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The Guardian

Trump claims US fuel prices ‘not very high’ as costs surge amid Iran war

Fuel prices are displayed at a gas station in Washington DC on 30 May 2026. Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenFuel prices are displayed at a gas station in Washington DC on 30 May 2026. Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/ShutterstockUS economyTrump claims US fuel prices ‘not very high’ as costs surge amid Iran warNational average gas price stands at about $4.16 per gallon as Americans grapple with price hikes sparked by the war Donald Trump has claimed US fuel prices are “not very high, relatively speaking” as his administration grapples with affordability concerns after the surge in costs sparked by his war on Iran. The national average gas price stood at about $4.16 per gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA – $0.37 lower than a month ago, but still about $1 more expensive than the same time last year. The US president has faced sustained frustration over the sharp rise in fuel costs since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February. While he has repeatedly sought to downplay the increase in prices, it comes as voters prepare to cast their votes in November’s crucial US midterm elections. Trump says fuel prices are ‘not very high’ amid Iran war - videoAddressing reporters on Tuesday morning, Trump said the administration was releasing “a lot of oil coming out of the Hormuz strait”, one of the most crucial passageways for global trade through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes. The strait has been all but closed since the start of the war. The president spoke from New York after attending Game 3 of the NBA finals, where he was loudly booed when shown on Madison Square Garden’s jumbotrons. Prices still remain far higher than what they were before the Iran war started. Oil and gas prices jumped sharply after the strait of Hormuz effectively closed earlier this year, as Iran threatened ships in the area and maritime insurers cancelled war risk cover. Trump also pointed out that gas prices remain lower than during the Biden administration, “and he wasn’t stopping the country from having a nuclear weapon”. Record-high gas prices in 2022 were exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which tightened the world’s oil supply. The sharp uptick in energy prices largely drove inflation to 3.8% last month, the highest increase the country had recorded since 2023. Americans have started to feel the effects of high energy costs on many other aspects of everyday life, such as the price of groceries and air travel. Moody’s Analytics has estimated that the war and its resulting high energy prices have cost American households about $100bn. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release May inflation estimates on Wednesday morning, which economists expect to show that inflation remained high. The closely watched report will probably shape the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for next week, where Kevin Warsh, the central bank’s new chair, and the rest of the central bank’s board of governors will decide whether to change rates, amid elevated inflation and a relatively strong labor market.

Trump claims US fuel prices ‘not very high’ as costs surge amid Iran war
North America
CNBC Finance

JPMorgan Chase plans to deploy more powerful AI agents this year

JPMorgan Chase plans to deploy artificial intelligence agents later this year that can work autonomously for far longer than existing versions, marking another milestone in the corporate adoption of AI, CNBC has learned exclusively. AI agents are evolving from tools that complete single tasks to digital workers that manage workflows across multiple steps and disparate software programs, Derek Waldron, JPMorgan chief analytics officer, told CNBC in an interview. "We've entered now the era of long-running autonomous agents," Waldron said. That "means that agents don't just run for two or three minutes to carry out a goal or some instructions of a human, they can run for an hour or two." Long-running agents have already emerged over the past year as examples including Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenClaw went viral. JPMorgan's planned deployment, however, suggests the technology is close to clearing the security and governance hurdles that have slowed adoption inside large companies. JPMorgan, run by CEO Jamie Dimon since 2006, is the biggest U.S. bank by assets and has a nearly $20 billion annual technology budget. While much of the conversation around generative AI has focused on model intelligence, tech leaders are increasingly focused on a different question, said Waldron: How long can AI systems operate effectively before requiring human intervention? That concept, which Waldron called "intellectual coherence," has been helped by improvements in how AI models reason, enabling them to be more of a "team manager than an individual worker," he said. "Just like how people function, team managers can parse out a problem and delegate activities, and teams can run for a lot longer to do more complex things," Waldron said. Other recent advances that have helped agents do more complex jobs include the ability to write code, control web browsers and interact directly with desktop software, he said. While long-running agents aren't yet ready for corporate use because of security concerns, their arrival isn't far off, Waldron said: "We will have those in 2026." Eventually, AI agents will remain coherent for "multiple hours, then days, then weeks," he said. AI-driven productivity gains have been most visible in software development and back-office type operations, but Waldron said it is increasingly boosting revenue-generating roles.

