Traders pile into $80 US oil bets as tensions rise in Middle East
Call options grant the holder a right to buy futures contract at the preset price and date, and a rise in volumes can help gauge market sentiment.
About 33,411 contracts of August-2025 $80 call options for WTI crude oil were traded on Friday on a total trading volume of 681,000 contracts, marking the highest volume for these options this year, according to CME Group data.
The last time trading was this high for $80 call contracts was on January 10, with 17,030 February-2025 $80 call options traded on a total trading volume of 301,866 contracts.
Oil prices jumped on Friday and settled 7% higher as Israel and Iran launched air strikes, feeding investor worries that the combat could widely disrupt oil exports from the Middle East.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $72.98 a barrel, up $4.94, or 7.62%. During the session, WTI jumped over 14% to its highest since January 21 at $77.62.
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The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Migrant workers struggle as Dubai's population skyrockets
Beneath the gleaming facade of Dubai's iconic skyscrapers and luxurious penthouses, a stark reality unfolds for migrant workers like Hesham. His apartment building, a world away from the emirate's opulence, is marked by flickering lights, broken doors, and exposed pipes. What was once a two-bedroom unit now houses ten men, with Hesham, a 44-year-old Egyptian salesman, occupying a modified closet just large enough for a mattress, for which he pays $270 a month. However, even this cramped space is now under threat. Hesham is among numerous low-paid foreign labourers caught in a widespread government crackdown on illegal subletting across Dubai. This includes rooms crammed with bunk beds offering minimal privacy for a few dollars a night, and partitioned apartments like Hesham's, where makeshift divisions of plywood, drywall, and plastic shower curtains transform flats into dormitories for up to 20 people. After a blaze at a high-rise in June, Dubai officials launched the campaign over concerns that partitioned apartments represent a major fire risk. Some of those evicted have been left scrambling to stay off the streets, where begging is illegal. Others fear they could be next, uncertain when or where inspectors might show up. 'Now we don't know what we'll do,' said Hesham, who's staying put until his landlord evicts him. Like others living in Dubai's cheapest and most crowded spaces, he spoke to The Associated Press on condition only his first name be used for fear of coming into the crosshairs of authorities enforcing the ban on illegal housing. 'We don't have any other choice," he said. Dubai Municipality, which oversees the city-state, declined an AP request for an interview. In a statement, it said authorities have conducted inspections across the emirate to curb fire and safety hazards — an effort it said would 'ensure the highest standards of public safety' and lead to 'enhanced quality of life' for tenants. It didn't address where those unable to afford legal housing would live in a city-state that's synonymous with luxury yet outlaws labor unions and guarantees no minimum wage. Dubai has seen a boom since the pandemic that shows no signs of stopping. Its population of 3.9 million is projected to grow to 5.8 million by 2040 as more people move into the commercial hub from abroad. Much of Dubai's real estate market caters to wealthy foreign professionals living there long-term. That leaves few affordable options for the majority of workers — migrants on temporary, low-wage contracts, often earning just several hundred dollars a month. Nearly a fifth of homes in Dubai were worth more than $1 million as of last year, property firm Knight Frank said. Developers are racing to build more high-end housing. That continued growth has meant rising rents across the board. Short-term rentals are expected to cost 18% more by the end of this year compared to 2024, according to online rental company Colife. Most migrant workers the AP spoke to said they make just $300 to $550 a month. In lower-income areas, they said, a partitioned apartment space generally rents for $220 to $270 a month, while a single bunk in an undivided room costs half as much. Both can cost less if shared, or more depending on size and location. At any rate, they are far cheaper than the average one-bedroom rental, which real estate firm Engel & Völkers said runs about $1,400 a month. The United Arab Emirates, like other Gulf Arab nations, relies on low-paid workers from Africa and Asia to build, clean, babysit and drive taxi cabs. Only Emirati nationals, who are outnumbered nearly 9 to 1 by residents from foreign countries, are eligible for an array of government benefits, including financial assistance for housing. Large employers, from construction firms and factories to hotels and resorts, are required by law to house workers if they are paid less than $400 a month, much of which they send home to families overseas. However, many migrants are employed informally, making their living arrangements hard to regulate, said Steffen Hertog, an expert on Gulf labor markets at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The crackdown will push up their housing costs, creating 'a lot of stress for people whose life situation is already precarious,' he said. Hassan, a 24-year-old security guard from Uganda, shares a bed in a partitioned apartment with a friend. So far, the government hasn't discovered it, but he has reason to be nervous, he said. 