Markets pushed up the likelihood of near-term Bank of England rate hikes after renewed US–Iran hostilities. The US carried out airstrikes on Iran on Wednesday night and Iran attacked vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns about oil-supply disruption and upward inflation pressure. LESG shows markets now price a cumulative 31bp of UK rate hikes for 2026, up from 23bp before Trump’s Wednesday remark that an Iran ceasefire had ended.

TrendForce’s latest memory-price survey says some chipmakers had already reflected increases in their 2Q26 quotes, while several US cloud service providers have signed multi-year LTAs that limit vendors’ ability to raise prices for those accounts. TrendForce estimates Server DRAM contract prices will rise 13–18% QoQ in Q3. Persistent supply tightness, however, could still prompt suppliers to compete by lifting quotes further.

cenc automatic determination: at 07:44 on July 9 an approximately magnitude-5.1 earthquake occurred near Gao County, Yibin, Sichuan, China. Final parameters await the official rapid bulletin.