Oil Rises Again as the United States and Iran Trade Strikes

Brent Crude Up 3% at US$98.90 and NY Crude Up 3.3% at US$96.90

Sector Update: Energy Stocks Rise Late Afternoon

Energy stocks were higher late Tuesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 1.5% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) adding 1.3%.The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was climbing 2%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was up 2%.Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.7% to $93.74 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract advanced 1.1% to $96.03 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures decreased 0.6% to $3.16 per 1 million BTU.In corporate news, BP (BP) held advanced talks to sell its UK North Sea assets to Ithaca Energy in a nearly 2 billion British pounds ($2.7 billion) deal, though negotiations failed in recent weeks, with the oil major still exploring a sale to other potential buyers, the Financial Times reported. BP shares were up 1%.Bloom Energy (BE) doesn't currently see a need to raise capital through share sales despite surging demand for its fuel-cell technology from AI data centers, Bloomberg reported, citing CEO K. R. Sridhar. The company, which recently signed a deal with Oracle (ORCL) to supply up to 2.8 gigawatts of power for data centers, can recover the cost of building new manufacturing capacity within six months via sales, Sridhar told the news outlet. Bloom Energy shares jumped past 9%.Hallador Energy (HNRG) said late Monday it has agreed to acquire about 460 megawatts of Siemens gas turbines, generators and related equipment from Energy World for $350 million to back development of Hallador's Merom natural gas-fired combustion turbine project. Hallador shares were down 0.1%.

Sector Update: Financial Stocks Advance Late Afternoon

Financial stocks were higher in late Tuesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index rising 0.7% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) increasing 0.3%.The Philadelphia Housing Index was adding 0.8%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 0.4%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was dropping 6.5% to $66,793, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries decreased 2.4 basis points to 4.45%.In economic news, US job openings rose to 7.618 million in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, above the 6.866 million expected in a Bloomberg-compiled poll and up from the 6.887 million reported in March. The April report represents 4.6% of total employment, up from 4.2% in March and 4.3% a year earlier.Redbook US same-store sales rose by 9% from a year earlier in the week ended May 30, the same pace as in the previous week. "Customers remain highly value-driven and price sensitive," Redbook said.In corporate news, Carlyle (CG) is close to an agreement to sell Flender, a maker of mechanical and electrical drive technology, to European buyout firm Triton Partners for about 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion), Bloomberg reported. Carlyle shares were down 1.2%.SpaceX is in talks with the Wall Street bankers handling its IPO to pay less than 0.75% for the $75 billion it expects to raise from the IPO, Bloomberg reported. Even at that low spread, the banks, including Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS), are expected to earn about $500 million from the offering, the report said. Goldman shares were up 1.7%, and Morgan Stanley climbed 2.2%.UBS (UBS) is set to raise at least $500 million in Additional Tier 1 bonds denominated in US dollars, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg described the offering as UBS's first foray into the market since the bank's host Switzerland paused plans to tighten rules on the riskier bank debt. UBS shares rose 0.4%.BlackRock (BLK) is set to acquire a 15% stake in Japanese taxi-hailing app Go as part of the company's planned initial public offering, Nikkei Asia reported. The asset manager is expected to buy 11.8 million shares for 28 billion Japanese yen ($175 million), the report said. BlackRock shares were up 0.2%.