Reported from the source

Quick summary: Former President Trump announced the U.S. would offer insurance for Middle East maritime trade and Navy escorts for ships in the Strait of Hormuz, leading to U.S. markets paring losses. Meanwhile, analysts warned of potential natural gas price surges impacting Europe and Asia, and drone strikes damaged Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE and Bahrain, causing service outages. An Emirates flight to Dubai also had to turn back due to Iranian missiles fired at the UAE.

Former President Trump stated that the U.S. would provide insurance for ‘ALL Maritime Trade’ in the Middle East and that the U.S. Navy would escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary. Following Trump’s announcement, U.S. markets pared losses, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 403.51 points (0.83%), after having been down over 1,200 points at its lowest. The S&P 500 slipped 0.94%, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.02%. Analysts have cautioned that Europe and Asian economies could face significant impacts from a prolonged surge in natural gas prices, triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. These regions are considered more vulnerable to gas price shocks than the U.S., which benefits from its domestic shale and LNG production. In the United Arab Emirates, outages in apps and digital services are being reported after drone strikes targeted Amazon Web Services’ data centers. AWS confirmed late Monday that two of its data centers in the UAE and a facility in Bahrain were damaged by these strikes, rendering them offline. Separately, a CNBC Middle East bureau chief, Emma Graham, reported that her Emirates flight to Dubai from Mumbai was forced to turn around approximately 30 minutes before landing. The captain informed passengers that the diversion was due to missiles fired by Iran at the UAE, amidst a wider regional conflict following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. This incident occurred as Emirates and Etihad had announced a limited number of repatriation and evacuation flights to and from Dubai.

Source: www.cnbc.com