Stocks to dip as oil prices spike to three-week high

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

There’s set to be little relief in markets this morning as investors return from the weekend to oil hitting a three-week high.

The price of Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – rose two per cent to over $107 on Monday morning.

It follows collapsing peace talks over the weekend with Donald Trump cancelling a trip for US envoys to head to Pakistan for another round of talks.

“If they want to talk, they can ⁠come to us, or ​they ⁠can call us. ‌You know, there is a telephone. We have nice, ‌secure lines,” Trump said ‌in an interview on Fox News.

He said the trip to Pakistan was too far to travel “without a plan”.

Though investors may be in line for some modest relief after a report from Axios suggested Iran is keen to make a deal on opening the Strait of Hormuz first and postpone nuclear talks until later.

A significant part of the economic impact triggered by the war is coming from the Strait, where around a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows through.

The reported proposal would bypass the most contentious issue in negotiations – Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile – in a bid to strike a faster deal.

A White House spokesperson said: “The United States holds the cards and will only make a deal that puts the American people first, never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

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

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