Stocks flat as oil higher; Barclays, BP earnings

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

Oil returned to a three-week high comfortably over the $105 mark on Monday and those gains look set to continue today.

Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – edged over $110 on Tuesday morning as it once again appeared peace talks in the Middle East were stalling,

A report from Axios had suggested Iran was keen to make a deal on opening the Strait of Hormuz first and postpone nuclear talks until later.

But word from the White House suggests Donald Trump isn’t a fan of pursuing a deal this way.

An official told Reuters that Trump is unhappy with the proposal because it did not address Iran’s nuclear program.

“He doesn’t love the proposal,” the US official said.

Meanwhile, during a UN Security Council debate, US envoy Dorothy Shea said Iran was holding the global economy “hostage” through its continued blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.

Shea accused Tehran of laying sea mines, firing on civilian ships, threatening to charge tolls and striking Gulf capitals.

China and Russia were also criticised for vetoing a Bahrain-backed Security Council resolution aimed at protecting freedom of navigation in the strait.

The US last night seized two Iranian-linked tankers, which have continued to stoke fears that hostilities would continue.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei posted on X: “Welcome to the return of the pirates — only now, they operate with government-issued warrants, sail under official flags, and call their plunder ‘law enforcement.’”

We’ll be bringing you the latest on this and more.

Here’s a few of our top headlines this morning