Traders on Friday exchanged the most $80 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil call options since January, expecting more upside to prices after Israeli airstrikes on Iran sparked fears of a wider Middle East conflict.

If prices go up, Fed officials may be inclined to raise its benchmark rate, raising borrowing costs for businesses and consumers. That could lead to businesses to cut jobs, particularly in the high-growth tech sector, and force Americans to pull back on spending, which drives more than 70% of economic activity in the U.S.

Since inflation in the UK has fallen from its extreme high in 2022, the Bank has steadily decreased its interest rate over the past year, easing the pressure on people with a mortgage to pay.

The Indian rupee is expected to slip past 86 to the U.S. dollar at the open on Friday, hit by surging oil prices and sliding risk assets after Israel attacked targets in Iran.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded the Federal Reserve slash interest rates. But Fed officials have stood pat, waiting to see how his administration’s sweeping policy changes affect the economy first.

Oil prices leaped, and stocks slumped on worries that escalating violence following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets could damage the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy.

U.S. investors on Friday sought refuge in safe-haven assets like the dollar and gold, as oil prices surged after Iran retaliated against Israel's biggest-ever military strike against the major crude producer.

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that this week’s explosive developments in the Middle East will deal a blow to the cost of living for ordinary Britons. Speaking ahead of his arrival in Canada for the G7, the Prime Minister voters will be seeing “the impact already on the economy and on oil prices.”

The Israeli military warns Iranians to evacuate arms factories, signaling what could be a further widening of the campaign.

Oil prices edged lower on Thursday, as traders assessed whether the previous day's jump to the highest prices in more than two months had adequately priced in risks for crude oil supply from mounting tensions in the Middle East.

The US ordered some staff to leave its embassy in Baghdad, and restricted government employees and family members in Israel from traveling outside major cities like Tel Aviv. Around the same time, risk warnings from naval forces were issued to vessels operating in and around the Persian Gulf,