JPMorgan Chase plans to deploy more powerful AI agents this year
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

The U.S. is using an Iranian smuggling tactic to sneak oil out of the Gulf

The United States military has overseen scores of secretive ship-to-ship oil transfers to keep Gulf energy exports flowing, using aerial and water drones as well as helicopters in an operation to guide convoys to awaiting tankers. The operation on the edge of ​the Strait of Hormuz employs a shuttling technique long used by Iran to skirt sanctions. Two specific locations where the oil transfers take place were identified by 11 people familiar with the operation – one off the coast of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and the other off Oman’s port of Sohar. It ‌started in early May, and at least 92 ships have been involved in the transfers, according to shipping data and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters. As recently as June 11,17 pairs of ships could be ​seen carrying out simultaneous oil transfers at the two sites, according to satellite images reviewed by Reuters. An Apache helicopter downed by Iran on June 9, sparking retaliatory bombings by the U.S., was involved in the mission, according to four sources, ⁠including a former U.S. official with knowledge of the attack. Using satellite imagery, Reuters counted six pairs of tanker ships clustered together in a small area off the port of Sohar the day the Apache was shot down. Reuters could not confirm what role the Apache played in the operation. In response to Reuters questions, a U.S. defense official said no Central Command forces are taking part in an offshore ship-to-ship oil transfer operation. Both crew members were rescued by a drone boat, U.S. officials said. The extent of the ship-to-ship transfers, how they work, and the Apache’s role in the operation have not been ‌previously reported. The White House referred questions to Centcom. The Iranian government did not respond to requests for comment about the transfer operation. The two spots where these transfers take place, in the Gulf of Oman near the exit of the Strait of Hormuz, are close to the boundaries drawn by the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a new Iranian body established to manage the Hormuz Strait. Ships that fail to comply with Iran’s orders are at risk of drone and missile attack ‌by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Fujairah port itself has come under repeated Iranian fire during the time this U.S.-led operation has been underway. This past weekend, according to the British maritime risk management group Vanguard, an “unknown projectile” struck a tanker off ‌the coast ⁠of Oman. Vanguard said in a statement that the crew was safe and that the impact caused some leakage of the cargo, but no environmental damage. It did not specify whether the tanker was involved in a ship-to-ship ⁠transfer. Iran responded to the U.S.-Israeli war by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil consumption normally passes. That created the biggest global energy supply disruption in history and has spurred inflation around the world. The ship-to-ship transfers, though risky and inefficient, appear to be a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to help restore normal oil flows from the Gulf. U.S. President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen Friday under a framework peace deal with Iran announced this week, but details remain vague. Reuters could not determine whether the announced deal had affected the oil transfers. A Reuters investigation published May 20 found that Iran has established its ​own system for ushering ships through the opposite side of the Strait, involving island checkpoints, diplomatic deals and sometimes ‌fees. The American transfer operations are fully controlled by the U.S. military, said eight of the sources, including a private security contractor who has been involved in the transfers. Tankers must sail to a meeting point before they reach the strait, then stagger their departures so they are around 3,000 to 4,000 meters apart, according to one of the sources as well as satellite imagery. Their transponders are off and their lights are dimmed, according to four sources. A series of waypoints allow the U.S. military to monitor the progress of the designated tankers, but the Americans are “obviously watching you all the time,” one of the sources said. When they pass through the strait, just beyond a zone that Iran has delineated as under its control, the tankers pull alongside ‌the recipient ships, which are Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, to begin the oil transfers. These take between 24 and 40 hours to complete. The empty tankers then shuttle back through the strait and the newly loaded VLCCs sail onward. What ​makes this ship-to-ship operation possible is that there are a few shippers willing to sail their vessels through the strait to deliver the oil to the waiting tankers, despite the Iranian blockade. But the operation is risky. “You just don't know when Iran might just decide to start using drones or even gunboats in order to prevent even those ships from transiting the strait,” said Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at Washington Institute who specializes in maritime risk ⁠and who reviewed Reuters’ findings. The ship-to-ship technique has been used by Iran for years to bypass sanctions, because it masks the source of the oil. The Iranians usually operate one pair of ships at a time, both to avoid detection and because its prewar exports were relatively small. The U.S.-led operation, which involves mass transfers, gives Gulf producers better protection from Iranian retaliatory attacks so they can move crude, condensate and petroleum products to international buyers. Reuters reviewed more than a dozen satellite images taken between May 2 and June 11 showing ship-to-ship transfers involving state-owned Gulf tanker ‌fleets and internationally operated vessels that receive the oil. LSEG and Kpler shipping data reviewed by Reuters showed repeated rendezvous between tankers operating in the area during the same period.