'They can tell you to leave without an option, without anywhere to go.' Dubai has targeted overcrowded apartments in the past amid a spate of high-rise fires fueled by flammable siding material. The latest round of inspections came after a blaze in June at a 67-story tower in the Dubai Marina neighborhood, where some apartments had been partitioned. More than 3,800 residents were forced to evacuate from the building, which had 532 occupied apartments, according to a police report. That means seven people on average lived in each of these units in the tower of one-, two- and three-bedroom flats. Dozens of homes were left uninhabitable. There were no major injuries in that fire. However, another in 2023 in Dubai's historic Deira neighborhood killed at least 16 people and injured another nine in a unit believed to have been partitioned. Ebony, a 28-year-old odd-job worker from Ghana, was recently forced to leave a partitioned apartment after the authorities found out about it. She lived in a narrow space with a roommate who slept above her on a jerry-built plywood loft bed. 'Sometimes to even stand up,' she said, 'your head is going to hit the plywood.' She's in a new apartment now, a single room that holds 14 others — and sometimes more than 20 as people come and go, sharing beds. With her income of about $400 a month, she said she didn't have another option, and she's afraid of being forced out again. 'I don't know what they want us to do. Maybe they don't want the majority of people that are here in Dubai,' Ebony said.
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Starmer to raise Gaza ceasefire and UK steel tariffs in Trump meeting
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to raise the prospect of reviving ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and the future of tariffs on British steel as he meets Donald Trump in Scotland. The Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international alarm grows over starvation in Gaza. The two leaders have built a rapport on the world stage despite their differing political backgrounds, with Mr Trump praising Sir Keir for doing a 'very good job' in office ahead of their talks on Monday. But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting. Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after Washington and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a 'lack of desire' to reach an agreement. Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians. But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, has said that access to supplies must be 'urgently' widened. In his talks with Mr Trump, Sir Keir will 'welcome the President's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza', Number 10 said. 'He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.' Scotland's First Minister John Swinney, who will also meet the president during his five day visit to the country, said he would urge Mr Trump to apply pressure on Israel to agree to a lasting ceasefire and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. 'I think what's important is that we focus on the solutions that are required now, and the absolutely immediate situation is a necessity for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to need to flow into Gaza so that the people of Gaza can be saved from the starvation that they face,' Mr Swinney told BBC Breakfast. 'And that is the blunt human reality of the situation that we face, and there must be an intensification of pressure on Israel. 'And I think President Trump is ideally positioned. In fact, he's perhaps uniquely positioned to apply that pressure to Israel to ensure that there is safe passage for humanitarian aid to support the people of Gaza, who face an absolutely unbearable set of circumstances as a consequence of the conflict. 'And a key part of that must be the application of a durable ceasefire, the flow of humanitarian aid and the progress towards a two state solution in the Middle East.' The Prime Minister and US president will also talk 'one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Britons and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries', it said. The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries. But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed. Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50% – the US's global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners. But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel. Downing Street said that both sides are working 'at pace' to 'go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic' and to give UK industry 'the security it needs'. Mr Swinney said he would use his meeting with President Trump to press him to exempt Scotch whisky from US trade tariffs. The First Minister said the 'uniqueness' of whisky made in Scotland justified the exemption from the 10% tariff applied on UK exports into the US. Sir Keir and Mr Trump are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include 'applying pressure' on Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen. It comes after Mr Trump announced he had agreed 'the biggest deal ever made' between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry on Sunday. After a day playing golf, the US leader met the President of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15% tariffs on most of its goods entering America. This is lower than a 30% levy previously threatened by the US president. The agreement will include 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (£558 billion) over three years. Speaking to journalists on Sunday about his meeting with Sir Keir, Mr Trump said: 'We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal. 'It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us. I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well. 'We'll be discussing that. I think we're going to be discussing a lot about Israel. 'They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen. 'He's doing a very good job, by the way.' Mr Trump's private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September.
