Maersk will raise its emergency fuel surcharge (EFS) on all export pickup and import delivery services, citing higher fuel costs from the ongoing Middle East conflict.

US Treasury and euro-area government bond yields rose in early European trading on Thursday, with US borrowing costs hovering near multi-decade highs touched on Wednesday and approaching 24-year peaks. French government bonds continued to underperform other euro-area peers as investors question Paris’s ability to cut the fiscal deficit to 5% of GDP by 2027. MainSky Asset Management’s chairman said that, given the current mix of nominal growth and interest costs, France’s large debt stock is rising by about 8% a year, and warned that if the trend continues France’s debt-to-GDP ratio could reach roughly 130% by end-2027.

Ultra-large crude carriers are racing to the Middle East to capture elevated freight through the Strait of Hormuz, worsening a global ship shortage and pushing rates higher. Attacks on vessels persist, but recent weeks' volumes transiting the strait have rebounded to near pre-conflict levels. The freight surge has driven Gulf-to-East Asia voyage costs to more than six times pre-conflict norms. Shipping data provider Signal Ocean estimates that of about 850 VLCCs globally, over 40% are either in the Persian Gulf or within a few days' sailing distance. Georgios Sakellariou said: "The past months have been the best on record for the crude tanker industry. The main issue is inefficient ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz, which has heavily drained local and regional vessel supply." A Persian Gulf-to-East Asia voyage takes roughly three weeks. Assessed VLCC rates hit a record near $1.4m/day on Wednesday, up about 540% versus pre-conflict; Brent has risen roughly 40% over the same period.