The U.S. is using an Iranian smuggling tactic to sneak oil out of the Gulf
North America
CNBC Finance

Food supply 'not at risk' after new Texas screwworm cases, USDA secretary says

The U.S. food supply is "not at risk" from the return of the flesh-eating screwworm ​parasite to Texas, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday. "This is not a virus, it's not a disease, it's just a little pest, a larva that lands in a calf's wound, for example, and it can be treated," Rollins said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We have boots on the ground … we'll be able to beat this back, but we're going to do everything we can, investing over a billion dollars to push this pest back into Mexico, then to eradicate, as we did about 50 years ago," she later added. Her comments came shortly before the USDA confirmed two additional cases of screwworm discovered in Texas — one in a calf in La Salle County and another in a dog in Andrews County — bringing the total cases to four. While the dog's case was reported by a veterinarian in Texas, the animal lives in New Mexico, the USDA classified as a New Mexico case. The department said New Mexico officials will increase monitoring and outreach in the area. The USDA confirmed the first positive case of screwworm in Texas on Wednesday. The screwworm cases are the first in the U.S. since the 1960s. The potential for the pest spreading and disrupting the U.S. food supply has led to a response in Texas and Washington D.C., including President Donald Trump's Monday appointment of John Bellinger, a longtime executive in food safety and distribution firms, as as a senior advisor for New World screwworm preparedness. The New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into the flesh of living warm-blooded animals, causing painful wounds that can become life-threatening without treatment. The pest poses a risk to livestock, wildlife, pets and, in uncommon cases, people. Screwworms do not infest meat, fruits, vegetables or other food products, according to the USDA. Still, the cases mark a troubling return of the parasite and raise questions about how to keep it from spreading further into the U.S., reviving a threat the country spent decades working to eliminate. Texas agriculture officials, including Commissioner Sid Miller, have criticized the USDA for a slow response that failed to halt the New World screwworm from crossing the border. In response, Rollins said Miller's recent comments are "disturbing and disruptive and so harmful to what we're trying to achieve." She said the U.S. will lean on the same playbook it used starting in the late 1950s, part of which involves releasing sterile insects to suppress the pest's population. She said the U.S. is already dropping around 10 million sterile flies a week on the affected area, both from the air and the ground. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Food supply 'not at risk' after new Texas screwworm cases, USDA secretary says
Europe
The Guardian

Diane Keaton’s nail clippers for $960: what’s behind the new boom in celebrity estate auctions?

