Red Sea shipping force them to find alternate routes, logistics firms say, a potential boon for a sector dealing with muted post-pandemic demand and overcapacity. The Red Sea, which leads to the Suez canal, lies on the key east-west trade route from Asia's manufacturing hubs to Europe and onto the east coast of the Americas. About 12% of world shipping traffic accesses the Suez Canal via its waters.

Houthi rebels fired a missile that struck a U.S.-owned ship Monday just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after they launched an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea. The attack on the Gibraltar Eagle, later claimed by the Houthis, further escalates tensions gripping the Red Sea after American-led strikes on the rebels. The Houthis' attacks have roiled global shipping, amid Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, targeting a crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, said Monday's attack happened some 110 miles (177 kilometers) miles southeast of Aden.

Iran-backed Huthi rebels continue despite multiple strikes against them, AFP reported. In an official statement, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said, “US forces struck and destroyed four Huthi anti-ship ballistic missiles.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., reacts to the U.S.-U.K. militaries launching strikes against Houthis in Yemen and weighs in on the Iowa caucuses on 'The Bottom Line.'

US Navy SEALs seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry from a ship bound for Yemen's Houthi rebels in a raid last week that saw two of its commandos go missing, the US military said Tuesday. The raid marks the latest seizure by the US Navy and its allies of weapon shipments bound for the rebels, who have launched a series of attacks now threatening global trade in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The seized missile components included types likely used in those attacks.

strikes in Syria and Iraq, Iran has sought to «flex its muscles» in the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war without provoking a confrontation with the United States, analysts said. In neighbouring Iraq, the strikes by Iran's Revolutionary Guards targeted an alleged Israeli «spy headquarters» in the autonomous Kurdish region in response to the assassination of Iranian and pro-Iranian commanders in recent weeks. In Syria, the strikes targeted the Islamic State jihadist group in response to twin suicide bombings that killed around 90 people at an official memorial event in southern Iran earlier this month.

Qatar’s prime minister has warned of the massive destruction inflicted by Israel’s offensive on Gaza and criticized the Israeli defense minister’s rejection of a cease-fire in the battered enclave

₹ 3,605.7, hit on Monday. On Tuesday, L&T said that its construction arm has bagged a “mega" order, valued between ₹ 10,000 crore and ₹ 15,000 crore for constructing a high-speed electrification system for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. This significant domestic contract is expected to bolster L&T’s order book and revenue stream.

died. The number of children among them, more than 3,000, exceeds the annual death toll for children in all wars in each of the preceding three years. The Economist estimates, from satellite imagery, that over a tenth of Gaza’s housing stock has been destroyed, leaving more than 280,000 people without homes to which they can return.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is headlining a frenzied first full day of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos

Hamas appeared to show the dead bodies of two Israeli hostages on Monday after warning Israel they might be killed if it did not stop its bombardment of Gaza. A new video released by the Palestinian militant group purportedly showed the bodies of Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, who had appeared in an initial video on Sunday. It also showed a third Israeli hostage, university student Noa Argamani, 26, seemingly reading a script in front of a blank white wall, saying the two were killed by Israeli strikes. Israel's military spokesperson said there was serious concern regarding the fate of the hostages purported to be dead in the video, while specifying that one of them, whom he identified as Svirsky, was not killed by Israeli fire. «Itai was not shot by our forces. That is a Hamas lie.

Investing.com-- Oil prices moved little in Asian trade on Tuesday as traders awaited more developments in the Middle East, while a string of key economic readings due this week also kept markets on edge.

By Nandita Bose