Times
12 minutes ago
- Times
Starmer to prioritise Gaza in talks with Trump in Scotland
Israeli military pauses in three areas of Gaza are expected to last only 'a week or so', Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, has said. Fletcher said the time frame was 'clearly insufficient', telling the BBC that the UN was witnessing a '21st-century atrocity'. He described the next few days as 'make or break', adding that the 100 or so truckloads of aid that were distributed in the Strip yesterday were 'a drop in the ocean' and that much of it 'got looted'. Britain does not want a 'tokenistic' recognition of a Palestinian state, a senior minister has said. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said that Britain wanted to recognise Palestine in this parliament, but argued this had to be done 'in a way that gets the breakthrough we need'. 'Many countries around the world have already done this — to be frank, to be candid, that hasn't stopped the appalling scenes that we're talking about this morning,' he said. 'We can only do this once. If we do it in a way which is tokenistic, which doesn't produce the end to this conflict, where do we go to next?' Airdrops of aid into Gaza will not be enough to end starvation, the government has acknowledged. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said: 'We know the only way to get sufficient quantities of aid into Gaza is for that blockade to end, for those vehicles to get in on the ground. The point about the air drops is that we cannot wait. We've got to do something. It's an unconscionable situation.' Only the US can persuade Israel to let in more aid to Gaza and restart peace talks, the business secretary has acknowledged. Jonathan Reynolds said Sir Keir Starmer would seek to persuade President Trump to do more at a meeting today because 'the US are the ones with real leverage' in the Middle East. 'We need the US. Only the US can really make the kind of breakthrough as a third country that we need to see in terms of the end of this conflict,' he told Sky News. A pause in Israeli military action is thought to have begun in three areas of Gaza to 'improve the humanitarian response'. The halt in activity was due to begin this morning at 10am local time (8am UK time), lasting until 8pm local time (6pm UK time). Israel's military said it would come into force on a daily basis in Gaza City, al-Mawasi and Deir al-Balah. Israel also confirmed on Monday morning that 120 truckloads of aid were distributed in Gaza yesterday by the UN and aid agencies. Scotland's first minister, John Swinney, has also said that he will use a planned meeting with Trump to call for more humanitarian aid and a ceasefire in Gaza. He told BBC Breakfast: 'The international situation is causing deep unease and concern and heartbreak within Scotland, particularly the situation in Gaza.' Swinney said the 'blunt human reality' is that the people of Gaza face starvation and there 'must be an intensification of pressure on Israel'. Trump is 'perhaps uniquely positioned to apply that pressure to Israel', he said he also plans to discuss trade, investment and economic connection. Also on the table when Starmer meets Trump will be the future of tariffs on British steel. The US and UK have agreed to slash trade barriers but tariffs for the steel industry were left at 25 per cent rather than falling to zero as originally agreed. Downing Street said that both sides were working 'at pace' to 'go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic' and to give UK industry 'the security it needs'. The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which No 10 said would include 'applying pressure' on President Putin to end the invasion. Starmer and Trump will then travel on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen. The prime minister is said to be 'horrified' by images of starvation in Gaza and will prioritise the issue when he meets President Trump at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. No 10 said Sir Keir Starmer would raise 'what more can be done' to secure a ceasefire and 'bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation'. Trump said the pair would be 'discussing a lot about Israel', adding that Starmer was 'very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen'. Starmer is expected to attempt to set out a 'UK peace plan' and revive wider efforts to reach a solution in Gaza. He insists that British recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of 'when, not if' and is seeking to do so as part of a co-ordinated international effort.