‘The personal legacy market has exploded’ … Diane Keaton in a scene from Mack & Rita. Photograph: Landmark Media/AlamyView image in fullscreen‘The personal legacy market has exploded’ … Diane Keaton in a scene from Mack & Rita. Photograph: Landmark Media/AlamyMoviesDiane Keaton’s nail clippers for $960: what’s behind the new boom in celebrity estate auctions?With beloved stars’ personal items increasingly up for grabs after they die, a new generation of fans are bidding on everything from bowler hats to dog bowls Rupert NeateFri 12 Jun 2026 02.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 12 Jun 2026 06.22 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleFrom Diane Keaton’s bowler hats and polka dot scarfs, to Gene Hackman’s used paint brushes, to Terence Stamp’s love letters from Jean Shrimpton and even Matthew Perry’s black leather wallet (his credit cards and AAA membership card still inside), fans are being offered – at a price – increasingly personal items from the estates of dead celebrities. The growing trend for auctions of deceased famous people’s personal items – which has boomed ever since the hugely popular Marilyn Monroe estate sale in 1999 – has even attracted its own portmanteau: “deleb” as in dead celebrity. The first of no fewer than four auctions of Keaton’s professional and personal items went on sale at Bonhams in New York earlier this week with her original Annie Hall script selling for $394,000, way more than its $2,000 estimate. View image in fullscreenA handwritten letter and inscribed sheet music to Diane Keaton from Al Pacino. Photograph: Bonhams AuctionsSeveral of her trademark hats sold for thousands of dollars, including a black felt Neogranadine (modern day Colombia) cup hat that she wore in an Instagram video teaching fans how hats can be used to enhance their best features. It sold for $5,888, including buyer’s premium, many multiples of its $200-300 estimate. A box of six of her trademark brown polka dot scarfs – that was also estimated to sell for $200-300 – sold for $6,144. A “curated box” of safety pins and nail clippers went for $960. The first Keaton auction raised $1.2m, with 47 of the 50 lots selling for more than their estimate. In total, Bonhams, in collaboration with celebrity specialist The Fine Art Group, will sell 787 of Keaton’s items. They range from original collages by Keaton and a Gucci sequin suit and beret worn to the Lacma charity gala in 2021, to personal and prosaic items including a “job lot” of her trademark black turtlenecks, a collection of kitchen chopping boards and dog food bowls. Shane David Hall, director of Fine Art Group’s high-profile client division, says fans are increasingly keen to own celebrities’ personal items and not just items related to their professional lives like film scripts or art collections. “Over the past 20 years the personal legacy market has really exploded,” he says. “People really feel a personal connection to celebrities and how they have influenced their own lives, and there is a real desire to own something of theirs to keep and deepen that connection.” View image in fullscreenCult collector’s item … David Lynch’s cap and director’s chair auctioned with 450 pieces of memorabilia and personal items in 2025. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/APHall says it is celebrities with cult followings, such as Keaton and Perry, that attract the most interest and where the interest is perhaps more focused on personal objects than professional items. “There is a new generation of collectors with disposal income, and they are more aligned to celebrities and athletes than their parents,” Hall says. “With people like Diane Keaton, they really mean something to their fans, these are people that grew up with her films and her iconic wardrobe. Items of Diane’s are sentimental to them, there are pieces that fit in the trajectory of their own lives and remind them of significant moments in their own story. And of course they make great conversation topics, one could argue more so than an artwork by a famous artist.” Hall says knowing that so many of Keaton’s items would resonate with fans led to such a large collection going up for sale. “We like to have some value points that are accessible so there is the opportunity for everyone no matter their budget.” At the more affordable end was lot no 2216 of the second auction “Tailored & Timeless” – four pairs of her thick-rimmed prescription reading glasses which had an estimate of $200-300 (it sold for $2,176).

