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New York gold has fallen by 0.5% intraday, now quoted at $4,746.8 per ounce.

On April 9, the WSJ reported that Iran has informed mediators that it will limit the number of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz to about ten per day and will impose fees for passage. Arab mediators stated that vessels must coordinate with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, only four vessels were granted passage on Wednesday, the lowest level since April. The approved vessels are currently navigating a corridor north of the usual shipping lanes, located between Iran's Qeshm Island and Larak Island, heading towards the Sea of Oman along the Iranian coast. Shipping operators noted that fees are typically determined a week in advance and are based on the size of the vessel, with costs for a very large crude carrier capable of carrying about 2 million barrels of oil reaching up to $2 million. Iran has also proposed sharing passage fees with Oman, but Oman has not yet agreed to this plan. According to the latest reports from Iran's Press TV, the Strait of Hormuz has been fully closed, forcing tankers to turn back.

Odaily reports that the spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) launched by Morgan Stanley saw active trading on its first day, with over 1.6 million shares traded and approximately 34 million USD in capital inflows. The fund tracks the CoinDesk Bitcoin benchmark price and has a fee rate of only 0.14%, the lowest among similar products, focusing on price advantage to compete in the market. In addition to the low fee rate, MSBT leverages Morgan Stanley's extensive wealth management channels and is expected to attract traditional investors to allocate to Bitcoin assets through its financial advisor system. However, the market is still dominated by leading products, such as one exchange's IBIT, which has surpassed 53 billion USD in scale. Industry insiders expect that in the short term, MSBT may divert some existing funds, while its long-term performance will depend on its ability to maintain continuous capital inflows.