The latest Market Talks covering Energy markets. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1317 ET - Residential-solar companies that have followed a misguided strategy of combining installation and maintenance services are partly responsible for the lack of assistance that owners of rooftop photovoltaic panels face today, says John Berger, the CEO of Otovo, which provides power services for homes and small businesses. Many such installers went bankrupt, leaving their customers without alternatives to fix solar panels and related equipment that are increasingly breaking after a boom of solar adoption during the past decade, Berger says. "Installation is a materially different business than service," so companies shouldn't try to mix them, he says. Focusing exclusively on services, as Otovo does, largely avoids the pitfalls that plagued many U.S. residential-solar companies in recent years, such as rollbacks of government incentives for clean energy, rising cost of capital and supply-chain bottlenecks, he adds. (luis.garcia@wsj.com; @lhvgarcia)
1203 ET - Oil futures move lower after President Trump confirms in a social-media post that the U.S. has agreed to continue talks with Iran, but adds the U.S. told Iran that the ceasefire is over. "These talks could prove meaningless unless definition is applied to the control of the Strait of Hormuz," Ritterbusch & Associates says in a note. While the price pullback of the last couple of sessions suggests market optimism about the talks, with Iran willing to attack ships violating their suggested route through the strait, the impasse could easily continue through much of this month, the firm adds. WTI is down 1.7%, at $70.85 a barrel, and Brent is off 1.2%, at $75.35. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1111 ET - Minutes from June's European Central Bank meeting indicate policymakers remain concerned about broadening indirect impacts from surging oil prices, Oxford Economics' Mateusz Urban says in a note. But with oil prices and futures falling since the tentative U.S.-Iran ceasefire, council members should now keep rates unchanged at July's meeting, he says. That's also consistent with scant evidence of second-round impacts and benign June inflation print. Statements from President Lagarde and other influential policymakers point to the ECB staying put too, Urban says. "However, we cannot rule out another hike later in the year, especially if the passthrough of the cost shock to core inflation proves stronger than we assume, or if energy prices surge again." (edward.frankl@wsj.com)
0950 ET - Investors this week raised their expectations of the Bank of England increasing interest rates in 2026 after oil prices rose following fresh U.S.-Iran tensions. The U.K. remains highly sensitive to global oil price shocks, which led investors to reprice rate expectations, Bank of America strategists say in a note. Markets currently price a total of 27 basis points of BOE interest-rate rises this year, up from 20bps of BOE rate hikes priced in a week ago, LSEG data show. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
0945 ET - U.S. natural gas futures are still reeling from yesterday's bigger-than-expected inventory build and news of Freeport LNG's planned maintenance. "Technically August natural gas has moved to a bearish structure making new contract lows this morning," Dennis Kissler of BOK Financial says in a note. Weather models turned a little cooler while still warmer than normal, although with storage 6.6% above the five-year average most traders are keeping a "sell the rallies" attitude, he adds. Natural gas for August delivery is off 2.4% at $2.939/mmBtu. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
0931 ET - Oil futures are steady as the U.S. says it's still holding technical talks with Iran despite the exchange of strikes. "Overall, the price action is consistent with the narrative that the market doesn't think the hostilities are going to last," Scott Shelton of TP ICAP says in a note. "The bigger picture after this war ends looks increasingly bleak when you look at balances and supply growth, though we have a large hole to fill on storage overall should we go into a supply/demand surplus to the extent that the IEA suggests." WTI is up 0.1% at $72.12 a barrel and Brent is up 0.3% at $76.52. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
0902 ET - Treasury yields rise, while the dollar slips. Fears of escalation in the Middle East recede and oil prices are stable above pre-war levels, following Thursday's decline. Treasury auctions this week showed no signs of declining demand. CPI inflation is due Tuesday and economists will likely examine how June's sharp cool down in energy costs impacted prices. The WSJ Dollar Index is down 0.1%. The greenback falls 0.3% against the yen, as Japan's Finance Minister Katayama asks local pension funds to invest more in domestic assets. The 10-year yield is at 4.543%, after settling yesterday at 4.539%. The two-year edges higher to 4.179% from 4.162%. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)
0832 ET - Delta Air Lines, the inaugural reporter for the airline earnings season, is giving a first glimpse of how this spring's surge in jet fuel costs weighed on carriers' bottom lines. Delta says fuel costs in 2Q were up 67% year-over-year at $4.1 billion, marking its highest quarterly fuel expense in company history and pushing total operating costs up 23% to $17.89 billion. Higher flight prices gave a big lift to revenue, but only managed to cover 60% of the increase in fuel costs, according to CEO Ed Bastian. Delta's 2Q profit slid 25% to $1.6 billion, or $2.44 a share. Things could be worse for the rest of the industry because, unlike any of its competitors, Delta owns a jet fuel refinery that helped mitigate the impact of high fuel costs. (dean.seal@wsj.com)
0824 ET - The United Arab Emirates ramped up crude oil production to a record monthly high last month as it pursues its expansion plans after leaving OPEC in May. The country pumped 4.1 million barrels a day on average in June after months of disruptions in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency says in its closely watched monthly report. Most of the increase came before the U.S. and Iran exchanged a series of attacks this week, marking the sharpest escalation since the two sides agreed to a 60-day peace deal in mid-June. The flare-up in tensions has curtailed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, threatening regional supply once again. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)
0733 ET - Euro-denominated investment-grade credit looks attractive due to its favorable risk-return trade off, LBBW's Michael Kohler says in a note. President Trump's remarks this week that the Iran ceasefire was over revived geopolitical concerns, driving up government bond yields and euro investment-grade yields, Kohler says. European corporates maintain healthy financial positions which should boost demand for euro credit, he says. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
0729 ET - The Polish zloty falls to 19-month low against the euro and a two-and-a-half-year low versus the Czech koruna on the prospect of Poland's central bank cutting interest rates. National Bank of Poland Governor Adam Glapinski signalled a future rate cut in a press conference Thursday, a day after the central bank left rates unchanged at 3.75% as expected. This came as a surprise due to the renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran, Commerzbank's Tatha Ghose says in a note. The idea that Iran might force NBP into raising rates has evaporated, he says. The euro rises to 4.3502 zloty, while the zloty falls to a low of 5.5718 koruna.(renae.dyer@wsj.com)
0728 ET - Bitcoin rises as worries over the U.S.-Iran conflict ease, improving appetite for risky assets. Despite renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran this week, a U.S. official said technical talks are continuing, WSJ reports. Positive developments in crypto legislation are providing further support, Saxo Bank analysts say in note. Momentum is building behind U.S. market-structure legislation with reports indicating that the Clarity Act could reach the Senate later this month after CFTC Chair Michael Selig urged Congress to advance the crypto regulation bill, they say. Bitcoin rises 1.8% to $64,389, according to LSEG. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 10, 2026 13:17 ET (17:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