Diane Keaton’s nail clippers for $960: what’s behind the new boom in celebrity estate auctions?
North America
CNBC Economy

Household worries over finances hit highest level since July 2022, New York Fed survey shows

U.S. households grew more worried over their financial situation, with the share of those seeing things as much worse than they were 12 months ago hitting a nearly four-year high, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey. While the central bank's monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, released Monday, showed the inflation outlook mostly unchanged, the general perception of conditions deteriorated. The share of those seeing their current situation as "much worse" than a year ago leaped to 13.3%, up about 2.7 percentage points from April and the highest since July 2022. The total of those seeing either a much or somewhat worse situation from a year ago stood at 43.7%, which the New York Fed said was the highest since January 2023. Those expecting their situations to be either much or somewhat worse totaled 36%, while those seeing things improving totaled just 22.9%. The net between those seeing better versus worse conditions hit its lowest since October 2022, the New York Fed said in the release. The survey comes with consumers fearful over the inflationary impact from the Iran war, which has sent energy prices soaring. Some Fed policymakers recently have expressed worry that if the conflict persists it could raise inflation expectations among consumers and businesses, making the problem longer term than the typical temporary impact from supply shocks. Inflation expectations at the one-year horizon declined just 0.1 percentage point, to 3.5%. The outlook at the three- and five-year time frames held flat at 3.1% and 3%, respectively. Expectations for gasoline prices actually dropped 0.1 percentage point to 5%, while the outlook for food rose 0.6 percentage point to 5.8% and rent increased 1.4 percentage points to 7.4%. Also, the expectation for household spending growth over the next year fell to 5%, down 0.4 percentage point from April. Consumers will get their next inflation reading Wednesday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for May. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect that headline inflation rose to 4.2% and core inflation, which excludes food and energy, increased to 2.9%. The Fed targets inflation at 2%. The Federal Open Market Committee makes its next interest rate decision on June 17. Markets are pricing in almost no chance the committee will lower benchmark interest rates, with expectations rising that the central bank instead will hike by a quarter percentage point by the end of the year. Correction: Inflation expectations at the one-year horizon declined just 0.1 percentage point, to 3.5%. An earlier version misstated the move. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.

Household worries over finances hit highest level since July 2022, New York Fed survey shows
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

US oil reserve hits 43-year low as emergency releases continue during Iran conflict

The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has fallen to its lowest level since 1983 after the Trump administration continued releasing emergency oil supplies to limit the economic impact of the Iran conflict. | Photo Credit: RICHARD CARSON The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve tumbled last week to its lowest level since 1983 as the Trump administration continues to deploy emergency oil to minimize economic damage from the war with Iran. Citing federal data released on Monday, a CNN news report highlighted that US officials released another 8.9 million barrels from the emergency stockpile last week alone. The news report mentioned that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) held 340.3 million barrels of crude oil as of June 12, 2026, dropping below the prior historic low set in July 2023 under President Joe Biden following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The last time the reserve held less oil than its current level was July 1983, a period when the 40th US President, Ronald Reagan administration was still filling the reserve for the first time, and the United States operated a significantly smaller economy. The SPR has emerged as a key tool Trump officials use to mitigate the harm of high energy prices to consumers, businesses, and the wider economy. Back-to-back global conflicts wiped out a large chunk of the stockpile, which is down 75 million barrels, or 18 per cent, since the war with Iran started in late February. At current levels, the emergency reserve stands at a little less than half full. “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases, combined with releases by other governments and China reducing its exports, have prevented the Armageddon scenario of $150 oil from happening to date,” the news report quoted Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. “If we were to get a major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico that shuts production down for several weeks, that buffer would no longer be there,” Lipow said. Lipow added that SPR releases may have to slow once the Trump administration finishes releasing the 172 million barrels it pledged to deploy back in March. The rapid drawdown also marks a political shift. When launching his third run for the White House in 2022, President Donald Trump criticized Biden for draining the reserve ahead of that year’s midterm elections. However, Trump officials are now draining the SPR at a faster pace ahead of this year’s midterms. Production officials warned that the stockpile faces operational limits if the current trajectory continues. “The SPR must be at least 20% full to be operational,” warned Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Reserve, during an interview last week on CNN’s The Lead. “We’re raising alarm bells right now.” The emergency oil released since the conflict with Iran began will require replacement over time. However, the report mentioned that this replenishment will not occur in time for the peak of the hurricane season, leaving the domestic energy supply vulnerable to immediate weather disruptions.

