Cuba condemns U.S. new sanctions on state oil company

Cuba on Thursday vehemently condemned the new sanctions imposed by the United States against the Cuban state-owned oil company Union Cuba-Petroleo (CUPET).

The condemnation came after the United States announced the new round of punitive measures in a statement released on the website of the U.S. State of Department on Thursday.

In the statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that the key assets of CUPET were “unlawfully expropriated from American owners years ago”.

In his post on social media, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, called the U.S. move a new round of attack on the Cuban people and a further tightening of its energy blockade against Cuba.

The sanctions will have a “cruel impact” on the vital services and the daily lives of all Cubans, he said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla and Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio also denounced the U.S. sanctions in their respective posts on social media.

De Cossio said the U.S. move is a “collective punishment on Cuba”.

“They feel the need to lie, as the Secretary of State does, to come up with absurd excuses that justify denying an entire nation access to fuel,” he wrote on X.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he had called off planned strikes on Iran scheduled for the evening.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 929.97 points, or 1.86 percent, to 50,848.75. The S&P 500 added 127.31 points, or 1.75 percent, to 7,394.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 640.158 points, or 2.54 percent, to 25,809.66.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in the green, with materials and industrials leading the gainers by rising 3.26 percent and 3.25 percent, respectively. Energy and consumer staples led the laggards by decreasing 2.06 percent and 0.47 percent, respectively.

Oil prices dropped after Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had “cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening.”

The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery lost 2.32 U.S. dollars, or 2.58 percent, to settle at 87.71 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery decreased by 2.72 dollars, or 2.92 percent, to settle at 90.38 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Chipmakers led the advance, with notable gains in Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel, which helped offset earlier pressure on the technology sector.

On the economic front, wholesale inflation for May came in higher than expected, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The producer price index for final demand rose 1.1 percent from the previous month and 6.5 percent from a year earlier.

In corporate news, Oracle dropped 8.53 percent despite reporting quarterly earnings that beat analyst expectations, as investors reacted to disappointing cloud revenue growth and the company’s plans for an equity and debt offering.

The market’s primary focus this week remains Friday’s highly anticipated public debut of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is expected to be the largest initial public offering in history.