Dan Schwartzman

and Iran ceasefire taking effect this week.

The U.S.

has said the truce is conditional on Iran unblocking Hormuz.

Since Thursday morning, just nine ships have been observed passing through the strait, with five heading out of the Gulf and four going in the opposite direction.

Ahead of the Pakistan talks, President Trump is making new threats over the Strait of Hormuz.

Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall has more on that from Washington.

That's Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall.

Direct talks between Israel and Lebanon set for next week in Washington will be preparatory at the ambassador level.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the negotiations would be focused on disarming Hezbollah.

Lebanese officials have said they want a temporary ceasefire before talks would start.

That's according to mediators.

Netanyahu, though, said Thursday that there is no ceasefire in Lebanon, but Israel would limit attacks after Netanyahu was asked by President Trump to scale back its assault as not to damage talks between the U.S.

and Iran, according to people familiar with the matter.

The consumer price index rose 0.9 percent from February, the most in nearly four years, in large part due to the sharp increase in gas prices tied to the conflict in the Middle East.

Bond traders held on to wagers that the Fed will lower interest rates once this year on the data showing inflation quickened in March.

Interest rate swaps show traders pricing in a roughly one in four chance of a quarter point rate cut this year, slightly lower than before the data.

Meanwhile, U.S.

consumer sentiment fell to a record low due to increasing worries about mounting inflation caused by the Iran war.

Consumers expect prices to rise at an annual rate of 4.8 percent over the next year and see costs rising at an annual rate of 3.4 percent over the next five to 10 years.

The preliminary April sentiment index slumped to 47.6 from 53.3 in March, according to the University of Michigan data out Friday.