US oil reserve hits 43-year low as emergency releases continue during Iran conflict
North America
CNBC Finance

Novo and Lilly are competing to win the GLP-1 pill market as they prepare for Medicare coverage

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly took their GLP-1 pill battle to the preeminent obesity meeting this weekend as they prepare for the next sea change in how patients receive their drugs. Novo Nordisk on Sunday announced that prescriptions of the Wegovy pill have topped 3 million since it entered the U.S. market about five months ago. The Danish drugmaker's CEO Mike Doustdar celebrated the milestone, saying in an interview with CNBC that Novo was able to accelerate prescriptions even as Lilly introduced its own GLP-1 pill in April. "If that's not acceleration, then I don't know what is," Doustdar told CNBC this weekend at the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions. Meanwhile, Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC that prescriptions of its pill Foundayo are "markedly higher" than the 20,000 that Lilly reported about six weeks ago around its first-quarter earnings release, without giving a specific number. He said the number builds week over week and that Lilly is pleased with the progress. The competition for the weight loss pill market is only the latest for the longtime rivals. Signs of that tension were evident throughout the industry event this weekend. Cars drove around advertising Novo's Wegovy pill, while pictures of Lilly's Foundayo pill covered some of the floors of the convention center in New Orleans. And the two companies will soon make their case for their daily pills and their weekly shots to seniors. Starting in July, millions of people with Medicare will be able to access GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for $50 a month. Until now, Medicare beneficiaries have had to pay out of pocket for the obesity drugs, costing them potentially hundreds of dollars a month. Both companies say they're focused on raising awareness of the program, though they have different pitches. Doustdar thinks the program could be an opportunity to regain some of the ground Novo's Wegovy shot has lost to Lilly's Zepbound. The drugmaker plans to advertise Wegovy's other health benefits on its label, he said, like the fact that it can decrease the risk of cardiovascular problems like heart attacks and strokes. He said Novo should win with seniors "if common sense is to prevail, and I put myself in their shoes." "With the Wegovy high dose, why would you not take a product that has the same efficacy, percentage wise, than my competitor?" he said. "On top of it, you get kidney, liver, heart, stroke protection, let's say free of charge. I would take it if I was 10 years older." Lilly's pitch to seniors is convenience. The company's pill Foundayo can be taken at any time of day with food, water and other medicines, whereas Novo's pill needs to be taken on an empty stomach with little water and requires fasting for 30 minutes afterward. "The main thing is, it's easy," Ricks said. "This is something that can just go in your daily routine. Most seniors are on many other medications, and they've got their pill case, and they use that every day, and this will just fit right into that without any extra thought." Ricks said Lilly is working closely with the government to prepare, and he's confident that Humana, which will process prescription requests, will do a good job. He thinks the program will be popular with seniors and that longer term, the initiative could help prove that obesity care should be "regular health care." "We have to prove that in this pilot and prove cost effectiveness and then kind of reset what we expect from our health insurance, which is obesity care should be health care," Ricks said.

Novo and Lilly are competing to win the GLP-1 pill market as they prepare for Medicare coverage
Europe
BBC Business

SpaceX IPO: Preparing for the biggest liftoff yet?

It’s not just about rockets. This week, Michelle, Rahul and Will explore one of the most anticipated stock market debuts in history: the SpaceX IPO. With a potential $1.75 trillion valuation and intense global investor interest, it’s widely tipped as one of the biggest market launches ever. But can the company live up to the hype — or is this Elon Musk’s biggest gamble yet? Plus: what does SpaceX actually do, and why does it matter to investors? This is the latest episode of our weekly Power Players show, hosted by Rahul Tandon and Will Bain in the UK, and North America Business Correspondent Michelle Fleury in New York. Producer: Rebecca Smyllie You can email the team: businessdaily@bbc.co.uk (Picture: Tesla and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk reacts during an event in London, UK in 2023. Credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)

SpaceX IPO: Preparing for the biggest liftoff yet?