{"id":63497,"date":"2026-06-21T05:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T05:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:38:14","slug":"global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Markets Alert: Strait of Hormuz Closure and US Credit Risks Trigger Volatility"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"#\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/#Key_Takeaways\" >Key Takeaways<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"#\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/#Energy_Markets_Shaken_by_Hormuz_Closure\" >Energy Markets Shaken by Hormuz Closure<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"#\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/#US_Private_Credit_Defaults_Reach_Record_High\" >US Private Credit Defaults Reach Record High<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"#\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/#Political_Turmoil_in_Westminster\" >Political Turmoil in Westminster<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"#\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/#Taiwan_Escalates_Defensive_Drills\" >Taiwan Escalates Defensive Drills<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"#\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/#Geopolitical_Standoff_Over_%22Anchorage_Deals%22\" >Geopolitical Standoff Over &quot;Anchorage Deals&quot;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"#\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/global-markets-alert-strait-of-hormuz-closure-and-us-credit-risks-trigger-volatility\/63497\/#Aviation_Innovation_The_Three-Hour_Flight\" >Aviation Innovation: The Three-Hour Flight<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Key_Takeaways\"><\/span>Key Takeaways<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed<\/strong>, citing alleged ceasefire violations by the US and Israel; the move threatens <strong>20% of the world&#39;s oil supply<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The US Private Credit Default Rate hit a record high of 6.0%<\/strong> in May 2026, according to Fitch Ratings, as high interest rates and maturity walls pressure mid-market borrowers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a leadership crisis<\/strong> after Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and other cabinet members reportedly urged him to resign following a major by-election defeat.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Taiwan has launched five days of &quot;immediate combat readiness&quot; drills<\/strong> to simulate responses to a sudden Chinese invasion, shifting toward more realistic &quot;unscripted&quot; training scenarios.<\/li>\n<li><strong>King Charles III will become the first British monarch to publish his personal tax bill<\/strong>, disclosing voluntary payments on private income including <strong>\u00a326.8 million<\/strong> from the Duchy of Lancaster.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Energy_Markets_Shaken_by_Hormuz_Closure\"><\/span>Energy Markets Shaken by Hormuz Closure<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Energy markets are on high alert after Iran\u2019s <strong>Fars News Agency<\/strong> reported that the <strong>Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)<\/strong> has closed the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> until further notice. The closure is a retaliatory response to Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Tehran claims violate a recent 60-day ceasefire agreement. While US Vice President <strong>JD Vance<\/strong> stated there is &quot;no evidence&quot; of a full blockade yet, the IRGC has warned all commercial vessels to stay away from the strategic waterway, which handles approximately <strong>21 million barrels of oil per day<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"US_Private_Credit_Defaults_Reach_Record_High\"><\/span>US Private Credit Defaults Reach Record High<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>U.S. Private Credit Default Rate (PCDR)<\/strong> remained at a record-high <strong>6.0%<\/strong> for the 12 months ending May 2026, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings. The data reveals that <strong>83 unique defaulters<\/strong> generated <strong>105 default events<\/strong> during this period, with healthcare and industrial sectors being the hardest hit. <em>Analysts note that &quot;maturity extensions under stress&quot; have become the most common default scenario, as companies struggle to refinance debt in a high-interest-rate environment.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Political_Turmoil_in_Westminster\"><\/span>Political Turmoil in Westminster<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>UK Prime Minister <strong>Keir Starmer<\/strong> is reportedly considering his resignation after Foreign Secretary <strong>Yvette Cooper<\/strong> told him his position was no longer tenable. The pressure follows a landslide victory for <strong>Andy Burnham<\/strong> in the Makerfield by-election, which has emboldened internal critics of the Labour leadership. Starmer is expected to make a statement regarding a &quot;slow march&quot; departure timetable as early as Monday, potentially clearing the way for a leadership contest.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Taiwan_Escalates_Defensive_Drills\"><\/span>Taiwan Escalates Defensive Drills<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Taiwan\u2019s Ministry of National Defense has initiated a five-day <strong>&quot;Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise&quot;<\/strong> starting Monday to test the military&#39;s rapid transition from peacetime to wartime status. These drills are a prelude to the larger <strong>Han Kuang Exercise No. 42<\/strong> scheduled for August and focus on &quot;whole-of-society&quot; resilience. The exercises come amid increased activity from the People&#39;s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Taiwan Strait, with Taipei moving away from choreographed drills toward more unpredictable, realistic combat simulations.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Geopolitical_Standoff_Over_%22Anchorage_Deals%22\"><\/span>Geopolitical Standoff Over &quot;Anchorage Deals&quot;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Kremlin has accused the United States of failing to meet agreements reached during the <strong>Anchorage Summit<\/strong> between President <strong>Vladimir Putin<\/strong> and <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong>. Kremlin aide <strong>Yury Ushakov<\/strong> stated that Russia is no longer &quot;waiting&quot; for these deals to be completed but is instead focused on &quot;victory&quot; on the battlefield. <em>The rhetoric suggests a significant breakdown in the back-channel diplomacy that had briefly raised hopes for a ceasefire in Ukraine earlier this year.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Aviation_Innovation_The_Three-Hour_Flight\"><\/span>Aviation Innovation: The Three-Hour Flight<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Britain is preparing to test a new <strong>hypersonic space plane<\/strong> capable of cutting travel time from London to Sydney to just three hours. The project, supported by the <strong>UK Space Agency<\/strong>, utilizes a hybrid engine running on hydrogen and oxygen to reach speeds exceeding <strong>Mach 5<\/strong>. While commercial flights are not expected until 2030, ground tests are accelerating as the UK seeks to lead the next generation of point-to-point suborbital travel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, citing alleged ceasefire violations by the US and [&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":[19529,4461,5036,5158,5248,5862,5962,6723,9439,13735],"class_list":["post-63497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-pcdr","tag-crude-oil","tag-irgc","tag-taiwan","tag-uk-politics","tag-private-credit","tag-fitch-ratings","tag-keir-starmer","tag-pla","tag-royal-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63497","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=63497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63497\/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=63497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}