Bloomberg News Now
Traffic Flows Through Hormuz, Tech Volatility Pulls Global Stocks Lower, More
26 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What economic changes are emerging in Africa?
A new chapter in global growth is being written and much of it is happening in Africa.
Africans need to invest. There are deals to be done and business to be won.
I'm Jennifer Zabasaja. Every week on the Next Africa podcast, we track capital flows and political shifts shaping the continent's future.
The digitalization of Africa is going to power its growth. Creating the world of something like HIV is possible. Population growth is so enormous in Africa.
Listen to Next Africa on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Karen Moscow. Ships in the Strait of Hormuz are reviewing their exit plans after an attack on one vessel yesterday. The strike on the Thai-owned Ever Lovely is the first since the interim peace deal was signed between the U.S. and Iran. Bloomberg's Stephen Stepchinski says traffic through the strait is starting to recover since the attack.
There was indeed some ships that moved away. We saw an LNG tanker do a U-turn, some oil carriers also did a U-turn, but shortly after that you did start to see the ships again resume transit. Now not all ships are doing so.
There is a slight dip in the amount of vessels flowing through compared to a high that we saw earlier this week, but still you're seeing that traffic kind of get back pretty quickly.
Bloomberg's Stephen Stepchinski reports Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry has not responded to a request for comment on the attack. The White House says it's too soon to say who struck the vessel. The Israeli and Lebanese governments are discussing locations for U.S. proposed areas in southern Lebanon where the Beirut government could prove its ability to keep out Hezbollah.
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Chapter 2: How is the Strait of Hormuz affected by recent attacks?
Russia's defense ministry says its air defense intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones in a major nighttime attack on 12 Russian regions as well as the Russian-held Crimean Peninsula, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea. It appears to be one of the biggest drone attacks on Russia and the illegally annexed Crimea since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
The previous biggest Ukrainian attack over the past year was 556 drones on May 17th. New York City's Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents for roughly one million stabilized apartments, handing Mayor Zoran Mamdani a major political victory and delivering on a central promise that launched him to City Hall.
The board voted 7-1 to pass the freeze, which applies to both one- and two-year leases. It's the first time that rents for longer-term rental agreements have been frozen. Louisiana Republicans will nominate a candidate for U.S. Senate in a primary runoff Saturday. This comes six weeks after denying Republican U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy a shot at a third term.
We now turn to the markets where tech stocks are selling off as we close out the trading week. In South Korea, the KOSPI index dropped almost 6%.
Chapter 3: What is the current status of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz?
A sell-off in memory chip makers followed Apple's decision to raise prices on many products. That's fueling concerns that rising component costs could eventually curb demand and slow the chip rally. Mark Gurman covers Apple for Bloomberg.
MacBook Air going up a couple hundred dollars. The iMac going up a couple hundred dollars. Mac Studio going up by $500. Mac Mini going up by a couple hundred dollars. You saw the entry level iPad go up by 100. The iPad Mini go up by 100. Even something as small as the Apple TV set-top box is going up from $130 to $200.
And if you follow the set-top box market, that's a huge price increase when a lot of these devices are in the $50 to $99 range.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says prices will not be raised on iPhones. Shares of SoftBank fell 12% in Asia. The drop follows a New York Times report that OpenAI may delay its IPO until next year. SoftBank is a major investor in the chat GPT maker.
The Times says bankers advising OpenAI on its IPO plans caution that recent volatility in tech stocks as well as in SpaceX shares following its record IPO could dampen enthusiasm. The price of gasoline continues to drop. According to AAA, the national unleaded average gasoline price has fallen to $3.90 per gallon. The price of regular gasoline has fallen by 13% over the last month.
Checking oil right now, West Texas Intermediate at $69.78 a barrel. That's down 3%. Brent at $72.89. Major job cuts may be on the way at Volkswagen. Manager Magazine reporting the automaker is looking to cut tens of thousands of additional jobs and shutter factories in a push to make Europe's biggest automaker more competitive.
Novak Djokovic, a 34-time Grand Slam tennis champ, joining General Atlantic as the firm dives deeper into sports investing. Djokovic, the most dominant player in the open era, will work closely with the firm's leadership, portfolio companies, and investors in his new role as global strategic advisor.
Serena Williams will face an opponent less than half her age when she plays 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia in the first round at Wimbledon. This is for her first singles match in nearly four years.
In the World Cup yesterday, the Ivory Coast beat Curacao 2-0, Ecuador over Germany 2-1, Netherlands toppled Tunisia 3-1, Sweden and Japan tied, as did Paraguay and Australia, and Turkey beat the U.S. 3-2. This morning, our lower led by technology shares. NASDAQ futures down 1.2 percent. S&P futures down half percent. Dow futures down a tenth of a percent. Ten-year treasury yield at 4.37 percent.
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