US markets see-saw as investors keep close eye on Iran war

US stocks see-sawed on Monday as investors tried to keep abreast of the news on the first day of trading since the US and Israel attacks on Iran began.After dipping down over 1% across the board, the major indexes recovered most of their losses even after global markets saw heftier drops earlier in the day. At Monday’s closing, the Dow was down 0.15%, while the S&P 500 was 0.04% up

A gas shock – not an oil shock – from the Iran war looks more threatening | Nils Pratley

The price of oil grabs most of the energy-related attention during conflicts in the Middle East for understandable reasons: oil is the commodity on which the world runs (still) and analysts have roughly reliable models for what every $10 per barrel increase in cost does to global growth and inflation.So, on that front, one can say we’re still a long way from “oil shock” territory. Monday’s rise to $79 a barrel, up 9% since the end of last week, is sizeable, especially as the price was $62 at the start of this year, but remember that $125 was seen shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and $100-plus was then sustained for three months.A gas shock, however, looks a real and present threat. European wholesale gas prices rose 50% as QatarEnergy, the world’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) halted production after being targeted by Iranian drone strikes

Anthropic’s AI model Claude gets popularity boost after US military feud

The AI model Claude has surged in popularity after being blacklisted by the Pentagon last week over ethics concerns.Claude climbed to the No 1 spot on Apple’s chart of top free apps on Saturday in the US – dethroning OpenAI’s ChatGPT, just one day after the Pentagon tapped OpenAI to supply AI to classified military networks. The bot’s app climbed the iPhone app charts in the UK but did not beat out ChatGPT. Claude also raced up the Android charts in the US and UK, though ChatGPT reigned supreme, according to data from Sensor Tower.Claude and other apps by the startup Anthropic suffered outages early Monday amid what the company described as “unprecedented demand for Claude” over the last week

UK firms in Middle East face heightened threat from Iran hackers, agency warns

UK businesses with a presence in the Middle East have been urged to step up vigilance against cyber threats from Iran after US-Israeli attacks.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said there was “almost certainly” a heightened risk of an indirect cyber threat for organisations that had offices, or supply chains, in the Middle East.The UK’s cybersecurity agency said Iran remained a threat despite an extensive bombing campaign that has devastated the country’s political and military leadership, including the death of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.“Iranian state and Iran-linked cyber actors almost certainly currently maintain at least some capability to conduct cyber activity,” said the NCSC.The agency said in an alert published on Monday that there was “likely” no significant change in the direct cyber threat from Iran to the UK, but organisations should prepare for the risk of collateral damage from Iran-linked hacktivists

Hilary Knight won Olympic ice hockey gold with torn MCL: ‘I’m not walking around the best’

Hilary Knight revealed on Monday that she led the US women’s ice hockey team to gold at last month’s Olympics while suffering from a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL) in one of her knees.“I’m not walking around the best, and I’m missing a few games for the [PWHL’s] Seattle Torrent,” Knight said on CBS Mornings. “To be able to play through injury was definitely a mental sort of gymnastic challenge for myself and also physical, but we’ve got some amazing support staff that did their best to get me out there and perform at my best – as best as I could.”The 36-year-old tied the final against Canada with just over two minutes left in regulation before Megan Keller’s goal clinched gold for the US in overtime. Knight, teammate Kendall Coyne Schofield and Canada’s Erin Ambrose were all put on long-term injured reserve by their respective PWHL teams when they returned from Milan

Borthwick plans England overhaul with Fin Smith expected to start against Italy

Steve Borthwick is ready to radically overhaul his misfiring England side for the Six Nations clash against Italy on Saturday, with Fin Smith expected to be handed the No 10 jersey.The Northampton fly-half sat out training on Monday because of illness but England have been quick to allay fears that his participation against Italy is in doubt. Provided he recovers, Smith is expected to start at fly-half in place of George Ford.Since the tour of Argentina last summer, Ford has established himself as Borthwick’s first-choice fly-half but he endured a miserable outing against Ireland and was jeered by supporters after twice missing touch with kicks to the corner. Smith, meanwhile, has played a bit-part role in the championship to date