Highlights for this morning: Trump's duties ruled illegal, U.S. and Iran exchange strikes

A US court has ruled Donald Trump's 10 percent duties illegal. The escalation of the conflict between the US and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil back above $100. These and other topics are in our review of key events for the morning of Ma 8.

The US and Iran have exchanged strikes in the Strait of Hormuz, jeopardizing a fragile truce, the Financial Times reports. Donald Trump said the strikes were a response to an attack on US ships, calling them "self-defense," but later softened his rhetoric, stressing that the truce was formally being maintained. Iran reported coastal strikes and retaliatory attacks, while the UAE intercepted drones and missiles.

The escalation pushed oil prices up: Brent exceeded $102 per barrel. By the morning of Ma 8, its futures were trading at about $101 per barrel.

Donald Trump's 10% global duties have been ruled illegal, the Financial Times reports. A US court ruled that the new measures, imposed under a 1974 law, were not authorized, but overturned them only for the two companies that filed the lawsuit. Earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the president's use of emergency powers to impose duties.

The judges pointed out that the trade deficit does not equal the balance of payments crisis cited by the administration. Trump's team is preparing other trade restrictions through alternative legal mechanisms that could be submitted by the end of July.

Anthropic is considering raising tens of billions of dollars this summer for a massive expansion of its computing power, the Financial Times reports. That could raise the company's valuation to nearly $1 trillion, allowing it to surpass OpenAI.

The potential deal reflects soaring AI infrastructure costs and increasing competition among key players in the market, the newspaper said.

Cloudflare will cut about 20% of its workforce, or more than 1,100 employees, as part of a restructuring to accommodate strong AI adoption and forecast second-quarter revenue slightly below market expectations, Reuters reports. The company said the changes are due to a shift to an "AI-first" model and increased use of its own AI tools.

Despite strong first-quarter results, the stock is down about 19% in the postmarket. The cuts reflect a broader automation trend that is already leading to increased layoffs in vulnerable industries, the agency said.

- Japan's broad Topix index was down 0.3 percent, while the Nikkei 225 was down 0.6 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 1.1 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index was down 0.9 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.6%, while the Kosdaq was up 0.4%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.7 percent.

- Futures on S&P 500 grew by 0.2%. Futures on the Nasdaq Composite - by 0.3%. Exchange contracts on Dow Jones Industrial Average - by 0.1%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor