{"id":60824,"date":"2026-04-12T21:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T01:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/us-blockade-of-iran-triggers-energy-surge-as-trump-targets-nato-and-pope-leo\/60824\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T21:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T01:38:16","slug":"us-blockade-of-iran-triggers-energy-surge-as-trump-targets-nato-and-pope-leo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/us-blockade-of-iran-triggers-energy-surge-as-trump-targets-nato-and-pope-leo\/60824\/","title":{"rendered":"US Blockade of Iran Triggers Energy Surge as Trump Targets NATO and Pope Leo"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>US Central Command to initiate a maritime blockade of Iranian ports starting today at 10 a.m. ET<\/strong>, causing <strong>European gas futures to spike as much as 18%<\/strong> on Strait of Hormuz concerns.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oil prices and the US Dollar surged<\/strong> following the total breakdown of US-Iran negotiations and the announcement of the blockade.<\/li>\n<li><strong>South Korean exports jumped 36.7%<\/strong> in the first 10 days of April, signaling a massive global boom in <strong>semiconductor demand<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>JBS (<a href=\"\/stock\/JBSAY\">JBSAY<\/a>) resolved its labor dispute<\/strong> at the Greeley facility, reaching an agreement with <strong>UFCW Local 7<\/strong> that includes wage increases through 2027.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Donald <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> intensified geopolitical rhetoric<\/strong>, criticizing <strong>NATO<\/strong> over &quot;trillions&quot; in US contributions and labeling <strong>Pope Leo<\/strong> as &quot;weak&quot; on crime and foreign policy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Escalating Conflict in the Middle East<\/h2>\n<p><strong>US Central Command<\/strong> is set to begin a full blockade of maritime traffic in and out of Iranian ports starting <strong>April 13 at 10 a.m. ET<\/strong>. This aggressive move follows the collapse of negotiations between Washington and Tehran, with <strong>Donald <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a><\/strong> stating that Iran is currently in a &quot;very difficult situation&quot; and will be prevented from selling oil under the new blockade plan.<\/p>\n<p>Energy markets reacted violently to the news, with <strong>European gas futures jumping 18%<\/strong> due to fears of a total closure of the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>. <em>Market analysts suggest that the breakdown in diplomacy has forced a flight to safety<\/em>, evidenced by a simultaneous rise in both <strong>crude oil prices<\/strong> and the <strong>US Dollar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Asian Markets and Economic Data<\/h2>\n<p>In Asia, <strong>South Korea\u2019s export data<\/strong> provided a bright spot for the global tech sector, showing a <strong>36.7% year-over-year increase<\/strong> in early April. The surge was primarily driven by relentless overseas demand for <strong>semiconductors<\/strong>, reinforcing the sector&#39;s role as a primary engine for regional growth.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC)<\/strong> maintained its liquidity stance, injecting <strong>500 million yuan<\/strong> via reverse repos at <strong>1.40%<\/strong>. However, the central bank fixed the <strong>yuan reference rate at 6.8657<\/strong>, significantly weaker than the previous close of 6.8305. Meanwhile, the <strong>Philippine Peso<\/strong> declined to <strong>59.984 per dollar<\/strong>, marking its weakest level since early April.<\/p>\n<p>In Japan, the <strong>20-year government bond yield<\/strong> climbed to <strong>3.380%<\/strong> during active trading. Despite the rising yields, a former <strong>Bank of Japan<\/strong> official suggested that the central bank\u2019s usual stance amid such global uncertainty is to <strong>hold current policy steady<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Corporate Developments and Labor<\/h2>\n<p><strong>JBS (<a href=\"\/stock\/JBSAY\">JBSAY<\/a>)<\/strong> has successfully reached a labor deal with striking meatpacking workers at its <strong>Greeley, Colorado<\/strong> facility. The agreement, which covers approximately <strong>3,800 employees<\/strong>, includes significant pay increases through <strong>2027<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>According to <strong>UFCW Local 7<\/strong>, the resolution involves redirecting pension contributions to fund immediate wage boosts. Following the agreement, <strong>JBS (<a href=\"\/stock\/JBSAY\">JBSAY<\/a>)<\/strong> has resumed full operations at the plant, ending a period of significant production uncertainty.<\/p>\n<h2>Political Shifts and Global Criticism<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> took to <strong>Truth Social<\/strong> to launch a rare direct attack on religious leadership, calling <strong>Pope Leo<\/strong> &quot;weak on crime&quot; and &quot;terrible for foreign policy.&quot; Trump alleged that the Catholic Church should fear the current global climate more than his administration&#39;s policies.<\/p>\n<p>Domestically, the political landscape shifted as <strong>Eric Swalwell<\/strong> withdrew from the <strong>California governor race<\/strong>, stating he would address personal allegations outside of the campaign. Simultaneously, reports emerged of internal friction within the Democratic party, as <strong>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/strong> reportedly clashed with progressive allies over the direction of a potential <strong>2028<\/strong> platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways US Central Command to initiate a maritime blockade of Iranian ports starting today at 10 a.m. ET, causing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[4472,4491,4824,5027,5041,5142,16216,18265],"class_list":["post-60824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-global-economy","tag-energy-markets","tag-geopolitics","tag-semiconductors","tag-nato","tag-pboc","tag-us-iran-relations","tag-jbsay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}