Oil prices tick up amid doubt on Iran war ceasefire; Chinese factory gate costs increase for first time in four years

The rise in the oil price is strengthening this morning, with Brent crude – the international benchmark – now up 1.9% to $97.79 a barrel.There is a cautious mood this morning in the European stock market, with some small rises across the board.The UK’s blue chip FTSE 100 is up very slightly by 0

Welcome to Y’all Street: bullish Dallas aims to steal New York’s financial crown

As the warm sun rises over the Dallas skyline, SUVs and pickup trucks whiz past an unassuming construction site that is helping cement the city’s Texas-sized financial ambitions.Nestled between towers claimed by Bank of America and JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs has cordoned off 800,000 sq ft for a new Dallas campus able to host more than 5,000 staff. But the $700m (£530m) project is more than a regional expansion plan by one of America’s largest banks. It is another win for the lobbyists behind Dallas’s “Y’all Street” – the Texan city’s aggressive push to steal New York’s financial crown.The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, once a fly-in, fly-out stopover for bankers, has seen its financial sector workforce boom over the past decade, surging 40% to 386,000 staff

‘Irresponsible failure’: Google, Meta, Snap and Microsoft slam EU over child sexual abuse law lapse

The European parliament has blocked the extension of a law that permits big tech firms to scan for child sexual exploitation on their platforms, creating a legal gap that child safety experts say will lead to crimes going undetected.The law, which was a carve-out of the EU Privacy Act, was put in place in 2021 as a temporary measure allowing companies to use automated detection technologies to scan messages for harms, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), grooming and sextortion. However, it expired on 3 April, and the EU parliament decided not to vote to extend it, amid privacy concerns from some lawmakers.The regulatory gap has created uncertainty for big tech companies, because while scanning for harms on their platforms is now illegal, they still remain liable to remove any illegal content hosted on their platforms under a different law, the Digital Services Act. Google, Meta, Snap and Microsoft said they would continue to voluntarily scan their platforms for CSAM, in a joint statement posted on a Google blog

Elon Musk’s xAI sues Colorado over new rules for artificial intelligence

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado over a new AI law set to take effect in June.The suit seeks to block the state from enforcing the law, which would impose new requirements on AI systems to protect state residents from “algorithmic discrimination” in sectors such as education, employment, healthcare, housing and financial services.Colorado was the first state to pass a comprehensive bill to regulate AI.The company claims the law infringes on its first amendment free-speech protections and would force xAI to “promote the state’s ideological views on various matters, racial justice in particular”, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the lawsuit. “Its provisions prohibit developers of AI systems from producing speech that the state of Colorado dislikes

Chess: Sindarov extends Candidates lead and heads for world title challenge

Javokhir Sindarov extended his lead at the world championship Candidates in Cyprus on Thursday when the 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster won for the sixth time at the event to take his overall total to an unbeaten eight points out of 10, two ahead of his closest challenger, the Netherlands No 1, Anish Giri.India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had prepared a sharp and complex defence to the Queen’s Gambit with an early push of his g and h pawns, but he blundered at move 22 and Sindarov was able to acquire a queen and several pawns for two ineffective rooks.In the previous round, Giri, 31, had established himself as Sindarov’s main rival when he defeated the pre-tournament favourite and US champion, Fabiano Caruana, in a game with a brilliant finish, where the exquisite sequence 42…f5+! 43 exf5 Kh6!! led to unavoidable checkmate or win of the queen.In the same round, Sindarov, after creating a winning attack against Matthias Blübaum’s king, miscalculated and allowed a queen exchange instead of converting by 24…Qb7!The last remaining obstacle for Sindarov may be in round 13, when he has Black against Giri. If he overcomes that, then it will be on to the best of 14 games world championship match later in 2026 against Gukesh Dommaraju

The Masters 2026: Rory McIlroy shares lead with Sam Burns after first round – as it happened

Thanks for reading and join us again for round two. Rory McIlroy has the opportunity to join a very elite club this week because only three men have successfully defended the Green Jacket. The three current members of that club are Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. What an incentive and what a prospect. Here’s Ewan Murray’s report of the first round