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Oil prices drop despite Israel and Iran both accusing each other of violating a ceasefire. Live from the BBC World Service, this is the Marketplace Morning Report. I'm Luke Wilson, in for Leanna Byrne. Good morning.
The price of Brent crude oil has fallen to $69 a barrel, despite a statement from Israel saying that its identified missiles launched from Iran in the last hour, something Iran has denied. Israel had announced it had agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire with Iran earlier this morning, causing the oil price to drop 15% from a high of $81 a barrel yesterday when traders were waiting for a response to the US bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities.
Altaf Kassam is Managing Director and Head of Europe Investment Strategy and Research at State Street Global Advisors. It feels like the markets have firmly put the Iran-Israel conflict in the rearview mirror. They think we've moved past it. They think that there's only going to be like diplomacy from now on and enter the conflict. And so that risk premium that was put into the
price of oil, taking into account an escalation from Iran, the possible shut of the Straits of Hormuz, you know, and a protracted war that has now all been removed from the oil price. So in fact, it's lower than even before Israel started its attack on Iran.
Altaf Kassam from State Street Global Advisors. The uncertainty over this conflict and what it means for oil prices and inflation is dominating the World Economic Forum meeting in the Chinese port city of Tianjin. It's known as Summer Davos after the group's biggest annual gathering every January in the Alps.
But of course, it's not the only challenge facing the global economy. Sluggish growth and a deadline from President Trump on tariffs in the next fortnight. The BBC's Suranjana Tiwari is in Tianjin and joins me now. Hi, Suranjana. Does it feel like that tariff deadline is looming at this meeting?
Absolutely. And that is for all the countries except for China, because the U.S. inked that deal with China, of course. And their tariff pause actually ends in August. But as for the other players, especially in the region, the Japans and South Koreans that have, you know, burgeoning economies, but are very restricted by this tariff issue.
They are having discussions. They're trying to navigate what's going on and how they can continue investing and continue planning for the next few years with everything that's going on in the world. And just to say as well that inflation is still a big concern for many of the businesses and business leaders that are attending here.
As long as inflation stays high, that demand will stay down. And that means they don't know who's going to buy and how many people are going to buy the goods that they are producing. And a lot of challenges in the present. But sort of looking ahead to the future, business leaders, delegates at this meeting, are they talking about that? And, you know, the issues...
with things like AI and how it will affect the economy? Absolutely. That is a key theme of this meeting, AI, and how it can be applied in businesses around the world. In fact, there's some analysts that are saying that AI could add up to 10% to growth in the global economy. So they're really trying to sort of
find out the ways where it can be applied. I mean, I've been speaking to a lot of people and while there are a lot of test cases and there's lots of companies offering fantastic things, especially here in China, which obviously is very far ahead when it comes to things like AI and applying it in their businesses.
We're still not at that crucial point where we're seeing the results of it. That might take some time, it might take more investment and more development, but this conversation is certainly happening about going forward, how artificial intelligence can really be applied and can help all these businesses expand and in turn the economies grow as well. The BBC's Surinjana Tiwari, thanks for joining us on Marketplace. Thank you. Let's do the numbers.
And stock markets have risen around the world off the back of the Israel-Iran ceasefire announcement. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei closed up 1%, the Hang Seng climbed 2%, and in Europe, the stock 600 is currently trading up more than 1%. Oman says it will impose a personal income tax, becoming the first Gulf country to do so. The move will break with long-standing precedents in the region, which has often lured foreign workers with tax-free incomes.
The tax will come into force in 2028 and we'll see a 5% tax on incomes over $109,000. Only 1% of the country's 5 million people are expected to pay the levy.
The UK's antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, has suggested that Google might have to make changes to how it runs its internet searches in the UK to ensure greater competition. Google's under pressure from regulators in Europe and the US. Now the UK watchdog says the tech giant should be covered by new British laws designed to promote more competition in internet searches.
The regulator also says British businesses spend an average of $45,000 each per year on Google Ads. The CMA's chief executive is Sarah Cardell. We've seen that Google accounts for more than 90% of all general search inquiries in the UK, and that's a position that it's held regularly.
for many, many years. And that means it's a key gateway for millions of us to access the internet. But also critically, it's a critical channel for businesses to reach their consumers. And in fact, here in the UK, UK businesses spent collectively more than £10 billion just last year on search advertising on Google. So it's absolutely essential that effective competition is delivering good outcomes in this market for UK businesses.
and UK consumers. And we're looking at outcomes like more choice and control for consumers, lower costs for businesses, and importantly, greater opportunities for innovation that really benefits the UK tech sector and the broader economy. So that's what the new UK digital markets competition regime is designed to achieve. And today, as a first step, we're proposing to designate Google with, as you say, so-called strategic market status. It reflects its important decision in relation to this
to this critical digital activity. And we've also set out a roadmap of potential actions that we may take to deliver those improved outcomes for UK consumers. Sarah Cardell there from the Competition and Markets Authority. Google says the UK has historically benefited from early access to its innovations, but punitive regulations could change that. That's all from us this morning. I'm Luke Wilson with the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.
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