XLE Outperforms SPY by 8-10% Since March as US Rig Count Posts Largest Gain in 4-Plus Years

OKX's oil perps contracts will track Intercontinental Exchange's Brent Crude and WTI Crude energy benchmarks.

ICE and OKX plan to launch oil-linked perpetual futures based on Brent and WTI benchmarks, bringing crypto derivatives further into traditional energy markets under licensing restrictions.

OKX, a blockchain technology and trading company serving more than 120 million customers globally, and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), one of the world’s leading providers of financial market technology and data powering global capital markets including the New York Stock Exchange, today announced plans for OKX to launch perpetual futures based on ICE’s Brent Crude [...]

Headlines: US-Iran developments still the main focus ahead of the weekend Pakistan interior minister said to have met with Iran foreign minister again - report Iran state media claims 35 vessels passed through Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours USD/JPY continues to edge higher as yen bias stays bearish amid negative macro backdrop How have interest rate expectations changed after this week's events? ECB President Lagarde says ECB will follow a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach ECB policymaker Demarco says that the ECB will probably need to hike in June BOJ governor Ueda says discussed economic, market events with prime minister Takaichi German consumer sentiment recovers slightly going into June but dark clouds remain German business sentiment sees unexpected bounce in May but only a marginal one France's business climate remains gloomy in May as services sector remains gloomy UK retail sales slump in April as fallout from Middle East crisis weighs on activity Markets: WTI crude up 1.1% to $97.50, off earlier highs near $99 10-year Treasury yields down 3.3 bps to 4.55% USD holds firmer, AUD and NZD lag on the day DAX up 0.6%, CAC 40 up 0.3% S&P 500 futures up 0.2% Gold down 0.4% to $4,522 Bitcoin down 0.4% to $77,342 Once again, we're left waiting on more US-Iran developments in closing out the week. After rumours of an imminent announcement of a framework agreement, there still hasn't been any official word on that yet as we get into the final stretch of the week. Iran continues to review the US proposal and are claiming that they are letting more vessels pass through the Strait of Hormuz with their permission. However, shipping data earlier in the week debunked the first set of numbers and are likely to debunk the ones announced today as well. That being said, all of this appears to be a ruse to try and make it seem as though they are playing ball to meet conditions for a framework agreement to be signed. And you can bet that the US will care less

Bloomberg Daybreak Europe is your essential morning viewing to stay ahead. Live from London, we set the agenda for your day, catching you up with overnight markets news from the US and Asia. And we'll tell you what matters for investors in Europe, giving you insight before trading begins. On today's show, the US says tolls on the Strait of Hormuz would be unacceptable, after Iran said it's working with Oman to formalize its control of the Strait. Stocks have been resilient on optimism that a deal to end the war is on the horizon. But conflicting statements from the US and Iran saw Brent gaining after three days of declines. Kevin Warsh is due to be sworn in as Chair of the Federal Reserve, just as soaring Treasury yields cloud the outlook for interest rates. Today's guests: Modupe Adegbembo, Jefferies, Economist & Tobias Adrian, International Monetary Fund, Financial Counsellor and Monetary & Capital Markets Department Director. (Source: Bloomberg)

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Oil prices remain volatile and heightened as peace talks in the Middle East continue to run into stumbling blocks. Brent crude futures were up to $104 this morning following reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader was ordering for the nation’s enriched uranium reserves to remain in [...]